How to implant the essence of Hong Kong-style action films into modern action films? Jackie Chan and Tang Jili's choice is to combine action comedy with the positive energy of the main theme.
The 60-year-old Tang Jili and the 65-year-old Jackie Chan once again joined forces to stand on the screen of the Lunar New Year stall.
As world-renowned action film directors and world-renowned action film actors, the experiences of the two along the way can be said to complement each other and are an important part of the history of action films.
Before 1985, Jackie Chan failed to enter Hollywood. After returning to Hong Kong, he began to personally direct the "Police Story" series and the "Plan A" series.
After the fire of "Police Story" and its sequel, Jackie Chan recruited Tang Jili, who was born in martial arts, to guide the third part. At that time, Tang Jili, who made his debut with "Dragon of the Demon", had an experience of studying abroad and was good at combining Chinese action films with Western ones. Combining business models. In the end, "Police Plan 3", which the two officially cooperated with, made Jackie Chan stand on the podium of the Golden Horse Awards and the Academy Awards again after six years, and Tang Jili himself also won the best action guidance for the first time, and won the title for three consecutive years. .
After that, Tang Jili used a "Red Zone" to help Jackie Chan successfully open the door to Hollywood, and the international cooperation between the two became deeper and deeper. In recent years, the cooperation between "Tang Cheng" and "Tang Cheng" has begun to pay more and more attention to the development of new action films, including this "Pioneer".
1. Main melody
From the "Operation Red Sea" and "Wolf Warriors" series to "My Motherland and Me", which was dedicated to the 70th anniversary last year, they are all conveying the various changes that the main theme movie seeks in terms of form. The current trend is to combine ideological things with commercial films that are popular with the public. It is the core that commercial films need to carry.
Undoubtedly, it would be more appropriate for this task to be entrusted to Jackie Chan, who has a strong box office appeal and a well-known reputation, and Tang Jili, a director who has experienced the Hollywood action industry and has insight into the action comedy genre of Hong Kong films. This combination is also a guarantee that the film's positive energy theme can be best combined with its commercial nature.
First of all, in terms of the content of the movie, today's theme movies are more focused on the power of the collective, although there are also individual moments of flash, but different from individual heroism is that a person's dedication is inseparable from the collective strength. The support behind it must solve the final problem in a collective way.
Therefore, judging from the lineup of the "Pioneer" movie, this kind of group play is a breakthrough for the development of our main theme movie. In addition to ensuring that the core is solid, the group drama can also provide the character elements and storyline conflict that an action film needs.
Second, we need stories that can resonate with everyone. Arousing the national honor and national pride of the audience is the goal that the theme movie needs to achieve. Judging from the same type of movies in recent years, it is a main creative method to use the military combat characteristics as the artistic breakthrough point against the background of the real news events of safeguarding the status and majesty of the motherland. The audience has heard about such a story before watching the movie, and has a certain degree of awareness and emotional impact of the event. The substitution of the story itself has a foundation, which can easily arouse the audience's movie-watching emotions. In addition, the military-oriented story has a faster pace, bloody scenes and exciting plots.
Relying on military forces to punish hostile forces not only completes the display of collective strength mentioned above, but also forms a feature of our Chinese action films through rigorous, powerful and flesh-and-blood performance, which is also a type of direction for our film culture to export. And "Pioneer" has generally undertaken these and optimized it in its own unique way. The direction of optimization is the action comedy style that director Tang Jili is good at.
2. Hong Kong style
Tang Jili, who has directed "Red Zone", "Myth" and "Zodiac", knows how to make action movies to make audiences like them. This style of action comedy has allowed him to successfully enter Hollywood. Due to his early Western education, he understands how Chinese Kung Fu can be simplified, so that the elements of Kung Fu can be accepted by the public without understanding the meaning behind it. , and show it entertainingly.
As an early cultural fusion area in China, Hong Kong’s exploration of the combination of Chinese Kung Fu culture and Western action entertainment preceded the mainland, so this is why many Hong Kong directors generally succeed in directing action dramas after returning to the north. Comparing Hong Kong action films, the characters are full of stories, the stories span a large area, and the conflicts between black and white are more solid, and they have enough experience in dealing with contradictions.
The crux of the problem is how to transfer the essence of these Hong Kong-style action films to the action films we produce now. Director Tang Jili's choice is to expand the core of action comedy and our films, to set the story not only in China, but also to strive for certain scenes abroad, and the story is international, technological, and concise. It can not only highlight the development of the country, but also create the feeling of a blockbuster.
It can be seen that the development of Hong Kong films still needs to recognize the development of the mainland environment, actively understand the combination of values and entertainment, and use the experience of Hong Kong films and the core of positive energy to tell our own stories in China.
3. The future
Of course, "Pioneer" not only includes Jackie Chan, but also actors such as Yang Yang and Allen who have never filmed an action movie. At the exchange meeting, director Tang Jili mentioned more than once that he should give young actors a better stage to exercise. After all, Jackie Chan is no longer young. With actors like Donnie Yen withdrawing from the front line of action films, our Action movies are in urgent need of a new generation of actors who have a certain reputation and can work hard to take over this banner. It is even more necessary for an excellent action film director like Tang Jili to provide opportunities, and he is willing to let these actors try and dig out of it.
Today, when the content of the film market is updated rapidly and the demand for funds is increasing day by day, it is not uncommon for a director to be able to lead actors to open up their own way with peace of mind and boldness, especially to try action films, which are risky and need to endure more hardships. Many, this is also a phenomenon that our film market needs to crack.
In addition, we also need a director like Tang Jili who has experienced different cultural environments and can do a good job of cultural integration to create better stories. Facts have repeatedly proved that our main theme movies can be both applauded and popular.
In the future, action films like "Pioneer" will attract more and more attention. Aiming at such themes, making good use of the core of business stories and main themes, and cultivating certain new actors, this is the model that action films in the new era should follow.
This is the road that action films in this era are going to take, and it is also the greatest value of the outstanding action filmmakers of the generation of Tang Jili and Jackie Chan.
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