In fact, China, and even East Asia, should actually become the prosperous land of global action films. The special historical background, the unique martial arts movements left by the long-standing martial arts tradition, and the people's long-standing love for martial arts make this area extremely advantageous. But it's puzzling that we don't seem to be enjoying a critically acclaimed action movie for a longer period of time.
Back then, action movies were once the face and signboard of Chinese movies, but today, domestic action movies (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) are obviously not as prosperous as they used to be. This is due to the increasing diversification of my country's film and television industry, but more importantly, the lack of breakthroughs in my country's action movies today makes it difficult to attract more audiences.
After watching this "Pioneer", I can feel the intention of director Tang Jili. Urban car chases, jungle adventures, gun battles in the ancient city, bombing aircraft carriers... A series of ingenious scene settings, action designs, and shooting angles still have the ability to catch the audience's attention and arouse their enthusiasm. For example, the scene of Jackie Chan's eldest brother winning the speedboat and surviving against the turbulent current, rubbing the edge of the waterfall and using his strength to roll onto the reef, made my eyes shine. The lively editing and the sharp actions of other protagonists such as Yang Yang and Muqi Miya make the overall action scenes of the movie a certain appreciation.
But no matter how good the production is, it can't make up for the lack of plot, and this lack is the chronic disease of domestic action movies, especially Hong Kong action movies. Director Tang was still unwilling to just make a pure action film. He forcibly added the love line, the family line and even the main theme plot line of "cultural confidence". I believe that Director Tang’s intentions are good. In some cases, the addition of multiple elements will indeed make the film fuller, but in some cases, it will also reduce the overall look and feel. I think "Pioneer" unfortunately belongs to the latter.
Emotional expression requires events to be laid out. Once the scribbled plot is combined with full emotions, it will only make the audience feel embarrassed. In the movie, the relationship between Lei Zhenyu and Fareeda is barely strong, and the family line of Brother Kaixuan is particularly abrupt. The passages that the director pays great attention to show the cultural confidence also always give people a sense of rigidity.
Does an action commercial really need very rich and complex emotions and plot entanglement? Now it doesn't seem to be. From "The Raid" to the "John Wick" series, stories that can be told in minutes make the audience focus more on the fight itself. We will still applaud this kind of film, because we do not expect to receive education and baptism from it. Our most basic pursuit is "enjoyment". Of course, it is better to be educational, but if it makes people feel "unhappy", it is absolutely impossible.
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