Last year's most popular domestic drama was "Hurricane", there is no doubt about it.
After "Hurricane" became popular, the actors in the play also became popular, such as Zhang Songwen who played the villain Gao Qiqiang.
His performance in the play is perfect, whether it is the low-key when he sold fish at the beginning, or the arrogance he revealed later, he played it vividly.
It was with this role that Zhang Songwen became popular all of a sudden and became one of the hottest actors at that time.
After "Hurricane" became popular, everyone couldn't wait for Zhang Songwen's next work.
After a year, he finally starred in the new drama "Ice Hunting".
"Ice Hunting" was filmed in 2022, when Zhang Songwen was not yet popular, but the drama itself has a lot to watch.
The first is director Gao Qunshu, who is a master in the field of police dramas.
Each of his previous works is excellent, and he has a very good grasp of the theme of police and bandits.
In terms of story, "Ice Hunting" is an anti-drug criminal investigation drama, and the character settings also have prototypes.
So some people say that "Ice Hunting" is the Chinese version of "Breaking Bad", and some people even think that the story is even more exciting than "Breaking Bad".
Anti-narcotics, police and bandit duels, villain male protagonists and other elements, coupled with Gao Qunshu and Zhang Songwen, made "Ice Hunting" a sensation before it was broadcast, and the number of reservations exceeded 1 million.
The premiere effect is good, and it has topped the platform's hot search list for two consecutive days, with more than 1.61 million people, which is so popular.
The popularity exceeded 20,000, setting a new record for the fastest goose platform drama to exceed 20,000 in 2024, and later it rushed to 280 thousand.
It can be said that "Ice Hunting" is already a great "divine drama" in terms of popularity alone.
However, can "Ice Hunting" be as popular as "Hurricane"?
After watching 5 episodes in one go, it feels a little complicated.
To sum up, there are "two major advantages" and "three major disadvantages".
Let's start with the "two major advantages".
The most eye-catching thing in this drama is, of course, the male advocate ode.
Like "Hurricane", Zhang Songwen played the villain in "Ice Hunting", and he is also a drug dealer.
Seeing the scene of Zhang Songwen holding "Advanced Organic Chemistry" on the poster, many viewers recalled "Hurricane".
However, this time he played Huang Zongwei is different from Gao Qiqiang in "Hurricane".
Gao Qiqiang is a low-level little man who was forced by fate to embark on the road of villain, and has experienced the process from humiliation to depravity.
The audience may not agree with his choice, but it will certainly resonate with his pain.
And Huang Zongwei in "Ice Hunting" is an active criminal, and he was a ruthless villain from the beginning.
On the surface, he is a well-mannered and good person, who is gentle and considerate to his family and employees.
But behind the scenes, he is a big drug lord who makes and sells drugs, and he is even more vicious than Gao Qiqiang.
Zhang Songwen's acting skills are really amazing, he played a role full of contrasts very well, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
In the play, there are two scenes that are so impressive that they make their scalp tingle. The first time was when I was doing business with a client. When dealing with customers, he is polite and smiling, and even touches sensitive topics such as price increases. However, when the customer casually mentioned that there was a new type of ** on the market, which was extremely pure but no one had ever seen it, and it might be produced with onion essence, Huang Zongwei's expression changed slightly, although he was still smiling, but his eyes had revealed a trace of change. After the customer left, he quickly put away his smile, bent down to pick up the cigarette butt thrown by the customer, and snuffed it out with his bare hands. Although his expression was calm, this small action showed Huang Zongwei's forbearance and ruthlessness to the fullest.
The second time was when an employee was found stealing drugs. When he learned that ** had set his sights on his own drug production, Huang Zongwei decided to temporarily close the factory. However, he accidentally discovers that a worker has stolen drugs. Faced with the employee's fault, Huang Zongwei did not get angry, but asked the other party about his future plans, and instructed his subordinates to give him a red envelope tomorrow according to the rules of his hometown. The plot here is reminiscent of the classic line in "Hurricane", "Uncle Zhong, send him a red envelope", as if it is "Lao Mo, I want to eat fish" in another scene. Then, Huang Zongwei turned around and walked out of the factory gate, his expression became irritable and indifferent, and the employees couldn't help but feel panicked. Zhang Songwen switched between different expressions and successfully presented the image of this hypocritical and ruthless drug lord.
Criminal investigation dramas, the most important thing is to have a sense of reality. The drama "Ice Hunting" is based on a true story, and the plots in it are all found from life. For example, the heroine Yao Anna lurks in a small village, dressed up like a local, and then has to run to the *** hotel to squat, and the scenes of making drug guns can be seen to be quite real. The director also shoots quite realistically, and there is a feeling of watching a documentary.
And the pace of this drama is really fast, and the arrest starts at the beginning, and there is no mud and water at all. The anti-narcotics team of Sanping City accidentally discovered a batch of ultra-rare new ** in one operation, and then immediately launched an investigation, and the target was locked on Xia Hongzhang. Then the police arrested Xia Hongzhang and asked Huang Zongwei who was the one who found out the drugs. The police did not drag their feet and directly launched a search and arrest to compete with the drug lords.
Not to mention the fast pace of the story, the plot is also thrilling, and the speed of the "box lunch" is simply amazing. Three characters were taken offline in just two episodes, which is too violent! The first one to go offline is a drug dealer, and the second is a wine girl, both of whom are small characters who are alive and well. Huang Zongwei learned that his goods were sold in China, so he was so angry that he directly negotiated with Xia Hongzhang, which was quite threatening. Saying that it is easy to get sick if you earn this money, and if you can't cure it, you will die, which makes Xia Hongzhang break out in a cold sweat.
Xia Hongzhang directly shot and dealt with those drug dealers, and also cleaned up the wine girl next to him. Then the employees of the factory were laid off one after another. The male protagonist found that his drug business was not good, so he discussed with his subordinates to close the factory. At this moment, there was movement outside the door, and his subordinates hurried out to check and found a worker who had stolen something. Huang Chongwei pretended to appease the workers, and then hinted that his men would kill the workers. Whether it is the realistic shooting technique or the gripping plot, this drama is full of old-school criminal investigation drama style and attracts the audience's attention.
Next, let's talk about the "3 major shortcomings" of this show:
First, the police solve cases by chance.
In criminal investigation dramas, the police arresting criminals has always been the focus of the audience's attention, but the way this drama handles the investigation and solving the plot is too rough.
For example, during the investigation of the KTV ** case, the heroine directly found the restaurant where ** was located through the footprints of the scene.
She asked her boss if she had seen a man of 1.8 meters come out of the alley, and it was impossible to remember it clearly when there were so many pedestrians on the road.
However, the boss not only said that he had seen it, but also remembered that he was wearing red.
After that, **easily found** the information, and even stumbled upon the male protagonist who dined with **.
It can be said that every investigation can quickly find key clues and obtain key information.
This reliance on chance investigative plots not only weakens the tension of the series, but also does not create a good image of justice.
Second, there are too many holes in the story logic.
A good criminal investigation drama must be logical and rigorous, so that the audience can follow the storyline.
However, there are many logical loopholes in the plot of "Ice Hunting".
At the beginning of the story, there is a infiltration mission that requires a person to disguise himself as one of them.
The leader asked his subordinates if they were taking drugs, and said that the drug addicts could be seen by drug dealers, and said that it was better to be a woman.
According to the leadership, male drug users can be recognized, but women cannot, what kind of logic is this.
The subsequent infiltration operation is also full of loopholes.,Before** said that drug dealers were very vigilant.,As a result, the heroine quickly found her destination after entering the village.。
And she didn't arouse suspicion after mentioning her name, and went straight to the transaction.
What's even more exaggerated is that the person who sold the goods later was actually fooled because he was attracted by the heroine, and this character setting is really too unreal and unreasonable.
When arresting He Hongzhang, the police asked the boss who made the gun for He Hongzhang to keep asking where He Hongzhang was, but it was clear that He Hongzhang had already beaten him.
Can't the police check where the ** number belocates?
In addition, the police have found clues depicting Zhang Songwen, and under normal circumstances, they will conduct surveillance and in-depth investigation.
But in the play, the heroine went to talk to Zhang Songwen with a leader, which was obviously attracting unnecessary attention.
Later, when Zhang Songwen was arrested, there were obviously people in the station and other places, but Zhang Songwen still escaped by train with his family.
Such absurd plot logic really makes people speechless.
In addition, the heroine's acting skills are also controversial.
After the broadcast of this drama, the most hotly discussed thing by everyone was the heroine Yao Anna. Some viewers even jokingly said, is it true that a company as big as Huawei can't find a suitable role for Yao Anna?
Although Yao Anna is a new actor, this time she played the female number one Zhao Younan in "Ice Hunting", but she shouldered a lot of responsibility. As soon as the role of Zhao Younan appeared, he showed strong strength, he was born in the military, repeatedly made third-class merits, and his marksmanship was superb. Surprisingly, Yao Anna not only has to show her strength this time, but also needs to make some sacrifices.
In the process of handling the case, she transformed into a dust girl, dressed quite exaggeratedly, and even almost fell into a trap. Because she plays a police officer, there are a lot of action scenes involved in the play, and Yao Anna also went into battle in person, and her professionalism can be seen from the filming tidbits. In order to make the movements more fluid, she kept trying, and after a few scenes, she was already sweating.
However, as a rookie actor, Yao Anna still has some limitations in terms of acting. In the scene where she is disguised at the beginning, her gait is wobbly and full of manliness. But in the interpretation of the role, the performance is almost expressionless, sometimes too dull, and the eyes are empty. The expression of the lines seems weak, more like reading the lines than really integrating into the situation.
Needless to say, compared with Zhang Songwen, even compared with other police actors, Yao Anna's performance seems quite immature. These three deficiencies make "Ice Hunting" difficult to match with "Hurricane" in terms of popularity and word-of-mouth, and it has become a work that cannot reach the peak level.
Maybe many people originally came to watch Zhang Songwen, but this time they may feel a little disappointed.