Wolf Warrior"The popularity of the series has reached the popularity of the "Changjin Lake" series and films such as "Eight Hundred" and "King Kong River", so why did "Volunteers" fail to continue the previous successful model?
This is a thought-provoking twist.
"Volunteers", as the only military highlight in the National Day file, failed to shake the status of "Predecessor 4" on the first day of broadcasting, and then "Solid as a Rock" counterattacked strongly, and the box office only reached 26.4 billion.
It is estimated that the box office peak of the entire film may stop at 1 billion. It is curious why, despite the popularity of similar main theme works, "Volunteers" has not been able to continue this successful model?
The gap is thought-provoking.
The phenomena I observed revealed the key factors:
Lack of strong promotionIn the world of commercial films, publicity is like a catalyst, as the old saying goes: "Good wine also needs to be drunk", no matter how good the content is, if there is not enough promotion, it will be buried in the ocean of information.
Taking "Volunteers" as an example, its early publicity is almost equal to zero, if it is not released in theaters, I am afraid that most people will not realize that there is such a profound work in the National Day file.
It is this lack of publicity that makes "Volunteers" stand out on netizens' viewing lists. This begs a worthy question: why didn't "Volunteer Army" carry out large-scale publicity?
Although "Volunteers" has gathered a strong lineup of many powerful and popular stars, such as Tang Guoqiang, Wang Yanhui and other acting schools and well-known actors such as Zhang Ziyi and Huang Xiaoming.
Even includes Chen Feiyu, the son of director Chen Kaige, but what is curious is that this work has not been promoted on a large scale.
The reason for this may be that the focus is not on a specific actor, but on the collective strength of the entire team.
Chen Feiyu, as the second male role, has attracted much attention, but the movie chooses to be low-key, and seems to emphasize the story itself and the overall artistic presentation.
"Volunteers" has been filming since April 2022, but the starring Chen Feiyu suffered an accident in February 2023, when the film was halfway through.
This change undoubtedly had an impact on the promotion of the film. In fact, from filming to release, there were few large-scale publicity actions on the Internet.
In the early stage, it may be out of confidentiality, but in the later stage, it should be fully promoted, but the response is still scarce.
Chen Kaige knows that the fanfare may lead to Chen Feiyu's news being revisited by old events, which may trigger a new round of ** storm and even affect his public image.
Therefore, they choose to keep a low profile, hoping to rely on the power of word of mouth to counterattack.
In recent years, film and television works with the theme of resisting US aid to Korea have emerged one after another, such as the movies "Sniper", "Changjin Lake" and "King Kong River", as well as the TV series "Crossing the Yalu River" and "Meritorious", etc., the frequent presentation makes the audience inevitably feel aesthetic fatigue.
It seems like every year"The main theme"The repetition of new faces lowers the audience's expectations, and even reading the news can be visually and emotionally tiring.
According to statistics, only theatrical works and online masterpieces are close to dozens in a year, and such a high frequency really makes it difficult to maintain a sense of freshness.
Although the cast lacks amazing highlights, it is not outstanding but acceptable, and the addition of Chen Feiyu and Zhu Yilong failed to bring a breakthrough, but was slightly mediocre.
In the face of some netizens' doubts about Huang Xiaoming's acting skills, I have reservations, his problem may be more because the inherent image label is too greasy, rather than the acting itself.
For example, Huang Lei, even if his acting skills are excellent, it is difficult to get rid of the shackles of the image of "Huang Xiaochu". Similarly, Zhang Ziyi's reputation is also facing challenges. Collectively, these factors make up the current situation.
Admittedly, the unique positioning of this work seems somewhat complicated. From a macro point of view, it includes high-level officials such as the chairman, the prime minister, the United Nations, and even the headquarters of the Volunteer Army, and the grand layout is comparable to the grand epic of "Crossing the Yalu River".
However, from a microscopic point of view, the protagonist focuses on the role of the deputy company commander of the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 335th Regiment of the 112th Division of the Volunteer 38th Army played by Chen Feiyu and the company commander of Wei Chen, and the core content of the movie is actually quite concentrated.
It can be said that the entire country, the international arena and the broad background of the headquarters are all designed to set off and support the emotional story of this small company.
Have you seen the Dragon Tiger essential oil recommended by Tang Youyou in "Love Apartment"? It was like: the scene was grand at the beginning, showcasing the C919 aircraft, aerospace feats and top scientific research, high-end and eye-catching.
However, when the expectation reaches its climax and the protagonist is revealed, it turns out to be a screw of a product! Although screws are indispensable, this transformation from the great to the everyday, the dramatic contrast, is indescribable.
Let's take a deep dive into the "Changjin Lake" series and "King Kong River" and "Sniper", their stories are tight and detail-oriented, and they abandon empty gorgeousness to ensure that each link is closely related to the theme.
In contrast, "The Volunteers" appears disorganized, and it is difficult to find internal coherence—it seems to be divided into three separate parts by high-level decision-making, diplomatic strategy, and squad operations.
Despite the existence of Chen Feiyu's character, on the whole, "Volunteers" does not meet the strict narrative standards, and feels a bit illusory and vague.
In my opinion, perhaps presenting this kind of historical event in the form of a TV series is a more appropriate and effective choice.
Chen Kaige followed the successful pace of "Changjin Lake" and devoted himself to creating a work with a similar theme of "Volunteers".
In order to deepen the theme of the Volunteer Army and differentiate it from his predecessors, he elevated the perspective of the film to the national and international stage, such as Zhang Songwen's brilliant debate at the United Nations.
Although it is a good work in terms of story depth and overall presentation, the audience seems to expect more.
As netizens said, "Changjin Lake" has it, "Volunteers" also has it, but "Volunteers" has unique elements that "Changjin Lake" does not have, but "Volunteers" has not provided.
Therefore, it seems reasonable that "Volunteers" has been given a cold reception, and Director Chen may be too pursuing the integration of tall and small stories, trying to replicate the glory of "Changjin Lake", but this may not be easy and challenging.