I must admit that I was skeptical about whether director Chen Desen could control the film of this theme. After all, the "Purple Rain Storm" ten years ago made me a little disgusted when I was still 12 years old, and the later "Tong Mengqi" In addition to the wonderful special effects, there is nothing else worth appreciating.
One hundred and forty minutes in the dark box passed quickly, and after the subtitles came up, I was still immersed in the stirring drama. It can be said that this pleasant viewing experience completely convinced me. Chen Desen proved himself with his new film. His previous series of popular films have become a thing of the past, and he has completely entered a new level.
In fact, the first 10-15 minutes of the film is not very successful. Although the treatment of "October Siege" at the beginning is the same as that of "Die Hard 3" and the recent "Vengeance" in the earlier years, the incident that broke the calm occurred within 3 minutes of the beginning of the film, so that it can be immediately The audience is drawn into the story, but in fact, this incident has little to do with the subsequent story, so the audience's emotions are not continued, and the various characters that follow appear like a lantern, which makes people a little dizzy. When I was still digesting the plot, I had to memorize the names of seven or eight characters, so in the first 15 minutes of the film, I could say that I was outside the film. As the plot progressed, I didn't fully enter the entire movie and plot until the action scene of the climax around 30 minutes and the character transformation in the back.
Can you believe that apart from the above paragraph, I can't find anything wrong with the plot? But it's true.
In earlier dramas, people believed that the characters were introduced by the story, but in fact people gradually realized that what really moved people was fascination and empathy (the empathy here does not mean empathy, but empathy). The reader, the audience transfers their own emotions to the characters). For example, the immortal Hamlet, the wise Harry Potter, the wild Brad Pitt, etc.
Although there are many characters, the effect presented in the film is really great. As we all know, group portraits are actually the worst to write and handle. In the case of the same goal, we call it a composite protagonist. Although in a broad sense, we will regard this group of characters as a whole, the film is microscopic, and the shaping of each character in the small group of composite protagonists must reach the audience. satisfy.
First of all, let's talk about the role played by Wang Xueqi (he will be the best actor at the major film festivals next year!), this is a role that is enough to leave a deep impression on the history of the Chinese screen. The part of this character's inner conflict and external social conflict is admirable. What we see is not an axis person, but a flexible protagonist who has pursuits but also the emotions of ordinary people. In a commercial film, such a character is indeed rare and rare. The other characters are shaped into flesh and blood through various events and details. The bodyguards we see are not a group of puppet-like figures, but living figures with a revolutionary spirit. Thanks to the hard work of the three screenwriters, we will not feel that the characters of lofty ideals and martyrs, which are not easily convincing, have become alive. The motives and causes of those so-called great actions have become unquestionable under the perfect character construction.
In dealing with the villains, the screenwriter did not make the mistakes that often occur in commercial films. In order to make the audience hate the bad guys more, he tried his best to show how evil the bad guys are. The most typical example is "Die Hard 3", where the bad guys Bad for bad's sake, which makes their own bad motives less convincing. The role played by Hu Jun is actually different from the usual bad guys. To a certain extent, he is even a good guy. He is a conscientious soldier and a patriotic soldier. He has also received a Western-style education, but due to ideological Different, so the soldiers with lofty ideals stood in different camps. The villain in "October Siege" has become a character worthy of the audience's thinking, and the last sentence before Hu Jun's death can arouse the audience's thinking even more.
The film is very pleasing in the design of some plots, the first of which is the lines. We know that in recent years, the thunderous words in Chinese movies have made many audiences wonder whether to laugh or cry. In fact, a good drama has a happy line (although it is not the original intention of the main creator), which is actually a failure. But I personally think the lines in "October Siege" are very well written. I haven't seen such inspiring lines for many years, whether it's Sun Wen's passionate speech or all kinds of little people expressing themselves The voice of the audience is closely related to the hearts of the audience.
I have seen online comments before saying that many scenes in this film are fighting for the sake of fighting. In fact, I was also worried about it at the beginning. After all, the director said something like "60 minutes of no-gap fight scenes", so I always worried about the situation of "fighting for the sake of fighting" and weakening the literary drama. In fact, from the perspective of the finished film, there is no such thing as fighting for the sake of fighting. On the contrary, Director Chen Desen is very careful and cautious in handling the action scenes. In the first 80 minutes of the film, there is only one scene of about 4 The fighting scene of about a minute is the climax of the first act, and the next 80 minutes of the plot are all literary dramas entangled in the characters' hearts and the external society. It is precisely because of the director's careful cultivation in the first 80 minutes that the final scene of the film is achieved. 60 minutes of no-gap (really!) fights turned out to be so exciting and enjoyable.
In fact, such a similar structure has been successfully used by predecessors, and it is the work "Seven Samurai" by the popular Asian film idol master director Akira Kurosawa.
It's an anti-Hollywood construct. Because the director needs a certain narrative ability and courage to adopt this structure. After all, as a highly commercial film, the director must know whether there is enough dramatic conflict and tension in the first XX minutes to immerse the audience in the film. If you have watched Hollywood commercial films seriously in recent years, most of them will find that one or two secondary action scenes will be added between the second and third acts to maintain the attraction of the film to the audience (such as "Terminator"). 4"), although it is not that the plot is empty (perhaps some films have such problems), it is mainly caused by the uncertainty of theatrical presentation.
Therefore, although it is copying and imitating, the effect achieved is indeed commendable, and this is not as easy as simply theoretically speaking.
In addition, in the fight scene, I personally strongly recommend Donnie Yen VS Kang Lee (Cung Le). Kang Li is a Vietnamese-American, born in Sanda, and holds a record of 100% wins in K-1 and StrikeForce competitions. This fight with Donnie Yen, whether it's a chase or a short-hand encounter, is full of realism and punch to the flesh. Compared with the relatively mediocre peak duel of the JJ combination in "Kung Fu King", I personally still prefer Donnie Yen and Kang Li. This real gun battle.
At the climax of the film, Chen Desen also paid tribute to the classic passage of Odessa Steps in "Battleship Potemkin", the slipping stroller became a rickshaw, and the original baby became a passionate young man in old China. . If you are interested, you can find the original paragraph for comparison. Off topic, another tribute to the Odessa Stairs is Brian De Palma's classic crime film The Untouchables.
When the show was over, I heard a reporter in the back row mentioned a problem, that is, the problem of character modeling. In the battle in front of Sun Wen's mother's house, Dawn's shape really made people feel a little thunderous. Before he shaved his beard, he felt like the supreme treasure in "Journey to the West", but after he shaved his beard, he looked like Hua Hero and Kung Fu. Zhou Xingchi in... The styling problems ruined the immersion and coherence of that scene.
I personally think it's okay, not so thunderous, but if such a problem really occurs, maybe the director and the styling designer really need to take some responsibility. As for whether this problem only exists in the Chinese-speaking region, I am not particularly clear. Maybe audiences in different regions and different cultural circles will not feel Lei... This is a question worthy of in-depth study.
Well, it's time to talk about the part that everyone is most concerned about, which is the performance of Brother Chun. In November, I heard that someone had watched the preview version of "October Siege" and praised Chunge's acting skills. But in fact, from my personal point of view, Brother Chun is really a pure man. When performing, the thief exerts force, the lines are forceful, the expression is forceful, and the reaction is excessive... just as annoying as Du Haitao in "Stubborn Carrot". To say that Brother Chun performed well, it is not without it. The action scenes are really cool, but I don't know if there is a substitute for it. The scene in which Brother Chun tops the explosive bag is the most brilliant part of her character. I admit that I was a little touched, but let me be serious, why is Brother Chun still so clean after being bombed? The people who were killed by the bombing were usually blood and blood.
If Bartell's words were spoken, his acting skills would be difficult to evaluate. After all, he was not an entertainer, and his lines were understandably poor. Look closely, Battelle seems to be wearing his championship ring in the play, you have to look carefully to see it!
"October Siege" inherits the literary and artistic tradition of telling the hearts of micro-characters under the macro-events in "Putting Names", and it also makes the audience extremely happy in terms of visual impact. In addition, the lines, performances, stories, and structure are extremely excellent. In general, this film is indeed a rare and well-intentioned masterpiece in the Chinese film industry in recent years.
So I dare to say: The winner of this year's Lunar New Year is "October Siege".
ps. I will add two sentences about the role of Chongguang. At first glance, you may think that this role has been played by Wang Bojie a little too much. In fact, if you think about it carefully, under the current environment and plot of the film, his character's reaction is reasonable and correct. . What touched me most was his nervousness and excitement as Sun Wen's stand-in and his fear before facing death. Wang Bojie is the best actor in this film after Wang Xueqi.
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