It is said that Wang Jing is a genius, a good film or a bad film, it only depends on whether he is willing to make it seriously. What I want to say is that even his most serious films are nothing more than that. Tsui Hark's stunts, Cheng Xiaodong's steel wire, John Woo's gunfire... These Hong Kong film favorites have all made outstanding contributions to the Hong Kong film dictionary in terms of technology or bridges, which has made them famous. And Wang Jing, except for the word "gambling", has almost nothing to contribute. Even in his most majestic era, he was a "copy" character, and he immediately swallowed the popular passages and styles in other people's films and made new films. The decline of Hong Kong movies has a lot to do with this trend of plagiarism. Since it is said that "Chasing the Dragon" originated from "The Lame Man" and "Lei Luo Biography", then we have to figure out a question, is this a "remake", "a tribute" or a "copy"?
"The Lame Man" is a rare gangster epic genre in Hong Kong movies. Different from ordinary police and gangster films, in addition to showing the bloody details of crimes and the special personalities of criminals, this type of film aims to explore the sociological level of crime, that is, the inextricable relationship between the times, politics and institutions. For such movies, the United States has the "Godfather" trilogy, Japan has the five-part "War without Benevolence and Righteousness" and more than ten derivative works. In China, there are only "Cripple" and two "Underworld" by John To . If the latter shows the decline of the traditional underworld in the 21st century, then "The Lame Man" tells the golden age of organized crime in Hong Kong in a grand and positive way. Since the influx of mainland refugees into Hong Kong in the 1960s, under the special political structure, the police and gangs were in cahoots, and the drug, pornography, and gambling industries were rampant in Hong Kong. In two and a half hours, "The Lame Man" tells the story of such an era from grass-roots crime to collusion between police and bandits to institutionalized power replacing everything. Lv Liangwei, who gained dozens of pounds, played the heroic lame pride, Lei Luo played by Zeng Jiang, the dumb killer played by Xu Jinjiang, and the heroine played by Ye Tong...all gave unforgettable performances. The film therefore won the 11th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay. And gave birth to two follow-up "Lei Luo Biography".
On the surface, "Chasing the Dragon" seems to be the authentic successor of "The Lame Man" + "Lei Luo Biography", and even the actors overlap a lot, but the addition does not do this. The sum of two masterpieces is not necessarily a masterpiece, or even a masterpiece.
Compared with the original work, the most obvious change in "Chasing the Dragon" is that the layout has become smaller, and there are many taboos. First of all, Lai Hao, Fei Bo and Lai Luo were all born in Chaoshan, which is why they have many complicated interests, and the film was changed to "Nanyang people". I understand that geographical discrimination is not allowed, but since it is called someone else's name, should we respect the historical facts? Second, the historical situation is gone. It makes sense to divide chapters into chapters based on the changes of the times. The turmoil in Hong Kong, a small land, is actually inextricably linked with the turmoil in China and the world. The Biography of Lai Luo also shows the support of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Fighters face off on the streets of Hong Kong. For reasons we all know, these are logically omitted. Regardless of this, the most important thing is that the tone of the entire film has changed. The main contradiction has changed from the fight between you and me within the Chinese to the conflict between China and the UK. It is the rampant and domineering of the British that breeds lawless gangsters and corrupt police. Such a politically correct conclusion is very consistent with the main theme of the "Rise of Great Powers" era, but how does it look like "Ip Man" rather than "Lame Man".
The most unbearable thing for me is that Lai Hao and Lai Luo actually became good brothers from birth to death, and finally told each other "I want to see you" on the phone! At this moment, the gangster movie has officially transformed into a hero movie. Don't ask me why they can't be good brothers, I only know that McDonald's and John Woo are two-way people, and only Wang Jing can copy their works together. That's called pulling hard.
Wang Jing claimed to have spent 10 million to set up the scenery and restored the Kowloon Walled City, but it gave the impression that it was just moved from "Poison Commandments". The two chases in the corridor make people especially miss McDonnell's "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers" and Lan Naicai's "Out of the Walled City", that is the real combination of action, environment and human nature. The classic passage of the tragic atmosphere of "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent".
Of course, this movie can only be said to be mediocre, not a bad movie, and it can even be said that there are bright spots in it. The biggest one is the lame man played by Donnie Yen.
A friend of mine said something, and I agree. He said that there is only one criterion for a kung fu superstar, and that is whether his movements are recognizable. This is true of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Even if you wear a mask, you can still recognize the deity from his actions at a glance, you can't go wrong. What I want to say more is that Bruce Lee is the only one who can bring the style of action drama into the performance of literary drama and form special body language. And Donnie Yen's performance in "Chasing the Dragon" shows that even if he has a lame foot, even if he wears an unsightly wig, his domineering gestures are enough to make him competent for the important task of acting as a hero. I hope that he will get better and better on this road, and solve the big problem of "what if the old gun can't be beaten" earlier than Jackie Chan.
Of course, Donnie Yen's action scenes are still top-notch. He and Wu Yunlong started the fight in the restaurant, and brought his own "no rhythm real fight" style into the movements designed by Yuan Bin, which was quite expressive and ornamental. If there was an action drama of the year selection, I would nominate this one.
Finally, it is a pity for Hong Kong movie fans that male stars are still more vigorous than female stars. Andy Lau, Zheng Zeshi, Zeng Jiang, Chen Huimin, Huang Rihua... are still active, but Qiu Shuzhen, Zhang Min, Ye Tong and Ye Zilin, who are also unforgettable in the original work, are nowhere to be seen. Followed by a new generation of actresses such as Hu Ran and Xu Dongdong. The spirit of Hong Kong films has long gone, and it is probably the only thing fans can do this holiday to pay tribute to "Chasing the Dragon".
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