Director: Lin Chaoxian
Screenwriter: Lin Chaoxian, Huang Jianxin, Liang Fengying
Actors: Zhang Hanyu, Peng Yuyan, Sun Chun, Feng Wenjuan, Lu Huiguang,
Wu Jialong, Chen Baoguo
Type: Action/Police and Bandit
Duration: 124 minutes
"Operation Mekong" hyped up both word-of-mouth and box office during this year's National Day holiday. This blockbuster police and bandit, with the strong support of the Ministry of Public Security, was filmed abroad for almost the entire process. All parties on the sea, land and air were mobilized, challenging the director with both difficulty and intensity. Lin Chaoxian's limit. Many viewers called it "no pee spots in the whole film" and praised the intense scenes. However, for such an unprecedentedly attractive subject, the best international masterpiece in director Lin Chaoxian's history could have been made, creating a real model for Chinese films to go global. Unfortunately, apart from the life-threatening and exciting action scenes, the story is not Failing to go a step further, dig some unknown things, and bring out some new ideas in the anti-drug theme, this movie still just uses a lot of action scenes as "sugar coating", wrapped in a dazzling packaging. To put it mildly, this film is a "screen reappearance" of the first overseas arrest operation by Chinese police officers, and it does not intend to tell the audience a wonderful story about how the Golden Triangle drug dealer gang was destroyed. Like the famous metaphor about the difference between events and stories: the king died, and the queen died, this is the event; the king died, and the queen died of grief soon after, this is the story.
There is no need to say much about the wonderful and beautiful action scenes of "Operation Mekong". Director Dong Wei once again contributed a very admirable design. Although some places are exaggerated (such as the first action to rob a criminal), it is enough to feel high to the audience. In particular, the battle of wits and courage in the shopping mall and the police were seriously injured when they were attacked by child soldiers. The humanized emotional elements were added to the intense action scenes, which can be called the best part of the whole film.
But here, what I want to talk about is the huge regret left by Operation Mekong. Personally, I feel that with the level of director Lin Chaoxian, "Operation Mekong" should be able to take the whole "Mekong River" to a higher level, and truly make this work a rare masterpiece of Chinese films that is well-known internationally. But it's a pity, maybe it's too limited to be realized.
From a speculative point of view, being able to shoot this subject itself means a challenge, and allowing this event to be written and what kind of story is allowed to be written are definitely not the same thing. At first, director Lin Chaoxian thought about quitting after holding several script meetings. The relevant departments put forward hundreds of suggestions for revision of the multiple versions of the script that were handed over in the early stage. According to media reports, the director also said: "I can't make the main theme (movie), if you ask me to shoot the main theme (movie), you are looking for the wrong person." Obviously, with the experience of Hong Kong directors such as Lin Chaoxian in shooting police and gangster stories for many years , it is said that the anti-drug theme should not be considered too "difficult" (even a relatively cheap creative team like TVB can make TV series like "Thunder Anti-drug"), we all know that Hong Kong movies have involved Southeast Asian drug dealers for decades It is conservatively estimated that there are thousands of stories, but it is estimated that there should be thousands. It must be pressure from other aspects other than the film to say that "Operation Mekong" will have "difficulties". Just imagine, without Chen Baoguo's guest role as the minister, it shouldn't affect the whole plot. The opening paragraph of today's movie should be the so-called "off-site factor", but this short paragraph firmly sets the main theme style and tone of the film (Director Lin Chaoxian's change from resisting the main theme to relatively compromising also shows that he really wants to complete this rare event. theme). As the audience should be able to feel now, the media is no longer just propagating how good the movie "Operation Mekong" is. Public opinion is slowly fermenting to the image evaluation of the police officers behind it, which has been separated from the movie itself.
Director Lin Chaoxian also mentioned in some interviews earlier: "To be honest, if it weren't for this theme, I probably wouldn't make a public security theme (film). Many scenes in this play are overseas, and there are very few domestic scenes, so I can Treat it as a normal commercial film." But I really don't want to make a simple "entertainment film", and I also want to dig into and deal with this incident in depth. Due to the back-and-forth revisions, many of his ideas and concepts had to be abandoned, because some main lines were either deleted or changed (there was a TV series version of "The Mekong River Case" before, and we can also see the domestic scale of this theme. , the content of more than 30 episodes is basically in the aspect of "water injection" to detect cases). In fact, everyone knows that it is not that the government has not released some information about the Nuokang gang, but it is only at the data level, and there is not much "plot" of these drug dealers on the screen or TV screen. The rather short clip of the 105 major cases has already decided that "Nuo Kang and his gang must die" (of course, the case involving the lives of more than a dozen Chinese citizens is undoubtedly a capital crime, but for telling this story, it is still shocking that Chinese officials often publicize it. The big case in the world, I still feel a little thin), all the criminals in the film actually only have a conclusion (killing more than a dozen Chinese people), and there is no reason and process (why do Nuoka and others in the movie have such arrogant forces, causing How much international influence), to know the relevant information, please refer the audience to look up and search for relevant information, and the background of "Mekong Action" is only explained for three minutes by the Chinese police narration played by Zhang Hanyu at the beginning, and then defaults to the audience all over the world They all agree to resolutely crack down on drug crimes, so this movie does not need to explain any specific plots about drug crimes.
Fortunately, "Operation Mekong" is generally successful in shaping the image of the public security officers. Just as Peng Yuyan's undercover Fang Xinwu said, the team almost invited "the gods and Buddhas all over the sky". Characters have designed some small features, try to let the audience remember. However, in order to shape the "weiguangzheng" of the public security, it is still flat. For the villains, the symbolization is more obvious. As designed in the film, they are just pictures on the wall. It is really, very regrettable that a topical theme such as "Operation Mekong" with huge international influence is still a typical routine under the "good-looking" packaging. Personally, I think that with director Lin Chaoxian as an excellent master who is good at shaping gray characters (there was "Beast Detective" in the early days, and his masterpieces include "The Witness", "Informer", etc.), and finally in the whole film of "Operation Mekong", "humanized" The character design of "Fang Xinwu" only retained the superficial dark line of the drug dealer played by Fang Xinwu who killed Lu Huiguang because of his girlfriend.
In fact, the whole film also brought together several gangs of villains, including the important Nuoka group, the drug dealer and middleman played by Lu Huiguang and Wu Jialong, the chasing Song Ge who represented Thailand, and the big BOSS who did not show up, etc. All are characters with multinational backgrounds, and these villains are supposed to have "drama". But in this film, they really perform their "criminal", only indiscriminately killing the Chinese crew at the beginning (the crew was killed or presented through memories, in fact, there is no official performance) and the child soldier simply "hinting" later ! In fact, you might as well recall that as a huge transnational drug dealer gang in Southeast Asia, there is no scene of drug production and drug trafficking in the entire film! Such a high-profile operation to arrest drug dealers is actually caused by their indiscriminate killing of crew members. There is an inappropriate feeling. It seems that the Chinese police seem to have "revenge" for this (at least Fang Xinwu is really revenge in the plot).
In terms of combating drug crimes, it is far less impressive than the "Disciple" directed by Er Dongsheng. Andy Lau and Wu Yanzu, as drug dealers and undercover agents, really reveal the fragments of drug processing and trafficking processes. In addition, they played the destruction of Gu Tianle and Zhang Jingchu's family. It fully exposed the huge harm of drugs flowing into Hong Kong. But most of the creators of "Operation Mekong" believe that the background of the Nuokang gang case should be known to the global audience, so why not spend more time on the screenwriter? Not to mention how many things are not known to the public at all, especially in China, the relevant departments have always had a strict confidentiality system. Therefore, in the end, this film just presented an action record of arresting the Nuoka gang abroad (that is, a packaged publicity film for police officers, because it was indeed supported by the Publicity Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security), and it did not tell a story about a crackdown The "story" of the drug dealer gang in the southern frontier, the only positive character in the whole movie is Fang Xinwu, which is a bit of a "story". The other Chinese police officers, even Zhang Hanyu's male lead Gao Gang, aside from playing with his mobile phone, showed him Sacrificing family for work are all symbols of the Chinese police. It is not enough for a good movie to have only hot scenes (it is easy to be criticized as popcorn), the characters cannot stand up (whether they are decent or villains), and the interpretation of the theme of the movie will naturally be very low-level.
When watching the movie, what reminded me the most was not the similar drug-themed "Disciple", but the American movie "Blood Diamond". "Operation Mekong" is completely comparable to this Oscar-nominated international blockbuster, but unfortunately, except for the hot gunfights that can overshadow "Blood Diamond", the character creation and story depth are really too different. In fact, the story of "Blood Diamond" also has a lot of real elements. The basic plot comes from "Blood Diamond: Tracking the Death of the World's Most Expensive Gem" published by American journalist Greg Campbell in 2002. The film is shocking The illegal armed and child forces of Sierra Leone are real. However, "Blood Diamond" focuses on the Solomon family from the beginning to the end, which was destroyed by "blood diamonds". Through the tragic experience of this family, we can see the huge harm caused by illegal diamond mining and trading in Africa. At the same time, the "villain" in the film - "The Frontier" also occupies a certain amount of space, especially the process of Solomon's son being poisoned and the "positive energy" of Solomon saving his son.
Of course, the themes of "Blood Diamond" are different, and the main line of "Operation Mekong" is simply the process of arresting drug dealers and returning to China for trial. The positions of the two films are different, but if you watch "Operation Mekong", we think The successful implementation of an overseas arrest by the Chinese police is regarded as a "great victory" in eliminating drug trafficking and drug trade in Southeast Asia, which is obviously too optimistic (the movie lines also mentioned that this time it was Nuoka, I don't know who will be next). This kind of illusion is just like many people think that the presentation of the 105 major cases is regarded as the "height" and "level" of the movie "Operation Mekong", and they fundamentally misunderstand the requirements of film art for content and form.
In our film, Gao Gang discussed Fang Xinwu's "identity" with the director, and Gao Gang affirmed the "firm position" of the Chinese undercover agent. In front of the powerful Chinese police, the villains are almost all insignificant, often only hurting one or two police officers by sneak attack. This kind of "crushing" and "no urine point" Chinese-style victory completely damages the film's narrative skills, has little artistic content, and even goes against the truth (this kind of shrimp soldiers and crab generals can actually cause harm to the borders of the four countries for many years?) The official news also said that Nuo Kang has cleverly escaped the pursuit many times. In the first half of the movie, Nuo Ka has never encountered the police at all, and was suddenly captured by the nest, and then ran all the way, without any depth. In fact, according to the beginning, development, climax and ending of the film's story, "Operation Mekong" only played the "climax" and "end", so it will surprise the audience with "no urine spots in the whole film".
In addition to the big problem of characterization, the author regrets that it has damaged the great advantage of this theme to the world and become famous internationally.
Of course, in fact, this cannot be separated from the characterization, and the characters in other old Myanmar and Thailand areas are basically reduced to extras in our film. At the beginning of this film, there is a "high-end" atmosphere of the so-called joint action of the four countries. It has completely become the "exclusive show" of the Chinese police, which is too unfair and objective, let alone the most important link - Nuo Kang was caught by the Lao police and handed over to the Chinese police.
The reason why Chinese films have not been able to gain more attention and greater success in the international arena is that "details determine success or failure". A real event with major international influence such as "Operation Mekong" will definitely be able to shoot deeply. It is a masterpiece that has received wide international attention, and director Lin Chaoxian has such ability. If you can be a little more objective about the collusion between the Nuoka gang and the Thai military, including how to create a lot of misfortune in the four countries, it is not a superficial plot like Lu Huiguang hurting Fang Xinwu's girlfriend, and then add some interactive content to these negative characters, including the police of other countries. , at least like Fang Xinwu and foreign informants in front of some more exchanges and support... The international sales of an ambitious Chinese film is expected to be much better. Because we all know that China has the Belt and Road Initiative today, "Operation Mekong" can also become a model that embodies the spirit of China's "Belt and Road" initiative. Unfortunately, in this real event film, which is clearly a joint action of the four countries, there is no communication and cooperation at all. The spirit and content of the film have truly become the self-promotion of the Chinese police. Even from the perspective of allowing appropriate fiction in the film, it cannot but be said that Chinese filmmakers are too short-sighted and narrow-minded.
China's publicity work has always been about equal cooperation, but in fact it is often self-centered, and the acceptance habits of overseas audiences (not to mention "feelings") are rarely considered in external publicity. , it seems that Chinese people spend money on filming and naturally mainly perform Chinese people. Although this makes sense, then in that case, why should foreigners pay to watch us Chinese entertain ourselves, and how can we promote China abroad?
Looking back at Laomei's "Blood Diamond", the black Solomon's play is almost the same as Danny Archer played by the male lead Leonardo DiCaprio. In addition, "Blood Diamond" also added Jennifer Connor From the perspective of a reporter like Lee, we can treat the subject and story of "blood diamonds" more objectively. And foreign journalists' view of news has always been to write "story". Of course, whether Lao Mei's position is really objective and fair can be discussed separately, but at least there is such an attitude in the film. If the discussion is based on the "objectivity" of the Chinese, what is the direct relationship between the African diamond theme and the Americans? Why make this story? However, the American reporter in the film and Danny Archer involved the "blood relationship" and "identity" of African whites. At the same time, it was also the European and American markets that a large number of diamonds flowed into, and the film also involved local armed forces who often used diamonds. Buying American arms, obviously, this subject has a very broad field of vision. The first is the relationship between the local ethnic group and the African continent, and the second is the international impact of the diamond industry chain on the world, whether it is commercial economy or international security situation. So the film was nominated for an Oscar. However, our lively and mighty "Operation Mekong" film finally declared righteously and solemnly: it emphasizes the protection of the life and property safety of Chinese citizens. Of course, this cannot be said to be wrong. The direction of the country is too narrow and small.
Movies are indeed the best media for image public relations. Chinese movies are not short of technology and funds. Strictly speaking, talent is not a big problem. The real problem is ideology. With a good theme like "Mekong Action", it is not easy. With the support and promotion of high-level departments, the result is a propaganda material that has become a carnival for the Chinese people. There is still a big gap between the masterpieces of international standards, and I don’t know when China will realize it. Need to go across, maybe "going to the world" may just be a slogan that news promotion needs.
October 2016
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