This "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea" has finally come to an end, as the fourth installment of the Ghost Blowing Lantern series, does it draw a successful end to this IP and satisfy the audience?The answer, I'm afraid, is no. Although the finale leaves some suspense, on the whole, there are really not many remarkable things about this drama.
Douban scored 7 before1 is the basis for a decrease of 01. When it is officially released, I am afraid it will be difficult to hold the 7-point mark.
If it's worse than bad, it's really better than "Yunnan Worm Valley".
As an adventure drama, "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea" has an obvious lack of rhythm, and a large number of empty literary dramas have a serious impact on the audience's interest. The emotional drama between the "Iron Triangle" can be said to be excessive.
I don't know who thinks that a lot of dialogue must be added to each episode. As a result, every time the hero and heroine are together, the camera can't wait to zoom in, and the eye contact between the two can go all the way from here to the Mariana Trench.
This excessive "romance" has added countless coolness to the original exciting adventure drama. What's even more laughable is that this pattern is repeated from beginning to end in every episode, with no depth and zero novelty. On the other hand, the long-awaited adventure sequences were arranged in too much rush to make a lasting impression.
For example, the ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Hatred that we finally looked forward to were hastily ended in just a few minutes, and we didn't even have time to expand the information of the people of the Hatred Heaven Kingdom. This kind of rhythm setting that reverses the priority is really unsatisfactory.
On the other hand, the characterization is also a bit suffocating. In the previous ghost blowing lantern works, "Iron Triangle" and many supporting roles are plump and three-dimensional, which left a deep impression on the audience. But in this drama, it is difficult to see such a brilliant character.
Take Ruan Hei as an example, as an important member of the expedition team, it is difficult for him to resonate with the audience. His sacrifice did not bring much tragedy, but was somewhat abrupt. Because the previous plots did not pave this character well, his tragic color is not strong enough.
What's even more absurd is that the fuse that led to Ruan Hei's death turned out to be that Wang Fatzi and Uncle Ming accidentally got their burden into the water when they were fighting for the spoils. This kind of childish treatment makes people laugh and cry, an old and experienced expedition member, he was killed by an "accident" so inexplicably, does he deserve such a contemptuous treatment?
The role of Wang Fatzi was originally designed for gags, but "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea" relied on him excessively. The whole play can be said to be pushed forward by Wang Fatzi's various "hands cheap", and in the end, he really let him kill people with "hands cheap", is this a bit far-fetched?
I still remember that in the previous series of works, Wang Fatzi's "cheap hands" always caused trouble, but he would also stand up at critical moments and display rare wisdom. But in "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea", we don't see such a shining moment of the fat man, he is more like a comedic character who relies on "cheap hands" to make trouble, and lacks the wisdom reversal of the stroke of genius, which is also a bit unfair to an experienced explorer.
Another unlucky one was Duo Ling. She could have been the focus of the audience's attention because of her wonderful life experience. But the play did not dig enough into this setting, and it didn't make the audience have enough emotions for her, and finally became a poor worm at the mercy of fate.
She fell under a spell set by her own father, which could have been a wonderful plot point, but it was handled too hastily to properly uncover the drama of fate behind it. Doling's tragic color is not as strong as expected, and it becomes a regret in this finale.
The finale of "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea" is also a bit hasty, and the main plot is that everyone enters the underwater ruins to find the bone mirror of King Qin. This plot is not long, and it is difficult for the audience to see amazing visual scenes, and the overall excitement is insufficient.
What's even more confusing is that Duo Ling's ending has been adapted out of nothing. In the original book, she was poisoned by the corpse and needed to seek the legendary corpse pill to save her life. But in the play, it was inexplicably changed to "Sanzhu".
There is really no better explanation for such an adaptation, except for creating a little suspense. After all, the original work of Ghost Blowing Lantern is so famous, and a large number of readers know it well, so such a random adaptation is bound to be criticized.
This kind of approach just to leave a foreshadowing and add a little suspense is really inconsiderate. It destroys the original character of the book, and at the same time makes people feel unconfident about the future. If even such an important detail can be changed at will, if a sequel is filmed in the future, can it still be faithful to the original work?
Looking at the entire "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea", there are really few highlights that are rarely seen. It doesn't have the thrilling adventures of its predecessors, nor does it have impressive characterization. On the contrary, because of various strange adaptation decisions, people have added to the worries about the future of this series.
If anything, it's that it barely has a full beginning and an end. Although there is a lot of water injection, at least there is a happy ending, and it also leaves everyone with a glimmer of hope - I hope to see "Wuxia Coffin Mountain".
After all, this is a popular original adventure for Chinese people**, and it has been widely adapted into various film and television works. From "Exquisite Ancient City" to "Longling Grotto", each drama brings more or less different shocks to the audience.
So when "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea" officially launched, many fans had expectations. I look forward to what kind of vivid character portrayal this time, what kind of thrilling treasure exploration process, and more importantly, whether it can faithfully restore the spirit of the original work.
But when these expectations are disappointed, of course, it can be very frustrating and disappointing. We can't help but ask, how did an IP that moves forward with such a load achieve this step?
In fact, if you think about it carefully, the reason may not come entirely from the producer. In recent years, the domestic environment has changed, and the censorship and control of various film and television content have become more and more stringent, and many themes are no longer easy to pass. This also has a certain impact on the creation.
But as an audience, while we are disappointed, we can also understand the hard work and helplessness of the crew under various restrictions. They may have been full of enthusiasm, but they were limited by various external factors and ultimately failed to perform as well as they should.
Therefore, for the IP of "Ghost Blowing the Lantern", our expectations cannot be completely shattered because of the failure of "Return to the Ruins of the South China Sea". It's been proven to be wonderful, and as long as the environment allows, there's still something to do.
For example, it was previously reported that if it is approved, "Wuxia Coffin Mountain" may be filmed to end perfectly. Now it seems that the quality of this last part has been very critical to the word-of-mouth impact of the entire Ghost Blowing Lantern series.
It will determine the final evaluation of this IP. If "Wuxia Coffin Mountain" can return to the essence of the original work and be staged with high quality, it will be of great benefit to restore the audience's confidence.
On the contrary, if it continues to follow the mistakes of its predecessor, then the ** era of this domestic adventure drama may really come to an end. For screenwriters, this is a great pressure and test.
But as viewers, we can continue to hold on to the silver lining. I hope that the vigorous giant ship "Ghost Blows the Lantern" can finally dock at the end of the strait, bringing you a wonderful experience that has not been seen for a long time, and leaving a perfect ending.