watching "Mermaid", I was very sad, because the director who had never made a bad film in the Chinese film industry has since lost one more director. Bad movies are also divided into different levels: some movies are so bad that you don't even want to watch them, and some are too lazy to criticize after you watch them. "Mermaid" is neither. It's the kind of bad movies that you need to criticize when you watch. As a loyal audience of Stephen Chow, I would not recommend this movie to others. The reason is very simple. The idol’s trousers are zippered and "the shit is gushing out." I quickly reminded him that it was too late to cover his shame, let alone cheering others to come and see.
Of course, it is irresponsible to just say that the movie is bad, you have to prove that it is really bad. As a comedy by Stephen Chow, "The Mermaid" is unexpectedly not funny. The audience where I was in was over half of the audience, but there was little laughter. The jokes in the film, whether it is "feces, piss," or "nonsensical", are almost all about cooking cold rice and eating money. In fact, some of the clues can be seen from the fact that some of the more funny scenes (Deng Chao went to the police station to report) were cut into the trailer early in the morning, and the film was unexpectedly not screened in advance.
Self-repetition is not terrible, but self-consumption is terrible. Self-repetition, as long as the pursuit of quality, new stories can always bring new meaning. Self-consumption is completely lying on previous achievements and overdrafting credibility. Huang Baiming and Liu Zhenwei are both living examples. And now, Stephen Chow's performance in this movie has begun to show signs of self-consumption.
In terms of "shit pee", the exposed butt in "Kung Fu" has a nuanced life background such as "Pig Cage City Wall". The shit in "The King of Comedy" is a portrayal of the protagonist's bitter heart. In "Mermaid", it is also showing butt and also mentioning shit, but because of the lack of specific and vivid story that runs through the whole film, the jokes that should be naturally generated are reduced to functional fertilizers, which makes people feel embarrassed and boring. .
In terms of several important "nonsensical" comedy scenes in the film. "Mermaid" Lin Yun always failed to assassinate Deng Chao, and copied "Domestic Lingling Paint"; "Octopus" Luo Zhixiang's tentacles were fried in a restaurant, imitating "A Westward Journey". Leaving aside Lin Yun's performance is completely inferior to that of Anita Yuan, and Luo Zhixiang's single performance is far inferior to Zhi Zun Bao and Bodhi Patriarch's double reeds.
A more fatal problem is that the subject matter, story, setting, and characters of "Domestic Lingling Paint" and "Western Journey" are absurd. The audience will not feel guilty or guilt when they laugh because of the abuse of "killer" Yuan Anyi and "Bodhi Patriarch" Liu Zhenwei. "Mermaid" is different. In the film, Lin Yun and Luo Zhixiang both shoulder the mission of racial revenge. The tragic situation of the mermaid tribe is explained in detail. In this situation, the audience can still laugh when they see the two self-defeating abuses. Can it come out?
"Mermaid" reminds us of many classic movies starring or directed by a star. He constantly reproduces and emphasizes his authorship in the film, like a primary school student in his previous award-winning essay copying a sentence in the Middle East and extracting a sentence from the west. Then put together a new article in a story template. Reading this article carefully, you will find that it is so empty and empty, giving people a feeling of Zhou Xingchi participating in the imitating Zhou Xingchi contest but showing a clumsy performance.
2.
Many commentators blindly emphasized the serious environmental theme and the innocent and innocent theme of the film. They just couldn't admit that the director told a naive, hypocritical and even a bit nauseating story this time. Please stop saying that this is a comedy version or an environmentally friendly version of "Lust ● Caution". Have you insulted "Lust ● Caution" so much. Have you sought Ang Lee's consent? The style of nonsensical comedy is not a panacea, and it cannot control the tragic core of the story of "Lust and Caution". On the contrary, like serious environmental subjects, the two will only dissolve and repel each other.
Simplicity and innocence cannot be an excuse for weak story construction. The false characters in the story of "The Mermaid", the abrupt turn, and the hasty ending, etc., are things that viewers with a little movie-watching experience will know at a glance. It took more than two hours for Ang Lee to "fiddle" in "Lust and Caution" before Wang Jiazhi finally let go of Mr. Yi. There were many twists and turns. How long did it take for Lin Yun to fall in love with Deng Chao in "The Mermaid"? I won't ask why, anyway, they are true love, true love is invincible, and invincible doesn't need to tell a good story.
Many things take time, such as love. When watching "Mermaid", you can clearly feel that the director is in a hurry, rushing to offer the audience those old-fashioned jokes, but has no time to seriously portray the characters. In the film, there is a scene in which Deng Chao cheated Lin Yun, but he soon returned. why? Because they must love each other, otherwise the plot will not be able to unfold. A Xing in "Kung Fu" also lied to the dumb woman at the beginning of the film, but it took a long time for him to reunite with the dumb woman until the end of the movie. Because he had to realize his childhood dream in order to face the mute girl and himself. After such a comparison, you know what the difference between cloud and mud is.
3.
In fact, as early as "Journey to the West ● Conquering the Demons", Stephen Chow once said that love is an important market demand. Only at that time, Miss Duan's love for Xuanzang still moved many people, including me. Now the love in "The Mermaid" has been reduced to a crappy drama in a third-rate idol drama, which can't help but be embarrassing. This seemingly sincere but false so-called "innocent" is no different from the popular online actors and popular little fresh meats who showed their faces in the film. They are all just out of market considerations.
There is nothing wrong with paying attention to the market, and it should even be praised. Stephen Chow has never denied that he attaches great importance to the market. He is a very outstanding film creator, and he has never been the kind of artist who is in the style of spring and snow. But the director should have a self-requirement, that is, to cater to the needs of the market can not hurt the quality of the film itself.
It may be that the quality of the film is just like that. The director rarely and arrogantly puts multiple hard videos in the film, such as liquor, yogurt, browser, and website in the same city.... .. These ads successfully pushed "Mermaid", which was already on the verge of a bad movie, into the abyss of bad movie. Let’s ask, when the mermaid clan was bloody slaughtered, the director let the protagonist of the “prodigal son return to the gold” to squeeze halfway through the road, played with the stalker, and successfully promoted an advertisement. What do you think as an audience? ?
In
summary, the badness of "Mermaid" is definitely not bad at a certain point or aspect, but a multi-faceted interactive "smashing on the street". In addition to the above reasons, I personally think that Stephen Chow encountered Waterloo this time because of the following three deep-seated reasons.
First, Zhou Xingchi's movies have always been good at portraying small people. This is his strength and weakness. The life experience at the bottom of his childhood, his obsession with and admiration of martial arts and Bruce Lee, and his unremitting pursuit of ideals are what Zhou wants to express the most. Looking at the work of his independent director, "Kung Fu" is recognized as the pinnacle of work because it combines these three very well. But Zhou is not a professional director who can shoot on any subject.
He cannot handle subjects beyond his own personal experience. The failure of "The Mermaid" is a clear proof.
Second, Stephen Chow is a genius, not an all-rounder. The reason why "Zhou Xingchi" became synonymous with the king of comedy is that in addition to Zhou's own efforts, there are many names that we need and are worth remembering: Li Lichi, Liu Zhenwei, Gu Dezhao, Wang Jing, Wu Mengda and so on. Audiences who pay attention to the ending subtitles will find that "Mermaid" has only one screenwriter this time: Stephen Chow. (There are other co-writers, but he is the only independent screenwriter.) For "Xing Chi Chow's Comedy" to remain at a high level forever, more talents must participate and interact.
Thirdly, "The Mermaid" is the first work in the true sense without Zhou Xingchi, but all the actors are of Zhou's performance style. It seems that "too much Stephen Chow" is not necessarily a good thing. "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" benefited from the strong personal styles of actors such as Shu Qi, Huang Bo and the article. They were not completely submerged under the aura of "Zhou Xingchi". Instead, they collided and interacted with them, resulting in a wonderful chemical reaction. "Mermaid" is different. Deng Chao can only say that he has completed the performance task satisfactorily, and the performances of the old and new star girls are far from satisfactory.
Fifth,
at the beginning of "Mermaid", the curator of the Wonderful Animals Museum angrily said to the audience who wanted to refund the ticket: "I gave you ten yuan, and I have to give you my life." I didn't expect the words to come true. Zhou Xingchi is like the curator this time, showing the audience a severely shrunken exhibit. I want to say to Mr. Zhou: "I will not ask for a refund for the ticket I bought for 30 yuan." I want to say to the Star Master fans who cannot accept criticism of "Mermaid": "I don't want Zhou Xingchi's life. I criticize a movie. He will not be killed. On the contrary, criticizing this film is the greatest respect for the director."
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