Profile: Master of Fine Arts, a person who is not so fond of movies and words
"The Great Wall" poster
In my opinion, the finished film of "The Great Wall" is not very good, and such a work appears in the hands of a director as mature as Zhang Yimou - that is, in addition to ensuring the integrity of the basic play structure, the details of the story and the integrity of the characters are almost impossible to talk about Since then, this kind of error seems to be more unacceptable to the audience.
The main creative team of the work is almost a Hollywood team, and the five screenwriters in the name are all Americans (Max Brooks is also one of the co-writers of World War Z, 2013. "The Great Wall" in the "gluttonous group attack" taste source), so the story looks very "American blockbuster", and the absolute number of Chinese, all the characters are flat and facial, it seems that it is not so difficult to understand.
(The author finds it interesting here that in Hollywood movies where white people are dominant, a minority of races, we especially feel that yellow races are always flat; but in this film where yellow races are dominant, almost all People (including all the protagonists and Khitans) are still very flat. I don't know if this is because: the protagonist of the story is still white? The westernization of the spiritual core? The script plot is not set locally? Or it is caused by cutting too many characters and side stories later ? Probably all of them).
However, discussing the main creative background and the effect of the finished film is like the role of the female general Lin Mei played by Jing Tian, which hurts the integrity of the story. Whether the chicken lays the egg or the egg lays the chicken, this will be discussed later.
>>> 1. "Zhang-style magic" with a sense of
ritual place. In terms of story creativity, using the Great Wall to resist the invasion of alien beasts, having a country (although there is no home) and heroes, the idea has been raised; under this framework, as long as reasonable plots and characters are filled in, even if there is no creativity, it will not be a movie. Ugly movies, not to mention the level of visual effects in the movie are in the category of "domestic movies", which is an absolute plus.
"Zhong Kui Conquering Demons: Snow Demons and Demons" (2015) is a corner of the demon world. This is the most ridiculous big production domestic magic I saw last year. I don't understand the difference between this kind of creatures, and the special effects images are as you can see, and the design style has nothing to do with Chinese aesthetics.
The monster prototype in "The Great Wall" chose gluttonous, which I think is a very smart choice during the exploration period of domestic fantasy films. Taotie is one of the four ancient beasts in Chinese mythology. It is described in "Shan Hai Jing Bei Shan Jing" - "There is a beast, its shape is like a sheep's body and human face, its eyes are under the armpit, its teeth are tigers and its claws are human. The sound is like a baby, the name is roe deer owl, and it is cannibal."
The "gluttonous" we saw in the movie basically respects this description in terms of appearance and group motivation: sheep body, tiger teeth, human claws, and eyes under the armpit , and is the soft underbelly being attacked. This kind of rooted adaptation is closer to the definition of "Chinese magic" than the graft or even plagiarism that comes from nowhere. Of course, this rationality is only a premise, and there is no absolute advantage or disadvantage to choose or not.
Although the "gluttonous" image in the works of "The Great Wall" is still full of animation, the character's image and personality have sources to rely on.
The second is the visual effects. In the film, whether it is the image and action design of gluttonous, the frontier desert outside the Great Wall, and the weapons, weapons, armor, etc. in the war scenes, they are all excellent. Maybe some people don't like Zhang Yimou's combination of different aesthetic styles from the East and the West, such as the "castle texture" of the interior and exterior scenes of the Great Wall at night, and the cartoonishness of the monster shape (I really think that Western filmmakers can't understand Chinese monsters (in fact, monsters and beasts) In Chinese culture, there are two kinds of creatures in themselves) rough and psychic), these are obviously very western.
The above two are stills of "The Great Wall", but they do not belong to the same aesthetic style category.
But at the same time, he worked hard to incorporate Qin Opera arias (which are indeed moving), beat drums, set off Kongming lanterns, and fought in the fog. In these few clips, it can be felt that the director is trying to integrate into Chinese style among a number of Western masters. An attempt at aesthetics. Coupled with his usual bright multi-color preference, at least the logo of "The Great Wall" is very clear.
Even the magnificent (but useless) soldiers in the film move, because the distribution of his various color blocks (red, yellow, green, blue, purple and black) is not evil, but has some sense of ritual (comparable to the general domestic Blockbuster form, with subtle and high-level distinctions).
Stills of "The Great Wall", this color block division of the picture is actually not annoying.
The above is the author's attempt to think that "The Great Wall" is not enough to be called a "bad movie". Next, is the biggest failure of his play-General Lin's character line accounts for too much space, and this character is loaded with too many functions, which drags down the entire story.
>>> 2. Compressed group image space<<<
First of all, we all know that in the limited space, each frame of picture means there is a choice, and there must be a choice. The length of "The Great Wall" is 104 minutes, which is not long in movies such as magic and war (the beauty of such movies is the complex character lines and grand themes, which will inevitably take time to build); this means that , "The Great Wall" needs to explain a lot of things in a more compact time.
The first war scene in the movie, in the opening 10 minutes, before that, all the main characters except Matt Damon's mercenary side have appeared - there are five generals, one Military division (and a soldier Peng Yong (Lu Han)).
There are three scenes in which the six people are arranged in sequence (if the author has not missed the plan), but as one of the main characters, General Deng, the general of the Lu Jun played by Huang Xuan, did not have a line from beginning to end. After the first time I watched it, I saw Chen Xuedong's name among the leading actors at the end of the film, but I suddenly couldn't remember his role. It was only after watching it for the second time that I found the one who only had the sentence "Who is coming?" and was also hastily eaten. Characters (Kingdoms officers).
"The Great Wall" stills
Among all the characters in the military camp, there is no personal growth, brother (sister) love that lives and dies together, no humanitarian care and human/social reflection (the crime of "greed" is not presented in context in the movie, It's just a verbal account of the military division played by Andy Lau), so what are these characters doing? All of them have been reduced to background boards...
Since there are "characters", there are so-called character functions and characteristics, but in terms of the play structure of "The Great Wall", all characters have no origin and no destination. Neither the character of any of them is portrayed, and the personal endings are all scribbled and lack a complete context.
For example, General Chen (played by Lin Gengxin) ended up being glutted from a hot air balloon, and he didn't even have a close-up when he died (thanks, he still has the most lines and scenes among all generals); not to mention General Wu (played by Peng Yuyan) and General Deng was gone, and the coach went to war, and the two of them stayed on the Great Wall, which had no value for defending the country.
These characters have no character, no story, or even no lines, and naturally they don't take up movie time, so what is the time used for? Anyone who has seen or heard the movie probably knows the answer. Yes, time was spent on the role of General Lin played by Jing Tian.
>>> 3. The protagonist without a goal <<<
There are many works that use a single role as the leading role, like many "lone heroes" or "personal growth history" (more recently, such as "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge" Hacksaw Ridge, 2016), can wear a complete storyline with a (lonely) character change, but this "consistency in completing the task" is obviously blurred by "The Great Wall", because if there is a character in the film that can be Given this kind of mission, it must be William, a mercenary who came to China from Europe, not General Lin, who is much loved in the army - a second-in-command from start to finish.
Similarly, let's take a look at some of the roles in the not very appropriate but quite "Hollywood" "Hacksaw Ridge" as an example.
Desmond Dawes (Andrew Garfield Andrew Garfield), the male protagonist, has a docile but stubborn personality. The whole story starts from his belief of "do not kill" and was challenged in the middle (1. Obstruction and ridicule by his accomplices; 2. Incomprehension of family/love; 3. Life and death challenges from the external environment), and finally stick to this belief, And it was proved that his insistence was correct.
"Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge" stills
The characters associated with his entire mission are: 1. Brother: let Dawes realize for the first time the consequences of his violence; 2. Father: Wounded by war, holder of violence and family power, both let him have The initial impression of the war has deepened the resistance to violence; 3. Lover Dorothy: giving love, conveying faith and belief, making Daws' image more complete, and his insistence on "nothingness" starts from an emotional point of view , more convincing; 4. comrades in arms (different attitudes, but there is also a change from not understanding to applauding to relying on Dawes): These roles are the biggest motivation for Dawes to insist on fighting alone on the battlefield.
It can also be seen from "Hacksaw Ridge" that the mission of the protagonist is to complete the mission, and the related role is the main factor that prompts the protagonist to start and complete the mission - each character has limited attitudes, emotions, and angles, so its role It is also limited, but precisely because it is limited, it appears reasonable and true.
But in "The Great Wall", apart from his companion Tovar (played by Pedro Pascal), only General Lin interacts with the protagonist William (Peng Yong's role is more about William's influence on him, not the reverse) , while his mission is ambiguous.
"The Great Wall" stills, Matt Damon played the mercenary William.
This role was originally the most reasonable role setting to carry the task of the play, but in the end, General Lin cut him off on this task.
If William's role goal is to go from a mercenary mercenary to a lone hero who finds a higher belief in life - "trust"; or to transcend the difference in skin color and gain a sense of mission to save mankind, then this transformation is too easy.
Neither the war touched him nor the emotional context of interacting with local people, the audience could not find a reason to change at all; it is better to say that he fought to the end to help General Lin achieve his achievements because of sporadic goodwill.
>>> 4. General Lin who is in the scene <<<
Then maybe, we can compare the general Lin who takes up a lot of space in "The Great Wall" in the same way.
First of all, as mentioned above, she is highly respected and loved in the military camp, and there is no such thing as "alone" and "transformation". She is a general who protects her family and patriotism. This is her only motivation and belief, and this is almost never challenged (whether it is the father-like Shao Dianshuai (played by Zhang Hanyu) who died to save himself, or the people who saw the whole court. Confused King Jester), she is unswerving in this regard, from the beginning to the end. Strictly speaking, she has neither camaraderie nor opponents, only endless support.
She has and is only related to two characters in the film: Shao Dianshuai and William. The former can be seen as the source of "father" and patriotic belief (although the only thing that shows the friendship between the two in the film is "I taught you a lot..."), the main role of this role is to save General Lin (although this sacrifice It didn't bring her any touch) and passing the commander position to her, that is, the more obvious opportunity to interact with the protagonist William, was left to her.
Stills of "The Great Wall", the left of the picture shows the role of Shao Dianshuai played by Zhang Hanyu; this role has no impetus to the play except for saving General Lin and passing the throne.
The second related role is William, because he is the protagonist, and in the Hollywood story routine, it must be the protagonist-centered system; therefore, his lens quota must be guaranteed.
In order for the General Lin character to have more to do with it (since the storyline is on William), the former has been given a lot of character functionality to reasonably surround the protagonist.
For example: translation (because of the language environment, she is logically tied to the protagonist), love (because she is the only female character with a name and a surname, so she has a weak emotional connection), coach (controlling William's life and death, this power is delicate cause differences and common interests between the two).
"The Great Wall" stills
A lot of interaction unfolded between the two, and General Lin was obviously the character who stood in the middle of the relationship network and could relate to everyone. William could not achieve the function of interacting with others without her.
So far, a character line of unknown primary and secondary importance has been picked out from the entire story, occupying the entire story for the purpose of "connecting" with the protagonist. Even William, who showed his archery power at the beginning, was robbed of his mission to kill the Beastmaster in the end by General Lin (who had never shown strong combat effectiveness), while the former just threw a magnet and ended the war for unknown reasons. .
Judging from the effect of the film "The Great Wall", it will also make people wonder: Is it the line of General Lin that ruined the whole film, or is there a "female breakout among men standing in a row" in the film, so it is necessary to have this overbearing host. Female characters, but the actors are just screwed up. However, because women really have no "sexual characteristics" in the film, and there is no way to talk about gender differences, so maybe it's not that the movie needs characters, but the characters really need the movie.
In this regard, the birth and failure of "The Great Wall", is it the chicken or the egg?
View more about The Great Wall reviews
