In many film and television dramas, villains are easy to attract the attention of the audience, but in fact, not all villains can be popular, because there are certain prerequisites for whether they can become hot villains.
Those villains who are portrayed as full and profound are more likely to arouse the audience's interest. Villains with excellent image-building abilities are more likely to be the focus. And those villains who not only have a plump image, but also have superb acting skills are the most likely to become limelight.
In "Reconnaissance Hero", Baek Chang-ho, the intelligence captain of the Black Panther Division of the South Korean Army, is a villain with a distinctive personality, a profound image, and outstanding acting skills. After the climax of the plot, "Baek Chang-ho" may quickly become popular.
First of all, Baek Chang-ho's image is gradually plumped and profound in "Scout Hero". When he first appeared, he cooperated with the U.S. military to carry out a sneak attack and capture the volunteer art team, showing a sinister and cunning image, and treating the art team badly, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
However, just when the audience thought that Baek Chang-ho was just an ordinary villain, he showed a cunning and intelligent side when he sneaked up on the headquarters, which changed the audience's impression of him. Baek Chang-ho successfully evaded the search, disguised himself as a reconnaissance squad, and even planned a counterattack plan, showing his nimble and cunning side.
It is undeniable that Baek Chang-ho at this time has already made the audience feel a little scared, and the villain image of this intelligence captain is gradually being fully displayed.
When the Volunteers attacked the Yujiang Bridge, although Baek Changho once again suffered defeat in the battle with the Volunteers, his cunning strategy not only caused the Volunteer Army's engineer platoon to suffer a heavy **, but also seriously weakened the reconnaissance squad and wounded Liang Chen. Although Baek Changho himself was wounded again, he was almost defeated by the KPA guerrillas during this period, and almost drowned in the Yujiang River. This series of events made many viewers sigh that Baek Chang-ho seems to be a real immortal. Liang Jin is given the aura of the protagonist, and it is also puzzling whether Baek Chang Ho has the aura of a villain.
In the second half of "Scout Hero", Baek Chang-ho, who has been defeated repeatedly, was promoted to lieutenant colonel. The commander of the Black Panther Division made it clear that although Baek Chang-ho did not win against the Volunteer Army, his ability, combat effectiveness and loyalty were undeniable, and his promotion was deserved. However, with his promotion, Baek Chang-ho became passive. The reason for this was family conflicts, and his second brother stood against him and joined the People's Army, unfortunately dying. Although the third brother hoped that the two sides could live in peace, he was eventually drafted into the army and disappeared from the battlefield.
The family's misfortunes prompted Baek Chang-ho to reflect on the war. At this time, Baek Chang-ho's character gradually became three-dimensional, and some viewers even felt sympathy for his family's plight.
In the battle of Vulture Ridge in the finale of "Scout Heroes", Baek Chang-ho became like crazy, and even wanted to die with Liang Chen. At this moment, he is full of a broken jar and broken mentality, because the victory of the war has become hopeless, and he prefers to die heroically in the final battle.
Regardless of the final outcome, as a villain, Baek Chang-ho has not only been recognized by his own camp, but his abilities have also won the respect of the audience.
The task of evaluating Baek Chang-ho, the villain, needs to extend from the beginning of "Scout Hero" to the finale of the plot. The role he plays in the whole drama is a prominent villain male lead, which has triggered many judgments against him.
How can we make a comprehensive evaluation of this villain? Is it to classify it as **, stupid, cunning, or cruel? Or is it inclined to sympathize, disgust, and lament for him? First of all, there is almost no doubt that Baek Chang-ho is a soldier with great ability. Deputy Division Commander Kang of the South Korean Army once described him as "the most outstanding soldier I have ever met", which may also represent the audience's perception.
Despite repeated defeats in duels against Yang Chen, Baek remained the high-profile officer with both personality and ability in the South Korean army. It was precisely because of the presence of figures like Baek Chang-ho that the combat effectiveness of the South Korean army in the later stages of the Korean War was significantly improved.
Secondly, Baek Chang-ho is a soldier with idealistic feelings, somewhat similar to Li Ya in the spy war drama "Latent". They are not born villains, but they have idealistic beliefs in their hearts and are determined to follow their choices and beliefs, which has enabled them to rise to prominence in repeated defeats.
Of course, Baek Chang-ho is also a figure of extreme means, and in order to achieve his goal, he can do whatever it takes, whether it is against his troops, ordinary people, or even his own life. In addition, we also need to pay attention to the fact that there are at least two major stains on Baek Chang-ho. First, he once acted as a traitor and served as a senior police inspector of the Japanese Police Department in Korea during the Japanese colonial period, which became an indelible stain on him.
Officers like Baek Chang-ho are everywhere in the South Korean army, and it is not uncommon for them to come from the puppet army during the colonial period. This also explains why the South Korean military is often unable to win the support of the North Korean civilian population, which is a fundamental problem.
Baek's brutality in the face of North Korean civilians became another stain on him. In order to weaken the support and shelter of KPA guerrillas among Korean civilians, he ordered the intelligence team to pretend to be the People's Army and deceive and ** North Korean civilians who sympathized with the KPA guerrillas. There was even a plot to massacre the village of Yujiangli, which supported the People's Army.
Although Baek Chang-ho can be considered an outstanding military man, his crimes against North Korean civilians are enough to put him on trial before a war criminals tribunal.
The audience is also interested in the actor who plays Baek Chang-ho. The actor is fluent in Korean and even resembles the South Korean in micro-expressions, movements, and tone. Could it really be that he is from South Korea?
In fact, our guess is probably only half right. The actor who plays Baek Chang-ho is named Yang Fan, who was born in Zibo, Shandong Province in 1986 and is a domestic actor. Yang Fan graduated from the performance department of South Korea's ** university, which also explains why he is fluent in Korean, and he also has Korean characteristics in his demeanor and expression. After graduating from university, Yang Fan began to participate in the filming of the movie "Dangerous Liaisons" in 2012, and until "Scout Hero" in 2023, he has starred in 10 TV series and two films, although most of them are supporting roles.
Yang Fan's performance in film and television dramas covers a considerable part of Korean productions, because he graduated from the acting department of South Korea's ** university, and his close relationship with his classmates and teachers is in South Korea.
Maybe it's because of the limitations of the acting path, or the luck is not good enough, although Yang Fan's acting skills are undoubted, it is a pity that he has not been widely recognized for more than ten years. The vast majority of viewers may have only started paying attention to the actor since "Scout Hero".
Through his performance in "Scout Hero", we believe that Yang Fan will receive more film invitations in the future. It is expected that he will appear again in "The Legend of the Tibetan Sea", which will be broadcast in 2025. The play is starring Xiao Zhan, and the director is Zheng Xiaolong, who also directed "Scout Hero", which shows that Yang Fan's acting skills have been recognized by famous directors.
Relatively speaking, Yang Fan's appearance and temperament are very good, combined with his acting skills in "Scout Hero", he is very suitable for playing the villain male number one in spy war film and television dramas.
Whether it is in terms of height or appearance, Yang Fan is quite good. However, compared to Luo Jin, his temperament may seem slightly cloudy, especially his unique eyes, which make him more suitable for creating the image of the villain male number one.
Therefore, we can boldly guess that under the promotion of the hit of "Scout Hero" and the acting skills of Baek Changho, Yang Fan may be seen playing more villain roles in spy war dramas in the future.