Not long ago, the 69-year-old Jackie Chan burst into tears during an interview to promote his upcoming film. He was worried about the future of kung fu actors in the future, sobbing and saying that the current market no longer needs kung fu actors to appear on the scene.
When he said this, he may not have known that less than half a month ago, on March 24, a pure action movie "John Wick: Chapter 4" was released in many countries. It ended up grossing $430 million worldwide. And the actor who plays the main supporting actor is Donnie Yen who is about to celebrate his 60th birthday in a few months.
Even at the moment when Marvel heroes and special effects production occupy the hot spot on the screen, action movies with "real kung fu" as their selling point still have a way out, and even the advanced age of actors is not a big problem.
In the main poster of the film, the leading actor Keanu Reeves occupies the largest position again, and he is also the biggest selling point of this series of films.
Of course, even though Donnie Yen has a lot of roles, the appearance of the "blind killer" in the film is quite eye-catching, but he still can't overshadow the film's only starring Keanu Reeves - he is only one year younger than Donnie Yen, and he is 58 this year. Since the first film in 2014, Keanu Reeves has been the biggest reason for the series' success. Not only does he himself occupy the only C position in the poster, but the director is also Chad Stahelsky, who was single-handedly promoted by him.
Stahelsky was born as a fighting coach and entered the industry as a stuntman. He once acted as a stand-in for Keanu Reeves in films such as "The Matrix 3", and later became an action director for many films. "John Wick" is not only his directorial debut, but also the three follow-up films in this series are all the films he has directed so far. Of course, due to the box office success, director Chad Stahelsky also has plans for other big projects in the future, such as the adaptations of the popular games "Rainbow Six" and "Soul of Tsushima", both of which are determined to be directed by him , in progress.
"John Wick" proves that it's not that the current market no longer needs Kung Fu movies, but that old-school Hong Kong-style Kung Fu movies are no longer needed. But Hollywood kung fu movies still lead the way in the global market.
In other posters, the supporting cast can be seen to still have a place. Among them, Donnie Yen is the biggest bright spot.
Just how successful is the John Wick franchise?
In terms of numbers, although the first film released in 2014 had a good reputation, the global box office was only 86 million US dollars; the second film released in 2017 reached 170 million US dollars, while the third film directly rose to 330 million US dollars—— Almost every one is double the performance of the previous work. Not to mention in terms of word of mouth, the IMDB scores of the first three films are all 7.4, without the usual decline in sequels, and the fourth film has achieved 8.2 points so far. Although it may drop a bit as it goes online in the past two days, it will still be the best-known work in the series.
Another surprising fact is that the length of the film reaches 169 minutes, which is really surprising for a "kung fu movie" whose main selling point is fighting: more than 2 hours of fists and kicks, you are ready to let the audience watch the main character Play a few games, and what kind of flowers can you play?
For a "Kung Fu movie", these are unimaginable achievements.
There are many scenes in this film, most of which are brightly colored, enough to leave a vivid visual impression on the audience.
The bold attempt of "Quick Chase 4" in terms of duration and content is based on the confidence brought by the success of the previous game. Going back to the first part, the length of the film was only 101 minutes at that time, which was the standard capacity of an action film. The plot is also relatively straightforward, and it can be clearly stated in one sentence: the gangster killed the protagonist's dog, and for revenge, the protagonist Johnny Wick single-handedly wiped out the entire Russian gangster.
The story is so easy to understand that the Chinese translation of the film was directly called "Return My Dog's Life" by the majority of netizens. If you Baidu these four words, you will find that all the second-generation videos are from this film. The protagonist's hateful character and iron-blooded tough attitude left a deep impression on the audience; and the living atmosphere of the community in the first half of the film, facing the teasing of hooligans, the protagonist's choice of deliberate forbearance, and the violence after he can't bear it Revenge has a realistic sense of resisting the oppression of the real society.
——If you have read the original work 9 years ago, and then read today's "John Wick 4", you will find that the direction of the subsequent story is basically irrelevant, and the style is also very different. Jumped to the sky.
"Return my dog's life" series, people who raise dogs are not bad people, they can turn enemies into friends.
If you respect the physical logic in reality, then there are many places in this film that you will not understand:
Why do blind people adapt to the terrain faster than normal people with good eyes when they come to a new environment, running back and forth and hiding?
Why is the protagonist's usual weapon a pistol, but his combat habit is to run to the enemy and shoot while fighting?
Why are all pistols and even submachine guns less destructive than melee weapons in the film? Why is the protagonist's high-end suit still a high-tech "bulletproof suit" that can directly block bullets?
Don't worry too much about these reasons. Because this film has long since broken away from the realistic contradiction of "give me back my dog's life" and entered into the popular American comic style.
Take a nunchuck against a submachine gun? It's right to be cool, don't worry about it so much.
This change appeared in the first part. When the protagonist came to seek refuge in a so-called neutral hotel that "don't dare to mess with black and white", the creator of the film found that the audience still felt quite moved by this obviously made-up setting, so the subsequent sequels simply Around the "Killer Hotel" and the global mysterious killer organization "High Table Club" behind it, a series of "chasing and revenge" was compiled.
The story has developed to the fourth part, and it is not meaningful to introduce the plot and setting in detail. The core of the plot is actually very simple: "The organization sent people to chase and kill me, and I will kill and kill all the way and then go back."
For action movies, although there are relatively complex plots, it is very important to create a reasonable psychological basis for the protagonist's violent output, but the first part of "Return My Dog's Life" has clearly stated the protagonist's personality, that is, "Don't mess with me ". Up to this one, the plot is still "I will kill whoever messes with me". Even if you don't know what you have acted in before, you will not have any difficulty in understanding the plot of this film.
The main attraction of an action movie is the design of the action scenes. It doesn't matter if the plot is a bit off, anyway, young audiences prefer to have fun all the way to the end than to endure bitterness and hatred.
"Neutral Hotel", there is also one in Osaka. Hiroyuki Sanada has another small role.
The action design of this film is obviously top-notch. As a pure film with "real-life fighting" as its selling point, many places have distinctive features and are full of visual stimulation.
For example, the protagonist, Johnny Wick, continues the methods of the previous films, using a pistol as a dagger, supplemented by the action style of melee combat and mixed martial arts, which are basically close combat, which looks very enjoyable.
As the protagonist, Keanu Reeves is responsible for being handsome to the end.
At the same time, Donnie Yen, who appeared in the series for the first time, also performed quite eye-catching. In the fight, it can be seen that he uses a blind stick to perform the feeling of a blind man's groping from time to time, and there is a sense of Bruce Lee's arrogance in his fists and feet, like a breakdance. Although he is nearly 60 years old, his punching speed and strength are as dazzling as those in Ip Man's time. Compared with the protagonist Gino Reeves who often stumbles when he starts running, Donnie Yen's physical performance is obviously unique among all martial arts and stands out from the crowd.
Donnie Yen's performance is very eye-catching
As an action actor, the foundation of kung fu laid down since childhood, as well as the accumulation of experience in filming action scenes for a long time, every move and every move has the precipitation of years, which cannot be fooled. Donnie Yen's physical performance ability is obviously better than many European and American action actors, and Keanu Reeves' ability to play today's role is also related to the training he has received from Hong Kong martial arts instructors since "The Matrix". Although Chinese kung fu movies are on the verge of fading, Hollywood, which is good at learning from others, can be considered to have played some residual heat.
Others are fighting to the death in the kitchen, but Donnie Yen is hiding in the corner eating Japanese ramen? In terms of many action designs, this character appears to be quite arrogant, stealing the show even more than the protagonist.
In addition to the action design of the characters "how to fight", the environment design of "where to fight" is also the key to the film's success. For example, Jackie Chan became famous because he was good at performing with small props around him. The uniquely designed complex terrain and environmental obstacles in general action movies can also reflect the character's ability to dodge and move, adding excitement and thrills.
Starting from the last film, the director suddenly learned to arrange a large number of advertising-style colorful lights in the scene in addition to the simple action design to create a game style of the next era. At the same time, with the help of a large number of fragments of mirrors, glass and other props, the sense of strength of the action can also be enhanced. The first half of the film takes place in Osaka, Japan. There are many neon tubes and props in the scene, and the overall color becomes more prominent, reflecting the mysterious oriental style. At the same time, it also used Japanese swords and swords as the main weapons, and made a lot of wonderful fighting designs. All gave the audience a dazzling sense of freshness.
A large number of advertising colors with strong contrast between cold and warm, as if watching a cool new mobile phone conference.
The second half of the story develops to the bustling Paris. In the climactic scene where many killers hunt down the protagonist, everyone fights in the circular plaza under the Arc de Triomphe, amidst the turbulent traffic. There's dodging and ramming of high-speed vehicles, back and forth between gunfights and melee combat, and even a dog leaping into action in a flash. Even knowing that most of them are scenes composed of special effects, the complex environment design and the precise movements of the characters still make this scene the most gorgeous scene in the film. Even in the action movies of the past ten years, the effect is unreal. is top notch.
The fighting in this traffic flow is extremely crazy, but it is a pity that the static pictures cannot reflect the dynamic tension of the whole process. This scene is the most exquisitely designed bridge in the whole film.
Leaving the busy street, the scene quickly turned to the streets with multiple steps. The rapid changes in the external environment are also part of the visual appeal, and the action style immediately becomes different. The biggest highlight of this scene is that the protagonist is about to pass all the way, almost climbed to the top of the steps, but was kicked off by the enemy, and rolled all the way down with a little exaggeration, almost rolling over 200 steps to the end. Regardless of the reversal of the plot, for a stand-in stuntman, rolling so many times is indeed a big test of ability. Experts look at the doorway, there are many special effects involved in the action before the movie, but this one truly shows the inner strength of action actors, which is another spectacle of action movies.
Using the steps to make a lot of rolling movements, the real test is the ability of martial arts. This also reflects a real charm of action movies.
At the end, the series of gorgeous action scenes finally came to an end, and the film entered a more plot-expressive atmosphere. The audience can see that the protagonist settles all grievances in a way similar to modern European gun duels - the highlight of this scene is not the hand-to-hand combat between the characters, or the ping-pong-pong gun fight that belongs to traditional action movies And the big bang, but a quieter stage, leaving more details and performances for the characters to show courage, wisdom, and emotional fetters.
In the final duel scene, the test is not the skill of aiming, but the courage.
For an action movie, it takes a lot of courage to dare to design this way at the end of the movie. The director and the leading actors seem to be telling the audience in this way that although we are experts in shooting action, we can also shoot plots and characters. The tough guy who "give me back my dog's life" has grown from a small town uncle to a super killer after 9 years of growth. If he wants to exit, there will be a romantic and poignant exit moment that belongs to the tough guy style.
The gorgeous sunrise may be too red, but it belongs to the romance of men.
Fortunately, the next part 5 of "Quick Chase" is still under planning, and a sequel may continue to be produced. Whether or not to leave now is nothing more than an ending, so don't take it too seriously.
This is another good continuation of the series. Now that pure action movies are no longer the mainstream, it proves that the exquisite action design and gorgeous visual effects are still very popular among many young audiences. It is difficult for an action movie to attract audiences only by pure fighting, but with the bizarre background setting of the story and the outstanding art style, it will have the popular next-generation entertainment effect, and it looks much more lively. This series, in the future, may be like "Fast and Furious", more and more like comics, as long as the audience is willing to pay.
