Joe Canahan’s new film "Five-Way Killing Order" obviously also uses this kind of film narrative, but it is unceremonious to say that the film is much worse than expected, although it also uses a lot of black. Humorous expressions, crazy or even extremely dazzling editing methods, and a number of inexplicable coincidences and sudden changes in the situation, but fundamentally speaking, this film can only be called a parody of "Two Smokers" That's it, it's just that in production, the arrogance of the picture and the uniqueness of the characters are beyond the domestically produced "Crazy Stone".
In order to establish this multi-clue narrative, the film adopts the most conventional old routine, namely treasure hunting. It's just that this baby is a bit special, it is to kill a person before he can get the one million bonus. People die for money, and birds die for food. Under the temptation of one million people, of course, people from all walks of life will be dispatched, and of course their relationship will be entangled. The target of the killers is an outdated magician. Because they had tried to expand their gang power, they annoyed the gang leader, so the magician had to turn to the FBI to seek protection from the government. For such a tainted witness, the killers of all walks of life will of course spare no effort to earn the one million bounty, and the story can be regarded as the official beginning.
This is the premise of the story, but unfortunately there is nothing new in this premise. Because of the existence of the magician, the one million is obviously the goal that everyone is pursuing, but with this kind of goal, it means that all people in the story are Will be actively involved, and will work hard for this goal. This is a typical treasure hunting strategy, but it also means that an important role will be missing from the story, that is, the innocent is involved, because from the perspective of the play, when innocent people are involved, the story will be intentional. Unexpected things happen, and this unexpected is the most interesting part of the multi-thread structure. However, the establishment of the director’s motivation leaves no room for this unexpected, so the audience can speculate about the development of the story unscrupulously, and basically can’t jump out of normal thinking. The only thing left is to rely solely on the audiovisual language of the film and television. Enjoy this movie.
In fact, when the goal is determined, it is completely possible to infiltrate the role of an innocent person. This role can influence the more peculiar development of the film, but unfortunately, Joe Canahan does not seem to be interested in this, so we Had to honestly watch how a group of people took the treasure and which one would become the ultimate winner.
When setting goals, the film introduces the five-way people one by one. I have to admit that a lot of work has been done on the five-way people in this film. The first way is a few profit-seeking bounty killers. , This is the most routine character in general movies. The second way is a few punk killers. His arrogant style can definitely be impressive. The third way is an expert in disguise. His existence is the most resourceful. , Is also the most defensible. The fourth way is to torture the expert. This guy is known for his graceful cruelty, even at any cost. Of course, if there are no sexy women in such a commercial film, then it must be a failure. , So two female killers of the same sex became the fifth passerby. Under this circumstance, the police who protect the magician and the magician themselves constitute the other two groups. Among them, the police can be divided into two factions, one before the war and the other behind the scenes. Looking at it this way, the film has eight clues. If these eight clues can be described clearly, the director's skill will of course not be underestimated.
If there are eight clues in a film, then the most important thing is two questions. The first is how to jump randomly among the eight clues, and the second is how to arrange the scenes of these eight clues. On the first question, time is certainly the most important reference, but from the point of view of film techniques, it is nothing more than transitions and editing. I have to admit that the film did a pretty good job of transitioning, especially in the first half of the film. In order to introduce all the killers, the director not only borrowed the words of the police, but also borrowed the introduction between the killers. Of course, the use of these transition methods such as lines, actions, and colors basically meets the needs of the plot. This is similar to Gary's transition method.
The number of roles in the eight clues is basically related to the director’s play. If the introduction of these killers at the beginning is extremely dazzling, then in the storytelling, these killers must be endowed with a uniqueness. Personality. In this regard, the director’s script is obviously not powerful enough. There are not too many killers who can make an impression. It’s just that the homosexual couple has same-sex sentiments about feminism, and the pseudo-religion of the punk killer, etc. The others are basically in a symbolic nature, losing their personal charm in the face of excessive bloody violence, and basically only becoming a prop. Of course, it is the kind of very stylized props that looks seductive but unbearable. Carefully consider.
Of course, as a commercial film, it does not seem to have such strict requirements, but if you just blindly imitate some film and television techniques, you will obviously fall into an awkward situation where the content cannot carry the form.
Back to the film, in fact, in addition to these eight clues, there is another clue that is very important, and that is flashback. As for this film, these flashbacks are the biggest suspense, and the original feeling of the story is immediately elevated to a new concept. This overthrowing this treasure hunting convention, and giving the identity of the disguise expert a new interpretation, it is not difficult to understand why when the disguise expert was alone with the magician, he did not immediately do it. So, as we flashed back to the beginning of the film, the final winner of all the strategies became the FBI, and the entire plan to protect the magician and the hunting of the five-way killer seemed very absurd.
Although the film did give an unexpected ending at the last moment, in fact, those flashbacks and this final explanation are difficult to convince the audience, which seems rather far-fetched. This is also an unexpected result for the unexpected. But in general, although this film is far inferior to Gayrich's "Two Smoking Guns", it is still a highly watchable film. From this point of view, director Joe Canahan is also relieved. .
Han Xi
was
produced by Tongzhou Tom Film Critics Group on May 16, 2007, please reprint it!
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