In recent years, the originality and attractiveness of Hollywood genre films have declined, and many IP sequels and adaptations have temporarily encountered a bottleneck period of box office word-of-mouth, such as last year's "Fast and Furious 10", "Mission Impossible 7", "Captain Marvel 2", "Raiders of the Lost Ark 5", etc.
At the beginning of 2024, another drama series will touch on the classic IP adaptation.
* At the beginning, it caused controversy and complaints due to its shocking casting, and then relied on its own "hard power" to achieve a word-of-mouth reversal, and staged a counterattack journey that surprised many people.
It is the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which was launched in early February.
When it comes to "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", the first thing that comes to the audience's mind is undoubtedly the 2005 spy action movie of the same name starring Angelina Jolie and Blatter Pitt, two handsome women.
In the film, Julie and Pete play a ** couple, and a series of absurd, bizarre and exciting stories have occurred while the two parties keep hiding their secret identities.
In addition to the creative, tense and humorous story, another classic reason for the film version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is naturally the "fairy appearance" of the two leading actors and the sparks that collide.
The charming ** Julie partners with the sunny and handsome Pete, and the two can make countless fans scream in horror just by looking at each other and looking back.
After the movie version became a hit, countless people were looking forward to a sequel. It's a pity that the project was delayed for too long, and coupled with the divorce of Pete and Jolie, the sequel plan came to an end.
After the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"**, it naturally aroused expectations.
But when the drama version announced the male and female starring lineup, it caused countless netizens to complain ruthlessly.
The actor John Smith has been changed from Brad Pitt to Donald Glover, a black actor who had a stunning performance in the American drama "Atlanta".
The heroine Jane Smith used Maya Erskine, a young actor of mixed American and Japanese descent.
Compared with Angelina Jolie's amorous style, Erskine obviously takes the civilian route.
Because the gap with the original actor's style is too big, and there is obvious deliberate political correctness, when the film has not yet been watched, some viewers jokingly said:
** on the screen before: handsome men and beautiful women, in and out of high society, easy to handle all kinds of heroes.Now on the screen **: politically correct, easy to hide in the crowd, do a good job of all kinds of cattle and horses scapegoats.
However, strictly speaking, the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is not an adaptation of the 2005 film version.
From the character design to the story, to the arrangement of the plot, the two can be said to be very different.
First of all, the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" actually follows the setting of the 1996 series of the same name, which is the "original" of the 2005 film version.
That is, the two ** first received the order to "marry and fight", and then began to gradually get in touch, and finally fell in love. In the movie version, Mr. and Mrs. Smith are a real couple and are experiencing the "seven-year itch".
Secondly, in terms of style, the drama version and the film version also have their own emphasis.
The movie version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" focuses more on the contrasting identities of the two sides, and shows many brain-opening action scenes through "choking each other".
The two ** did not give in to each other, and the tip of the needle was against Maimang, making the work a fairly pure commercial blockbuster.
The action scenes of the film version are still outdated.
The drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is in the form of a unit drama, telling the story of the continuous growth of two "rookie **":
The spy center in New York is constantly recruiting new **, and they are good at pairing men and women ** into a titular "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".
Fledgling Jane (Maya Erskine) and John (Donald Glover) are placed together by the center, and the two of them have to pretend to be husband and wife to complete a difficult task every week.
However, the two have never quarreled with the world, and they have no traditional sense of responsibility, and they agreed that as long as they save enough money, they will end this awkward relationship.
As everyone knows, the mature and sophisticated "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" have long been eyeing this innocent newcomer.
The Smiths vs Smiths fight is on the verge of breaking out.
It is not difficult to find that because of the movie version of Zhuyu in front, the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" decided to change the track and use new stories and new characters to win new audiences.
The first few episodes of the drama version not only explained the slow-burning personalities of the two protagonists very well, but also showed the interlocking tasks in a step-by-step way, and the processing techniques were natural and smooth.
For example, in the first episode, the two delivered the cake to the designated customer, but the next second the cake was directly **, and the whole house was wiped out. While this scene pays tribute to the film version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", it also reveals the danger and randomness of the ** mission.
As the story of the drama version continues to deepen, more and more problems are presented in front of the newcomers.
At the same time, the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is also commendable in terms of intimacy.
In each episode, viewers can clearly see the progress of the couple in their relationship:
The first episode is the first acquaintance of the two and the start of a date; In the second episode, the relationship between the two parties warmed up and gave their first kiss; In the third episode, there is an argument, and the "husband and wife" start bickering with each other.
This process from acquaintance to love, and then to quarrel presents a good sense of detail in life and captures the essence of marriage, coupled with humorous lines and a relaxed plot, so that the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which caused countless complaints at first, unexpectedly received praise after the official broadcast.
On the relatively demanding Rotten Tomatoes platform, the freshness index of the show reaches 87, and the reputation in the critics and ** is better than the original movie (the freshness of the film version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is only 60).
If the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is a completely original new work that does not apply IP popularity, then the quality it shows is enough to satisfy the audience.
It's a pity that the movie version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" starring Julie and Pitt is too dazzling, which leads to this "low-looking" and shrunken drama version of the fight, which only achieved 6A mediocre score of 5 points.
However, it is gratifying that the reputation of the drama version is improving at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the Douban score has also increased from 68 or so to 78, tie the original movie.
I believe that after the whole drama is over, the new version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" will also gain more and more recognition, and there will be no more one-sided complaints like before the broadcast.
After all, a real masterpiece doesn't have to be a handsome man or a beautiful woman, a good story will always have an audience.
Let's go back to the sequel production of the movie version.
In fact, as early as around 2010, Angelina Jolie said in an interview that "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" will not launch a sequel:
"We did get people to come up with ideas for a sequel, but none of those ideas were original, whether they were about getting married and having children, or what happens after separation, and they weren't always good enough. ”And in 2016, Pete and Jolie officially announced their divorce, completely ending the hope of a sequel.
Therefore, the drama version launched today is more like a "biography" of the movie version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", except for the name Smith, there is no more to do with it.
Abandoning the attachment to the previous work and devoting himself to a new story may be the right way to open the drama version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".