In the script, the aspects involved, the main line of China, Japan and the United States, the Chinese underground party, Japanese intelligence agencies and American spy agencies, plus the Shanghai gangsters and German Nazis on the secondary lines, are dazzling in several respects, and the story is also dazzling. It is very rich, but such a complicated design does not achieve the effect of highlighting the main line enough. The director fails to grasp the characteristics of all aspects and do in-depth processing. The final effect is that the background age is blurred, and there is no three-dimensional epic setting. feel. In terms of the main line, the most important scenes are on the American agent Paul and the Chinese underground party Anna. As the absolute protagonist, Paul’s main activities are lone rangers, constantly turning around in various occasions, especially the scenes of newspapers and American intelligence agencies, sometimes people can’t figure out where he is. Director The performance of American intelligence agencies, newspapers, and German Nazis was not diligent enough. From this aspect, they began to deviate from the direction of epic masterpieces. It wasn't until the second half of the story that he and Anna had more roles, but they were still out of context and did not have a sense of the times. The Chinese underground party represented by Anna handled it more simply, with no organization at all. Should the underground party handle it like this? As for the Japanese intelligence agencies, they have basically become synonymous with warehouses; the German Nazis still have at least a supporting actress; the Shanghai gang does not see any gangsters, only dressed as a second master and a few subordinates.
The actors are all acquaintances, so there is no need to say more about the performances, John Cusack and Gong Li's performances are very brilliant, Watanabe Ken is very brilliant. Fa Ge is still the same, my friends are still saying that Xiao Ma is back, and he has been performing handsomely for decades. There is also Jeffrey Dean Morgan who only earned a few shots. I have to say that he is really suitable for memorial dramas. From Weeds to Supernatural to Grey's Anatomy, the three red dramas either die or change memories, then ghosts, and go to the big screen. PS I LOVE YOU, the first romantic comedy, is an old-fashioned conference scene.
In this evaluation, the director has to pay half of the responsibility, and the other half of the responsibility lies in the art. The costumes are very good, especially Gong Li’s costumes. The cheongsams are constantly changing, which is very eye-catching; the costumes of the leading actors and supporting actors are also considered as trying their best; but when the passers-by A, B, C, Ding are a bit too rough, the gang is too Stylized. What makes people feel even more divorced is the setting. The interior part is made to look like a look, but the exterior scene is too much. How to look like a stage play, the authenticity is greatly compromised. It looks like an old Shanghai in the eyes of a western set designer. Plus the lighting, is it Chinatown? Maybe Westerners will think that this is the old Shanghai they have always known about, but in the eyes of Chinese people, it is too much. Some people think of Sin City's exaggerated comics. Such an epic film, with such a background cannot meet the needs of supporting the plot, and completely weakens the story itself.
I want to listen to the original sound but I can't find it. In fact, the soundtrack is also a failure. The opening was okay, I couldn't keep up with the rhythm in the middle, and when I thought of the sound of the erhu, I was completely disappointed in the soundtrack. The person in charge of the soundtrack is a man named Stephen Edward. On IMDB, he has listed more than 80 movies and TV series from 1992 to the present. Most of them are unknown movies. The only one I am familiar with is the 1993 Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng. There is not even a major Hollywood blockbuster, and almost 20 years have passed, and there has been no progress at all. I don’t know if the director chose such a person to make this movie because he wanted to save more, or the director has predicted that he will not get it after the movie is released. The expected effect so gave up the late-stage soundtrack?
What's more satisfying is that the ending part of the movie is handled very cleanly. Lanting protects Anna for love and sacrifices. Paul flees with Anna. When he encounters Tanaka who is still alive, Tanaka deliberately ignores him and put the two on the ferry to go away, and Paul uses it. The narration explained that the two finally returned to China to participate in the War of Resistance Against Japan. The plot processing is concise and powerful. Although the picture is a bit messy because of the setting, it is finally closed. Although the climax is not high at all, it is a calm ending compared with the lengthy foreshadowing before.
If you just go to see Gong Li and John Cusack, you won’t be disappointed; if you just go to see Xiao Ma 20 years later and then be handsome, at least you will be very satisfied at the end; if you want to watch an epic blockbuster, then at the end Will only be disappointed. A film that can be made well is dragged down by the director, the set and the soundtrack, and the finished product becomes a chicken rib.
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