In fact, objectively speaking, the overall quality of the film is still good. From the shooting point of view, this film can give full marks. I can see that the producer is still making this film with full sincerity this time, selecting purebred Mongolian gray wolves to raise them personally, and filming the whole process with real wolves. The final result was also good. The picturesque scenery of the Ujumqin grassland was put on the screen intact, and it was very beautiful on the imax giant screen. The arrogant posture and smart eyes of the prairie wolf are just right, and the atmosphere of the wolf pack's appearance is also great. In terms of soundtrack, the master James Horner is in charge. Although I don't feel that the effect is very surprising, at least it has reached the level of Hollywood's first-line blockbusters.
Even so, the film is still less than satisfying. After all, this is not a documentary, and sincerity as a film is far from enough. The real wolf shooting works well when a wolf appears alone, but if you want to shoot a big scene, the taste of real wolf shooting will appear. According to the description in the original work, there were countless wolves in the grassland at that time, maybe there were thousands of them, so they became wolves. The wolves are usually scattered, and they will gather together only when they are surrounded. Small-scale wolves are about 20-30 heads, and large wolves are about 40 or more. If necessary, the wolf king can call up several groups of wolves with a howl of hundreds of wolves. fight together on a scale. However, it is impossible for the filmmakers to raise so many wolves, resulting in a small group of "big wolves" from the beginning to the end. Even in the big scene of the military horse, there are only about 10 wolves appearing on the camera, which is similar to the scale described in the original work. Far from each other, it can only be regarded as a small team, and there is no big scene at all. Regarding this issue, the film can take some covert measures to create the illusion of a large scale of wolves, but they did not make this attempt. These are the few that Chen Zhen Xiaolu met by chance, the few that wiped out the horses, and the few that "fly" into the stone circle. As a result, the "big wolf pack" was rendered for a long time, and was killed by several jeeps in one day at the end of the film. . . . At this point, if the wolves can force the herdsmen into this, is the nomadic people disabled?
Apart from that, the last drag is the plot, and the screenwriter is afraid that it will be memorized. The film is based on the emotional line between Chen Zhen and Xiaolang. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg in the original book. clear. The writers overinked (mostly adapted clips) where it doesn't hurt. There are also many inappropriate handling of the plot and characters. There are a few things that left a deep impression:
the most attractive character in the original book, the wise old Bliger, became a chatter in the film, and was born for the show. Play the old man. There is no sense of existence than Zhao Zhongxiang.
The important prairie logic of "big life" and "little life" was carried over by a line of the old man Bi Lige, and there was no more foreshadowing.
The ambivalence of old herders who kill wolves but respect wolves is not shown in the film except for one or two rambles by Bi Lige (yes, it’s me again), which blurs the herdsmen and outsiders (especially the foreign leaders) about wolves. source of conflict.
The insatiable greed of outsiders is not enough, perhaps because of political reasons, they dare not be black.
In the original book, the conflict between man and nature was shown by describing Yanke's swan lake complex at a great length. The performance in the film was really appalling: Papa, two swans were beaten down, and Yangke ran over, a line: "Director Bao, have you seen Swan Lake?" . . . . Gone. . .
Chen Zhen's feelings for wolves are not enough, and his obsession with raising wolves makes people feel inexplicable. Most of Chen Zhen's complex of wolves comes from his tireless begging for old people and hunters to show him wolf-hunting. In the film, Chen Zhen did nothing but raise a little wolf, and became a wolf expert in Bao Shungui's mouth. . . .
The plot of Bayar being bitten by the little wolf has no other effect except to show the audience that Chen Zhen in the movie is mentally retarded.
The most nonsense is the emotional drama between Chen Zhen and Gasmai, which is completely superfluous.
There are many similar places, so I won't list them. People who have basically read the original book can't accept the film's handling of these details.
Hey, I don't want a black movie version of Wolf Totem either, maybe my expectations for this movie are too high. Because there are too many essences in the original work that have not been shown.
The army horses were driven into the frozen lake by the wolves, but Batu watched helplessly as the wolves passed by him one by one and rushed into the East Lake.
The women in the next night shouted loudly and cooperated with the flashlight in the night. The passion of the wolves fighting in the air;
the disgust of the beautiful swan being boiled in the pot with soy sauce and garlic;
the horror of the wolves killing silently from all directions through the thunder and lightning ;
The old man gave an order, the shock of hundreds of big dogs howling and rushing towards more than 40 big wolves; the grief and indignation
of seeing outsiders use the poisonous trick to kill the hundred years of Rex Mountain;
Facing the ruined and dilapidated grassland, the old man Lige rode tremblingly on his horse and hummed with tears: the
lark is singing, spring is coming, the
otter is calling, the orchids are blooming, the
gray crane is calling, the rain is coming,
little The wolf howled and the moon rose.
. . . . . . . . .
Will the children on the grassland still understand this thousand-year-old song? They may ask: What is a lark? What is an otter? Grey Crane? Wild wolf? Goose? What is an orchid? chrysanthemum? . . . . .
Out of my love for the original book, how much I want this movie to be perfectly shot and show all these essences to the world, but the result is really not satisfactory. It is estimated that no director will be willing to try the remake, which is obviously laborious and thankless. It seems that this book is really not suitable for making a movie.
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