The film would have been more successful if the female characters were removed

Bettie 2022-03-26 09:01:12

Blood on the Street is the golden age of John Woo's director in the 1980s and 1990s. It is the most alternative work. John Woo himself is said to be very satisfied with this film, but the box office of this work is not good. I think the plot of this film is very similar to Zhang Che's 1973 Thorn Horse. In the assassination, among the three brothers, Ma Xinyi took his younger brother's wife and killed his second brother Huang Zong, Ma Xinyi was assassinated by Zhang Wenxiang, and Zhang Wenxiang died on the execution ground; in the bloody street, A Rong killed A Hui for money, and A Rong was finally killed by A Rong. Killed by B. In the 1973 Spurs, John Woo served as Zhang Che's assistant director, so it is hard to say that this film was not influenced by "Spurs".

The background of this film is the Hong Kong riots in 1967 and the Vietnam War in the 1970s. The conflicts between the three brothers no longer focus on women, but more on money, conflicts and life. The Spurs focus on the characterization of the three brothers and their relationship. In general, I think the characters in this film are not as good as the horses. It is undeniable that Li Zixiong played very well, but the character of A Rong is too thin. His lines are three sentences without money. Listen. It's a bit annoying, it's like "I want money, you all get out" written on the forehead. Tony Leung and Jacky Cheung both had great acting skills, and the judges were blind for not giving them the Golden Horse Awards. So what's wrong with this film? The plot is complicated, the rhythm of the movie is protracted, and the headshots of the gunfight are all the way. It is exactly: endless bullets, endless blood. At first glance, the plot echoes before and after, and the structure is very complete. It is the type of script that Wu Yusen likes, but if you look at it carefully, I think many plots in this film can be deleted, especially all the scenes about female characters - Director Wu is here At one point, I still haven't learned the essence of Zhang Laoshi's movie. The female characters should be deleted if they should. It doesn't matter if they don't. All male actors can still be a good movie.

Now, assuming there are no women in this film, for some reason, Ah B and Ah Hui killed Ah Qiang, and the three brothers went into exile in Vietnam. Under the influence of the Vietnam War and Ah Le, the three brothers officially became desperadoes. He was captured by the North Vietnamese during the service. In the North Vietnamese concentration camp, A Rong killed A Hui and escaped with the money. A Le and A B found out about this and were heartbroken. In the end, A B killed the maimed A Hui with his own hands. After arriving in Hong Kong, he killed Ah Rong. Wouldn't the structure be much simpler? There will be more room for the play part. Ah B's wife's line is really redundant, I really don't want to understand what it is useful for. I originally thought that Tony Leung, as David Jiang, whose main role was to love the eldest brother and then kill his third brother, turned out to have a wife; , I fell in love with Ah B's wife, but it didn't, Li Zixiong's ascetic villain face obviously loves money more; I thought Jacky Cheung would fight with Tony Leung, but it didn't work out, but they both love very deeply, Ah Wife B has no sense of existence from beginning to end... As for the line of female singers, it's not a problem to delete it, after all, it is not the main contradiction of the whole film. In this way, the relationship between the three brothers can be portrayed more deeply, with more literary dramas, less martial arts dramas, better rhythm, and a tighter film.

The Hong Kong directors in the golden age seem to have more or less the plot of the horse. In 1988, in order to pay tribute to Zhang Che, the disciples of Zhang's family filmed the righteousness and bravery together, and then Wu Yusen spent a lot of money on the bloody street, and the afternoon horse filmed the Western Ring. The story, Chen Kexin took the vote. The story of Thorn Horse is indeed very tense. Brotherhood, love, betrayal, and killing are all the themes of drama that Chinese people love. Such a human nature story can be a bright spot no matter what era it is placed in. Wu Yusen's directing road is not like Zhang Che's, the road is smooth and smooth. His directing road is tortuous and difficult, and his outlook on life is much more complicated than Zhang Che, so his "Thorn Horse" is obviously more than Zhang Che. Focus on character expression, characters In terms of relationship building, it is more complicated. Although the characters in this film are not perfect and the plot is a bit slow, the Vietnam War is obviously better than any Hong Kong film I have seen, including Heroes 3 and Going to the Wrath. Violent enough, bloody enough, desperate enough, scary enough . Probably because of this hopeless and repressed war atmosphere, the whole film gives people a kind of despair that "no one knows what will happen in the future". This is probably one of the reasons why the film failed at the box office.

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Extended Reading
  • Krystel 2022-03-28 09:01:11

    7.5/10. The three people from poor families and brothers and sisters went to Vietnam, but because one person A was infatuated with a box of gold, they drifted away (because money became more important to A than brotherhood) until they became enemies. Several scenes of violent aesthetic gunfights are still handled well (sound effects editing and scheduling, etc.), such as soldiers shooting jewelry stores, bar battles with Vietnamese bully Boss Liang, and three people fighting Viet Cong in prison camps. However, the quality of the photography is too rough (the rough picture does not suit the tone of the film's story), and because the film wants to forcibly combine the small story of the three with the big story of the Vietnam War (but does not explore it in depth), the film has A lot of cumbersome plot.

  • Pinkie 2022-03-26 09:01:12

    Woo Yusen's violent aesthetics and the morality of the rivers and lakes also have the problem of not accustomed to the situation. Unaccustomed to the environment arises from the overwhelmed ambitions, and under the premise that the delusions of this door are not lost, the historical curtain must be raised, the US military tanks are brought in, the grand scenes are created, and even the classic episode of the deer hunter is also obsessed (it must be said, The red cloth strip De Niro’s counter-kill is indeed very close to John Woo’s liking, but even so, it still retains the cruel rhythm control and psychological game of Hollywood movies that pursue authenticity: put more bullets and play Russian roulette, dare you? Dare? Reverse the army! You can't turn everything into violent aesthetics, slow-motion gunfights like John Woo's extreme style)... In short, it's all kinds of high-end products, but instead, it makes me fall miserably, from the dance hall to the beachhead battle. , the bullets flying is very lively, but the actual perception is the same. The two scenes of the mid-section climax actually most profoundly expose the artistic style of Hong Kong Films' "everything is crazy and unrestrained" once it tries to get on the stage of realistic history (and this Exactly what Hollywood and mainland movies are good at) will be overwhelmed.

Bullet in the Head quotes

  • Ben: Mr Leong. I think think you're mistaken. When we were in Hong Kong we admired Miss Yen. We like listening to her sing. We were all staring at her just now, as we were wondering... wondering why she had changed so much. She's not pretty any more.

    Paul: Ah Bee!

    Ben: She's lost her innocence. She's not happy any more. I wonder who was responsible for that?

    Y.S. Leong: You're criticizing me? Not many people would speak to me like that. Young man, you've got balls. Bring me wine!

  • Ben: You're pointing a gun on a good friend you've known for more than a decade!