But it is obvious that this film may be one level lower than the two mentioned above. There are problems with the script itself and the mistakes of the director, both of which almost ruined the film.
Similar to "Night Watch", this is a film in which two time and space are interlaced, one ancient and the other modern, so we immediately saw the biggest flaw in the film, which is the repetition of rhythm. When it comes to the ancient and modern part of the film, the director should pay attention that the film also needs two rhythms, for example, the modern part should be faster, and the ancient part can be slower to make it more charming. But unfortunately, the two parts are in the same rhythm, which will definitely cause a kind of fatigue and confusion to the audience. More importantly, since the story itself is not very full, even though it has two parts, both parts are of a very slow rhythm, and the tension of the characters in the face of adversity is absent throughout the whole film. Can't help but feel very uncomfortable. For example, in the battle of the swamp, what the audience expected should be a battle of earth-shattering tears and ghosts, but unfortunately, the foreigner's sword was swung and the head fell, which did not meet the audience's expectations at all. , of course, the film will leave only regrets for the audience.
Not creating a tense atmosphere is the main reason for the slow pace, but when you think about it, the audience will find that all the magic is actually for the sake of two loves. That is to say, the main solution or story in this "Jade Warrior" is two love stories that can complement each other.
I haven't read a book about the folklore of Finland, but I know that if you only come up with a love story, it will definitely be slow for a movie. Please see "The Lord of the Rings" for this point. There is very little love in it. , The point is to stop, so that the rhythm of the whole film is by no means procrastinated. But love is a very important factor in many magical works, so I don't mean to exclude love itself in magical works, but to see how it is interpreted. In "The Ring of Berronnegan" we saw, it was also a love tragedy, but this love tragedy is the soul of the film, a lie, a villain, which is similar to Shakespeare's dramatic style, that is, love is completely It was integrated into the drama, so when we watched "Jade Warrior", we found that love did not play a role in promoting the magical story, but just decided the hero's choice at the end, and things still seemed so normal, Even the feeling of country wildness.
When it comes to characterization, every epic masterpiece has a heroic appearance, or a hero, or the black experience of an unknown person. The biggest role played by these protagonists has two aspects. The first aspect is to promote the plot, that is, most of the plot points may be played by them. The second role is to gain the audience's approval. For promoting the plot, "Jade Warrior" seems to only use language to explain the background, in other words, it only promotes the whole film, but has no effect on some small details (of course, the settings of the small details in this film are also extremely pale, so The inaction of the protagonist is also reasonable), the initiative of the protagonist is not enough, so that we can't see his style. The second aspect is the recognition of the audience. Looking at this film, the protagonist obviously belongs to a heroic character, but unfortunately, we can't see this hero. He thinks about personal burdens when he undertakes his mission. More importantly, the heroine does not seem to be interested in it. Just to save the villagers, they were forced to agree to our protagonist's request. In this regard, our protagonist will never be recognized by the audience. On the contrary, the role played by Zhang Jingchu should be the protagonist, become a hero, her sacrifice of righteousness, and her recovery of her love seem to be so difficult Normal, so sympathetic. On the other hand, due to the swamp meeting mentioned above, we found that our protagonist only used himself in his entanglement with Zhang Jingchu, and there was no heroic deed at all. Although there was a fight in the present tense in the end, it didn't look like a hero at all, as if it was just an act of self-help.
Many friends have talked about the issue of Chinese and Western cultures, and because of this, the film "Jade Warrior" has been neglected in China. To be honest, I can't agree with this point of view. First of all, I have to admit that there are many symbolic things in the film, such as the blacksmith's son, which is a character commonly used in Western culture, such as those Chinese characters (if we don't think so), this is something very oriental , and some more, not to mention one by one. But the main problem is that the two are not combined at all. Let's imagine that, aside from everything about the East, this film can definitely continue to tell the story. At this time, the East we see in the film is just a superfluous embellishment. Nothing works. So, is the film really Western thinking? I'm afraid it's hard to say. First of all, we don't see the pursuit of freedom, the strong sense of mission, and the unquestionable heroic deeds in Western human nature. Of course, we don't see the real effect of the devil. To the curse, I didn't see the deception and misunderstanding of the villain, everything was so rushed, and everything was not in the narrative. Therefore, some symbols of the West cannot show us a story of the West. The intervention of oriental elements makes the film even more chaotic.
The rhythm of the story is slow, there are few good details, the characters are not recognized by the audience, and the superficial excavation of cultural heritage has caused the failure of this film, which seems to indicate that the director's level has a great problem, but in fact, the director The most fundamental explanation has not been achieved, that is, whether the director can tell the story clearly, we have some doubts. Throughout this film, it seems to tell the question of how a protagonist chooses. On the one hand, he kills the devil to gain eternal life, but because of this he cannot stay with the woman he loves, and on the other hand, he buries the seeds of the devil in The heart, coexisting with it, can be released through that tool. Obviously, this does seem to be the way Westerners like to compete with themselves, but whether it is in the present tense or in the ancient time, we don't seem to really find this feeling of competition, so when he really kills the devil, we Can't find the reason for his victory, in other words, the story killed the demon but did not prove that he also killed the demon in his heart, the story and the heart did not achieve complete unity, which means that the director did not handle the story well itself, so the chaotic psychological changes caused by the chaotic stories are also inevitable.
To sum up, it is difficult for the audience to find the observability of the story of this film, which is not clearly explained at all, so it is reasonable to criticize it.
At the end, I suddenly thought of a question, what would happen if the film was made by a Chinese director? Just a thought, no answer.
2006-11-24 in Tongzhou
Han Xi
View more about Jadesoturi reviews
