"Latent" and "Kite": Who is the pinnacle of domestic spy war dramas?
In the past few years, spy war dramas in Chinese mainland have been all the rage, mixing good works and bad works. However, excellent works such as "Secret Calculation", "Latent", "Before Dawn", "Cliff", "Red", "Kite", "No War in Peking", with high ratings and audience reputation, can be called the pinnacle of domestic spy war dramas.
Overall, "Latent" and "Kite" are two of the most popular dramas among audiences.
As an avid fan of military history, I'm not a professional drama critic. However, since spy war TV dramas often involve our party's work on the hidden front during the war years, and some of the characters do have real prototypes and historical backgrounds, I am particularly interested in this kind of work.
I've watched all the episodes in one episode, and some of them have even been watched multiple times. Especially for the two dramas "Latent" and "Kite", I like it very much, and sometimes I can't help but compare these two outstanding works, which one is better?
This is a very tricky question, and I'm sure many viewers have had similar problems.
Due to the large time span of the plot and the multiple nodes involved, the content of 51 episodes was cut to 46 episodes, resulting in the coherence and central idea of the work being damaged and incomplete.
Some viewers can only feel the connotation of the work from the "ruins", and cannot make a comprehensive evaluation. This is also reflected in the ratings and awards, although the Douban score is also 88 points or more, but 9 away from "Latent".There is still a significant gap of 4 points.
"Kite" cannot be ignored, but what are the advantages of "Latent"? The biggest advantage is its great story and high level of entertainment. For example, even if we split the 30 episodes of "Latent" into 10 or 20 separate segments, the audience would still be able to enjoy and enjoy it.
This is because the writing and directing team of "Latent" pays great attention to the interpretation of the story and the independence of the plot, and almost every second half of the episode will set up a suspense conflict, and then solve it in the first half of the next episode, and so on.
The relationship between the characters is simple and clear, the language and performances are vivid and humorous, and it is full of a relaxed and happy atmosphere, especially the performances of Yu Zecheng, his wife Cuiping, the stationmaster, Xie Ruolin and other characters, which are fascinating and very suitable for the public's taste, so that people can easily enjoy the plot.
This successful interpretation makes "Latent" a successful TV series and spy war feature film, where the audience can fully immerse themselves in the spy story without having to struggle with reasoning and using their brains in a relaxed and happy mind.
And the choreographer and director of "Latent" are working hard to shoot a work that the public likes and is attractive.
The success of Latent in terms of entertainment attributes and story attributes makes it stand out from other works of its kind. Although the later "Cliff" and "Kite" have their shadows, they are difficult to surpass.
Although the focus of "Latent" and "Kite" is different, its strong storytelling is not the main pursuit of the choreographer of "Kite". Therefore, "Latent" is more likely to be loved by the public with its unique storytelling that meets the characteristics of "explosive styles", and this has been proven by facts.
In terms of acting, "Latent" has a significant advantage over "Kite". When the protagonists Sun Honglei and Yao Chen portrayed the two characters of Yu Zecheng and Cui Ping, with their excellent acting skills, even if the image is not outstanding, they successfully interpreted the inner world and emotional changes of the characters vividly.
Their acting skills have been polished very well more than ten years ago, and even if you look at them today, they are not outdated at all. In terms of supporting roles, "Latent" is also amazing.
Feng Enhe, Zu Feng, Wu Gang and other actors are all actors at the level of drama bones, and they can play calmly and excitingly, which is also an important reason for the success of the play.
In comparison, the performances of some of the characters in "Kite" are a bit less than satisfactory, but we won't specifically point them out for reasons of respect for the actors. To sum up, from the perspective of actors' strength and performance, "Latent" is undoubtedly better than "Kite".
If you've already appreciated the many virtues of Latent, let's take a look at what makes Kite unique. Please note that this needs to be built on top of the full **51 episodes.
If you only watch the abridged version of "Kite", although it is still an excellent spy war work, there may be some regrets from the perspective of audience appreciation and the expression of the main creators.
Therefore, it is recommended that you watch the full version of 51 episodes of "Kite" first, and then make a more objective and accurate evaluation.
Liu Yunlong is different from Sun Honglei in "Latent", as the starring actor of "Kite", he is not only an actor, but also a director, screenwriter and producer, and his identity is more complex than Sun Honglei.
As the godfather of Chinese spy war dramas, Liu Yunlong has great ambitions in his works. In "Kite", he uses his special identity not only to tell a wonderful spy war story, but also hopes to show a grand theme and background through this drama, connecting the time span of more than 30 years to show the two major themes of spy war and human nature.
The theme of human nature is a sublimation of the theme of spy warfare, showing a more far-reaching theme.
Although the full version of "Kite" shows the depth of thought of the main creators, because of the hours of cutting, it may take some viewers longer to understand and accept the plot, and may even give up because of it**.
The large time span may cause the pacing to be a little loose, but if you are lucky enough to ** the full version, you will find that this is a minor flaw that does not prevent the whole show from thinking deeply about human nature and personality, and it surpasses most similar works.
"Kite" takes the life of Zheng Yaoxian, the military commander "Sixth Brother" who lurked in the enemy camp, as a clue, and through the ups and downs of his life experience, he has the theme of human nature, especially showing the great changes and choices of the characters before and after the founding of New China.
In the face of love and brotherhood, he chose faith and organization, embodying his greatness and selflessness. Compared with "Latent", the undercover environment in "Kite" is more difficult, and Zheng Yaoxian's strategic value and status to the organization are also higher, he is not only a lurker, but also a strategic **.
His importance even surpasses that of characters such as Yu Zecheng in "Latent".
Fool, why don't you run away? Is it really worth it to die for me? "It is regrettable that this paragraph has been deleted. This kind of plot arrangement fully demonstrates the deep thinking of the choreographers and directors of "Kite" on human nature, and they do not simply put the organizational goals in the first place, but enhance the ideological and artistic nature of the work through emotional conflicts and contradictions, which is moving.
The emotional resonance of "Kite" is deep, and its touching points go beyond the point of joy and are more artistic. "Latent" pays more attention to the narration of the story, with a tight rhythm and vivid plot, and the completeness of the story is far more than deep thinking.
Viewers' preferences for style and subject matter vary from person to person, depending on their angle of appreciation and personal preferences.
If you want to separate the winners and losers in the two dramas, it has always been a big problem on the Internet. When this topic is raised, it often leads to heated debates, often ending up with a vague answer.
But the author of this article doesn't mind this, because he loves both dramas very much, and he has watched them many times and recommended them to his friends, both of which are classics among classics.
If only the author's personal preferences are taken into account, he is willing to give his own answer: the choreographer of "Kite" succeeded in imprinting the goal of the work of showing humanity and personality in his mind.
What do you think about this? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.