The first [Border Slayer] three years ago entered the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival, and also won a number of nominations from the British and American Academy;
Chaotic background, dark setting, grand narrative, beautiful photography, shocking soundtrack, gloomy interpretation...
These are the reasons why the previous work is full of honors. For a mainstream commercial film , this result is very good.
After ushering in the sequel this year, these decisive elements of victory are still there, which is the focus of everyone's attention.
With director Dennis Villeneuve, cinematographer Roger Deakins, composer John Johnson and heroine Emily Blunt all withdrawing from the series, only Taylor Sheridan's tough script and two A male protagonist supports the second part;
Overall, the degree of completion is obviously worse than the first one, and the above-mentioned elements are slightly lacking——
However, the plot is still complex and changeable, and the style has been continued. Although there are loopholes, I have to admit that the film has done a good job in enriching the story of the characters.
Josh Brolin , who is extremely lethal , and Benicio del Toro , who has been nominated for multiple Best Supporting Actors for his performance in the previous work, were selected this time for special shaping, becoming absolute protagonist.
In the last episode, we saw that during a federal special forces operation under the command of Matt (Josh Brolin) , he and Agent Alessandro (Benicio del Toro) did not press the button . Acting according to the rules, the concept of the heroine Kate began to shake;
This time, through a carefully planned operation to subdue the drug lord, we gain a deeper understanding of who and what happened to former undercover spy Alessandro.
What is the purpose of his choice, his revenge , and his viciousness?
What critical positive and negative impact would his personal style decision and subsequent change in attitude have on the entire operation?
①
Both good and evil, walking on the edge of morality
Human bombs caused many explosions, resulting in the death and injury of many innocent hostages. Officials saw that serious means could no longer suppress the terrorist forces, and sent special forces to secretly allow them to swim outside the law and surrender to the enemy.
The leading Matt himself has always been a character who plays cards out of common sense , and of course he has drawn dangerous elements who dare to play big when he performs the task;
Alessandro came on the scene and embarked on the road of revenge .
After showing up for a few minutes, he started to enlarge his moves - yes, it is the Alessandro we are familiar with:
What I want is this effect: not much nonsense, let you see who I am and what kind of revenge I am taking, that is enough, and then you should go to hell.
At the beginning of the second part, he was unrelenting , shooting unequivocally and unrelentingly, quick, accurate and ruthless to quickly solve the stubborn life in front of him.
It was this ruthlessness that confused the heroine in the first part—
And this time, it was the little girl 's turn to fight against him :
At first glance, she seems innocent and simple, but in fact she sees it more clearly than anyone else, and she is full of murderous aura——
At the moment of her appearance, she knocked over her classmates who insulted her without mercy. As the daughter of a big drug lord who dominates one side , Teacher Chosheng didn't have any effort.
When she was kidnapped, she showed fear and collapse, but she was probably relatively calm compared to most people .
After the police rescued her, she began to think about the follow-up methodically and doubted the identity of the police.
Self-directed and acted a kidnapping incident, and then the soldiers of the special forces rescued the little girl-Matt and Alessandro planned to use the trick to anger the big drug lord, so as to lead the battle and capture her;
The government has its own set of plans, but aren't the soldiers working in the fields? After "rescuing" the girl, the next step is to pretend to keep her safe, of course, she is just a bait .
As a character who rushed in to save people, Alessandro naturally had to sing to the end—
But of course he refused.
He, whose wife and daughter were killed at the hands of the drug lord, may have thought that he would not have a hard day.
After completing the purpose of teasing the opponent, he also began to find ways to get rid of the "burden".
He was trying to finish his personal grievance , and on the surface, he "had no intention of worrying about the girl's life", but the military has a different attitude towards the value of the girl;
The conflict at this time has not yet started, but it can be seen from some small details that the two parties who have joined forces because of "the enemy of the enemy is a friend" have already had differences in attitude.
Alessandro's observance confuses the girls, while Matt tries to find a balance between following official orders and working with Matt.
Obviously from the start, this road to revenge is more personal for Alessandro (and work for Matt), and more obvious at the "what to do with the little girl" stage.
In his eyes, killing drug dealers is the first priority, and on Matt's side, he has to take care of his teammates——
One has a clear direction, the other is businesslike, and Alessandro's unrestricted range of activities also provides room for his emotional changes .
When it came time to shoot, he was unequivocal; he took responsibility for the entire operation and the key people he took on himself.
In terms of killing, others don't seem to see his moral bottom line ; but after a short time with the girl, the task of "escorting the enemy's daughter" becomes unclear——
Communication brings about the exchange of emotions , as we will see later.
The girl was almost injured after escaping, and was rescued by Alessandro - it is still impossible to judge his ultimate goal, but the contradiction seems to be slowly being resolved, and the ending that was originally destined to be decisive is also quietly changing .
At this time, the girl has almost guessed their identities, and the military has imposed a tough attitude and showed no mercy to the girl;
However, Alessandro put down his revenge gesture in front of the girl and instead kept the girl safe .
They embarked on a short journey, and the relationship on this journey was the key point of Alessandro 's attitude change before and after——
We suddenly see his sad past , and we can also glimpse the rationality of his final choice in this film.
To drug dealers and criminals, and to all who choose to support them, Alessandro does not leave his enemies alive at all;
But when dealing with innocent people and victims, his delicate and generous style shows the audience another side of him, the side of being a human rather than a war machine.
We can even say that he, who was motivated by revenge, was the most extreme embodiment of his "human" side when he turned into a weapon.
His moral boundaries are self- indulgent, but a closer look makes it clear that his behavior appears to be unchecked, when in fact he is acting entirely on his own terms .
The change in Alessandro's attitude immediately contrasted with the attitude of the US government——
We saw Alessandro's bottom line, and at the same time, the official bottom line began to shake.
He can finally be soft-handed for innocent lives and the remaining morality, but the military can do whatever it takes for its own interests and face .
Originally it was Alessandro who acted as an anarchist killer, and officials and federal troops set the rules, but everything was reversed...
By the end, the audience can fully understand and accept Alessandro's solid moral iron wall ;
In the confrontation between drug dealers and soldiers, it is still unknown where the lower limit is.
How ironic.
Anyway, the two sides have gone to war, and the girl's life and death have no effect on the overall situation; Alessandro is just a wandering ghost on the border. If he is dead, who will care?
②
Where is the bottom line, let it die and then live
In the [Border Slayer] series, the lineup is dominated by male characters, and "masculinity" exists as a solid theme.
In the dust and fire on the border, they blurred the line between good and evil and completely let go of the restrictions on their own behavior.
Helicopter, gunfights, and intrigue between military strategists, the main elements in the first part, are still reflected in the second part.
Under the turbulent situation, everyone's selfishness and ugliness are exposed.
For government officials , looking good is the most important thing;
For special forces executives and soldiers , following orders and not screwing up is the most important;
For fugitives and avengers , survival and revenge are the most important things.
When it comes to public affairs, it becomes a personal gain .
There is a dark line buried in this film with a strong sense of existence , and the intersection with the main line is also quite interesting.
The story of the boy's origin and experience, as well as the process of his many encounters with the protagonist, the final confrontation, and the entanglement of fate, also shows the psychological process of a character who is on the edge of good and evil .
So we can also understand that the boy's swaying attitude change and determination to complete the mission are also a side manifestation of the protagonist Alessandro .
Of course, the appearance of this boy and the plot that finally intersects with Alessandro is obviously also to lead to the third part . We can expect the story after this dark line merges into the main line-what kind of character will the boy become? After all this, what will Alessandro choose?
Since the first part, Alessandro has appeared in front of the audience as a cold- blooded killer . The whole film in the previous film is in a state of iron, and there is no fluctuation at all;
After he became the absolute protagonist in the second part, a lot of credit for the dismantling of this character is also on this little girl.
Maybe she reminded him of his own daughter, maybe he found his inner conscience when he saw innocent lives;
This is uncertain, but what is certain is that because of the kindness that the girl evokes, we are able to see Alessandro in full, and the characters are more three- dimensional .
Benicio del Toro and his characters absolutely dominated the "Border Slayer" series;
The highlight of the previous film was his excellent dominance, and the unique experience of this film is to pay attention to his detailed dynamic changes .
Director Solima is very good at making these kind of resilient crime movies - he will also direct a new [Call of Duty] film in 2020 .
In directing the sequel to the film, which reflects tensions at the border , the director tapped into the slow and constant tension in Taylor Sheridan's script to build great tension in the story and characters .
"You know something's going to happen - but you don't know what 's going to happen, when it's going to happen ."
The film is full of tense and intense scenes, not just those gunfights , but even every conversation , every small talk , which will not let people relax, but with the ups and downs of the atmosphere, there is also the mood of the characters.
With Sheridan's script as the soul and emotional core of the film, the antagonism of the characters Matt and Alessandro drives the plot and brings unexpected twists to the story.
The conflict between the two is an important part of the movie, and the performances of Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are naturally wonderful.
More importantly, this [Border Killer 2: Frontier Soldier] hardly needs to be regarded as a sequel——
It can become an independent film , without the need for the first film, we can learn everything that the main characters can show from this film alone.
But the first part (especially the role of Emily Blunt ) made an important setup for the moral background of the second part, and all the contradictions have inextricable causal connections and emotional foils ;
In the director's words, the heroine in the previous work can be seen as the audience's point of view : we stand on the moral high point that most people agree with, and judge the behavior of the other two main characters.
In the second part, we can see the original appearance of these two characters without any filters , their most real and thorough appearance - who they are, where they come from and where they are going.
All in all, the previous work is like an introduction to these two characters, and in this one, the audience has already known them, and now they need to go deeper into the characters and discuss them;
So now is the perfect time to expand on their inner dynamics .
Alessandro becomes the center of the story, and we learn more about his contradictions and motivations—
All his motives stem from the anger of vengeance .
In this story, however, he has to protect the enemy's daughter - which brings an interesting conflict to the story .
Faced with saving or not saving, choosing whether to protect his friend or protect her, he is caught in a moral dilemma in this war he has made himself .
The passion and connotation of the film also burst from this.
[Border Killer 2: Frontier Soldier] not only pays attention to the drug problem, but also magnifies the immigration elements of the US-Mexico border in this film;
All of this, in addition to highlighting the struggles of the story and characters, is also to reflect the indifference of the US military and the government——
The film raises a question, but in the attitude of onlookers , it does not talk about how to solve the problem, nor is it to educate the audience;
Probably also in a tough stance, with a silent tone to tell and question: Did you see this? What is your position?
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Text: Yorkshire Viking
The article comes from WeChat public account: Movie Detoxification
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