The characteristic of bad movies is that the trailer is always better than the main film. However, "City" is not a bad movie. It's just too ambitious and mediocre.

Before the release of the main film, the film studio released two advance trailers. The first trailer directly introduces the biggest plot conflict of the film: "Louis Koo" killed someone, and his father is a warlord; "Liu Qingyun" insists on bringing justice, and "Wu Jing" says that if you act like this, everyone in the city will die, haha, you have to figure it out .

This kind of trailer is quite satisfactory, so the style of the second trailer is what the director really wants to express: with each protagonist’s personalized lines, coupled with a slightly romantic and comedic humorous background sound, Foretelling a destined to be tragic conflict, he looked full of force:

"Wu Jing" (domineering): We are the law, let him go! .

"Liu Qingyun" (rogue): You can call me later!

"Louis Koo" (smiling evilly): I want you to let me out with your own hands!

"Eddie Peng" (dissolute): I don't charge for some things that should be done.

"Louis Koo" (cold-blooded): Seeing through is death, not being able to see through is also death. Do you need a reason to kill?

"Peng Yuyan" (plain): The people in Pucheng are so pitiful. They should all be dead tomorrow, right?

Take a look at a few selected lines in trailer 2. There is not much content, but they perfectly hint at the plot conflicts, characters and even the style of the film. I was also attracted by the strong character of the trailer.

However, after watching the feature film, you will find that this is not a strong character at all:

About the opening, which is the appearance of the first protagonist "Eddie Peng"

At the beginning of the noodle shop, teacher Jiang Shuying led a group of students in and only ordered a bowl of noodles.

——Well, the audience understands: she is poor, but very loving.

After closing the door, several big men drew their knives and yelled about robbery, and the people in the restaurant handed over money like shit. "Peng Yuyan" was still sleeping on the table as if nothing had happened.

——Well, the audience understands: this guy is a master.

The big man who robbed shouted at "Peng Yuyan", but he didn't wake up; he yelled again, but he still didn't wake up; he hit the table with his knife, and he woke up. Without a word of agreement, he used a series of moves to knock several big men to the ground.

——Well, as the audience expected, it’s really boring.

The function of the opening: to simply express the character's personality, to save the beauty as a hero, and to establish the first character (male and female) relationship. This is a vulgar and stereotyped plot.

The second protagonist "Liu Qingyun" appears

A large number of refugees from outside Pucheng poured into Pucheng, and the people in the city "strongly" opposed it. As the head of the security group, " "Liu Qingyun" came out and hummed two awe-inspiring words, and the people in the city immediately realized the importance of selfless dedication

- The director asked the extras to understand and practice the great spirit of selfless dedication within one minute, and the extras had to Understand and practice the great spirit of selfless dedication in one minute.

Then a group of villains also entered the city, saying that they were the nursing home of a certain rich man (I forgot his name, anyway, he was fat on the outside but selfish on the inside), and "Liu Qingyun" put them on the roster. After registering, the gangsters refused to agree, and then started to do it even if they disagreed.

——If we don’t force a fight here, we can’t show the integrity and kung fu skills of “Liu Qingyun”.

It was night. Jiang Shuying, who came to Pucheng, found "Peng Yuyan" who also came to Pucheng and asked him to help send students to the provincial capital. "Peng Yuyan" asked her to give her one hundred oceans, and she turned around Then he left and said that "Peng Yuyan" was cold on the outside and hot on the heart, but he was a good man.

——Well, I clearly knew that the other person was a good person, but in the end he left a message saying that he was willing to exchange his body for the hundred oceans. Isn't this an insult to good people? In order to highlight the majestic image of this teacher and forcefully draw out the emotional line, the screenwriter came up with all the familiar jokes at his fingertips.

Up to this point, the appearance and characterization of the two characters are nothing new. It has wasted more than ten minutes, and the plot has not been well advanced.

The third protagonist appears

In the early morning, at dawn, "Louis Koo" drove his horse slowly along the avenue into the city, and slowly came to Jiang Shuying's cousin's noodle shop. The cousin asked about the identity of "Louis Koo" while cursing the warlord. Then "Louis Koo" playfully killed his cousin, Jiang Shuying, and a child.

——The plot conflict really begins here.

"Lau Ching Wan" detained "Louis Koo", and "Louis Koo's" subordinate "Wu Jing" made a strong appearance, revealed his identity, and gave "Lau Ching Wan" one day to release him, otherwise the whole city would be slaughtered with blood. "Liu Qingyun" is in a dilemma.

——The protagonist who needs to be explained is basically explained clearly from now on; and the biggest conflict of the story begins from here:

1. Choose justice bravely, or choose cowardly " "Self-protection" is a problem for "Liu Qingyun".

2. Whether to stand by and watch, or to draw a sword to help, is the problem of "Peng Yuyan".

It seems that just as in the trailer, "Liu Qingyun" said: "You can call us and talk about it!" "Liu Qingyun" initially chose to implement justice, which started more small conflicts:

1. "Wu Jing" sent people to rescue "Louis Koo" from prison. ("Liu Qingyun" lost a comrade in the security group)

2. The rich man in the city designed to persuade "Liu Qingyun" to release him and tried to kill him. ("Liu Qingyun" lost his most capable and respected subordinate)

These two conflicts caused the death of many kind-hearted people, but they failed to prevent "Liu Qingyun" from changing his will until the following plot appeared: < /p>

3. The people of the whole city knelt in front of "Liu Qingyun" in the square, cried bitterly, and asked Captain Liu to give the people a way to survive. "Liu Qingyun" had no choice but to resign and leave the choice to the people of Pucheng. ("Liu Qingyun" has "lost" the justice that his ancestors have always upheld.)

This is an emotional breaking point. So, how does the director resolve this conflict line?

Unsatisfactory! Although the handling of conflicts and emotions is progressive, everyone with some experience in watching movies will feel that the above three small conflicts (segments) are familiar and nothing new. The characters drawn from this moment also lack enough appeal.

Now let’s talk about the plot line of the second protagonist:

“Eddie Peng’s” choice, stay or leave?

The director arranged this:

1. Yuan Quan, the wife of "Liu Qingyun", handed a letter from Jiang Shuying to "Peng Yuyan". The content of the letter was roughly as follows: The little girl does not have hundreds of thousands of oceans, but she hopes to use her own body to replace her. She only asks the heroes to be chivalrous and help, so that the children can be safely delivered to the provincial capital.

2. "Peng Yuyan" went to "Liu Qingyun" to drink and chat and asked him what he thought. Liu Qing went and said, "I do things according to my conscience."

3. "Wu Jing" is his senior brother. "Peng Yuyan" found "Wu Jing" and gossiped with "Wu Jing" casually and in a nonchalant manner, such as: "The people in Pucheng are so pitiful. Tomorrow we should They are all dead, right?"

During this period, the former identities of "Peng Yuyan" and "Wu Jing" were revealed - bodyguards of the Escort Agency. When the escort was robbed on the way, he learned that he was escorting a dog official who was robbing civilian girls. "Peng Yuyan" wanted to kill the official, but was stopped by "Wu Jing". He lamented that there is power but no justice, so he broke his knife and left, wandering around the world ever since. In the end, the dog officer also destroyed the entire escort agency.

4. "Peng Yuyan" witnessed "Liu Qingyun" resigned in a dilemma.

These scenes were handled equally in-depth, and finally made "Peng Yuyan" make the decision "I will not charge for some things that should be done"; but they were also handled relatively thinly, and the characters He has a distinct personality (dissolute, frustrated, chivalrous) but not three-dimensional.

And what about the third protagonist "Louis Koo"?

Regarding the treatment of this character, there is nothing to analyze. From the moment he appeared on the stage, to being imprisoned, and then being released from prison, what he showed from the beginning to the end was a moral character: Do you need a reason to kill someone? No matter if they disagree with each other or if they agree with each other, they will pull out a gun and shoot you or draw a knife to stab you.

The director wanted to symbolically portray this perverted character, but did not explain the causes and connotations of this character's perverted psychology, and only treated it in a simple way - he is the villain of this world, holding power. , unreasonable, cruel, the opposite of kindness, killing justice in this world.

The preparation and handling of the conflict in the early stage are stereotyped. When the conflicts finally break out, they often appear weak.

Early the next morning, "Liu Qingyun" sent away his family and members of the security group, and decided to die. As a result, "Louis Koo" was released, "Liu Qingyun" was arrested and hanged, and a large number of people were brutally massacred... This is where the story entered its greatest emotional low.

Every downturn must be lifted up, so the wife who sent away, the members of the security group, and the children were sent to "Peng Yuyan" in the provincial capital. They returned amidst the exciting music and met on the mountain road to meet the awakened people. The fools completed an "exciting" counterattack...

This is full of nonsense, all old routines!

After seeing this, I don’t have much expectation for the final climax scene. In the end, the moment when the ignorant people suddenly rose up to resist bravely and resourcefully, and the good perverts successfully defeated the bad perverts, there was not much pleasure at all.

Looking at the whole movie, a simple summary is:

The powerful evil faction forces the people to give up justice, so the people are very afraid, but the protagonist is so brave and resolute in safeguarding justice, and then the facts prove that the protagonist Correct, and the ignorant people finally had an epiphany after a lot of their compatriots died, and decided to unite and defeat the evil evil.

Look, the operation of this world is so standardized and idealized.

In fact, the subject matter itself is correct. I haven’t seen a movie with such a subject matter (non-mainstream) for a long time. Is the last Western-like movie with this setting considered "Let the Bullets Fly"?

It’s a huge bonus for Chen Musheng to be able to release a movie like this to me and other old movie fans amid the summer trend of brainless and contrived youth movies. The trailer boasts that it will usher in a new era for the genre, but it would be too deceptive if the characters, scenes, and conflicts all follow the same routine.

Of course, although the whole film is very formulaic and the director boasts too much, you can also watch some of the fights. Just don’t bring too many thoughts and expectations when watching the movie.