Just as the smoke of the Spring Festival stalls dissipated, a sudden dark horse work was born, with a strong reputation and a rapid rise in ratings, beating all the films in the Spring Festival stalls, which aroused widespread heated discussions.
During this period, it was reported that the film needed to be changed due to the large scale of the content, but the audience's enthusiasm not only did not decrease, but became even higher. What is the background and charm of this amazing film? Today, we will analyze this topic in depth - "Removing the Three Evils Around the World".
The story tells the story of the young man who is brave and good at fighting but is rampant and domineering in the township, and is called the "three evils" with the tiger and the dragon. After learning of the villagers' bad comments about him, he woke up everywhere and single-handedly shot the tiger and fought the dragon, and finally corrected the way and swept away the "three evils". The protagonist in the film, Chen Guilin, played by Ruan Jingtian, is the modern social version of "Zhou Zhi".
He is a "Guilin boy" who is feared by people in the rivers and lakes, and has been incognito since four years ago after openly shooting a gangster at a funeral and then escaping. After the death of his only relative, his grandmother, he was told that he had lung cancer and was dying. Chen Guilin then decided not to make a living and to turn himself in in a dignified way.
However, when he walked into the police station, he found that he was only third on the city's wanted list, and there were two gang leaders in front of him, "Niu Lu" Lin Lu (played by Chen Yiwen) and Aberdeen (played by Yuen Fuhua). Chen Guilin is determined to eliminate these two giants as a way to prove the value of his own existence, not because he fears death, but because he worries that no one will remember him after death.
The film's bold challenge to the limits of censorship has been in the spotlight since the beginning of the film. Rumors of changing copies once caused viewers to worry that the film would be drastically cut or mosaic.
However, the actual viewing experience shows that the public version only extracts and replaces some shots, and there is no substantive content deletion, and the duration of the three versions remains the same. Even the scale of the current public release version can be called an exploration of the edge of the mainland cinema film censorship system.
"Wading Through the Angry Sea," which was released last year, was seen as an improvement in censorship because of the slogan "Audiences under the age of 18 are advised to be cautious**". In contrast, "Removing the Three Evils Around the World" obviously has the characteristics of *** in terms of scale and plot.
Therefore, the film can be released in theaters in Chinese mainland, which is a rare "review miracle". The most intuitive scale performance in the film focuses on the violent and bloody elements. As soon as it opens, it is a four-minute high-intensity chase scene, in which the protagonist Chen Guilin and the police start a cat-and-mouse game, chasing from the streets to the rooftop, and then moving indoors, the scene is compact and smooth, and it is very enjoyable.
This scene highlights the Hong Kong director's unique narrative style, the action design abandons the complexity and focuses on the realism and raw strength of the fights, and Chen Guilin's fight with his opponent is clumsy but particularly realistic. Chen Guilin shot ruthlessly, and stabbed the other party's eyes to sharp objects without hesitation, bringing a strong visual impact, and the audience seemed to be able to feel the pain through the screen.
The three action scenes in the film progressed layer by layer and became more and more exciting. The scene of the second showdown against Aberdeen is reminiscent of "Dog Eats Dog" starring Edison Chen. In the scene at the hair salon, Aberdeen is keenly aware of Chan's hostility, which seems to be chatting on the surface, but in fact the razor has been aimed at Chan's key parts, and the gun in Chan's hand is ready to fire, creating a tense and tense atmosphere.
The next life-and-death duel in the greenhouse is like a battle between trapped beasts, and only the winner can get out of the battlefield. Although Aberdeen is also a ruthless character as a veteran Jianghu, it underestimates the strength of Chen Guilin, a rising star.
Before he died, Aberdeen asked Chen Guilin why he killed him, but the audience knew that Chen Guilin was not out of revenge, and the reason why he killed Aberdeen was only because he was second on the list, and he would be eliminated quickly. Chen Guilin's character is unaffected by moral constraints, emotional constraints, and the order of the world, and for a long time, he has shown a side closer to animal instinct.
Although the filmmaker uses "large-scale action films" as a selling point to promote, what really impresses the audience is the content beyond the scale in the film. The role of Chen Guilin portrayed by Ruan Jingtian subverts the audience's cognitive framework of the traditional male protagonist, and it is difficult for us to put it into the conventional protagonist template. In particular, Chen Guilin's character motives cannot be interpreted by modern social logic, and he is more similar to the madman character who is obsessed with martial arts in martial arts film and television works, such as Gu Mozhi in "Dragon Babu".
In the third scene of the climax of the film, Chen Guilin exudes a sacred atmosphere. Many film critics only focus on the scale breakthrough of the scene, but ignore the deep reason why Chen Guilin acted like this. When he crawled out of the coffin, like a vengeful angel returning from hell, he carried out a judgmental cleansing of the ignorant and ignorant.
He killed Lin Luhe, who was number one, for a clear reason, but for the innocent infidels in the Templars, his indiscriminate** was not out of anger or justice, but out of self-positioning as a god and inflicting an ultimate judgment on the world, just as God in the Bible caused a flood of human sin.
In the end, the key role in returning Chen Guilin from divinity to humanity is Cheng Xiaomei played by Wang Jing.
Some people think that Xiaomei's story line is dispensable, and deleting it may make the plot more compact. However, in fact, the two threads of Xiaomei and the Venerable One involved in the second half are closely related to the same theme - faith.
Xiaomei's mother is grateful to Aberdeen for saving her from her predicament and is willing to go to prison for her, so that Xiaomei regards Aberdeen as her only relative. However, Aberdeen violated Xiaomei in a way that was inferior to that of a beast, and the sexually suggestive scene did not simply satisfy the audience's curiosity, but revealed Xiaomei's distorted and pathological belief in Aberdeen, that is, Stockholm syndrome-style dependence.
This part of the plot is crucial because it portrays Xiaomei unconditionally obeying Aberdeen out of gratitude, even sacrificing her own body, and even knowing that she and her mother are being used by Aberdeen, she is still deeply trapped in the so-called "repayment".
Chen Guilin kills Aberdeen and lets Xiaomei go, this scene seems to be a classic "hero saves beauty" on the surface, but it is actually a profound metaphor for broken faith. He dressed Mei, gave her a car, and gave her freedom to break her blind worship of Aberdeen. Chen Guilin's rescue made Xiaomei realize that her life was not completely in the hands of others.
In the finale of the movie, Xiaomei opens a coffee shop, symbolizing that she is free from her shackles and begins to take charge of a new chapter in her life. Aberdeen's ** to Xiaomei is the manipulation of the individual level, while the Venerable is the confusion of the group, which is clearly revealed in the description of the spiritual organization, and the implication is obvious. The melody of the interlude "The New Man" is very infectious and evocative.
His Holiness established a new spiritual retreat in Penghu, comparing himself to Guanyin Bodhisattva and promising to purify all sentient beings, but the believers bowed down to him and donated all their possessions to seek soul purification, but they did not know that this kind-looking Venerable was secretly a drunk, corrupt and depraved person. The seemingly sacred temple of the New Mind House is in fact full of deception and violence.
Chen Guilin's journey from being blinded to awakening, and then taking extreme measures to confront him, can also be regarded as his complete breaking of the original belief system. As previously mentioned, Xiaomei played a key role in Chen Guilin's transformation from deification to human. Here, Ruan Jingtian's acting skills are highly praised, whether it is the sadness and loneliness in the face of the departure of his relatives, or the mad state in the crazy killing frenzy, he has performed it vividly, proving that his title of actor is not in vain.
Every time Chen Guilin kills wildly in the film, he is further narrowing the distance between him and winning the honor of actor for the second time. What's even more amazing is the rivalry between him and Xiaomei, especially after meeting Xiaomei, the violence in Chen Guilin's eyes gradually receded, and he became a little more gentle. Ruan Jingtian skillfully captures this subtle change in his eyes, delicately interpreting the transformation of the character's inner emotions.
Especially at the end of the film, a tear shed by Chen Guilin in prison seems to tell the hope of an afterlife: if they are no longer murderers in the next life, can their story be continued? Xiaomei allows Chen Guilin to regain her humanity, and Chen Guilin rescues her from the dark abyss, and the two redeem each other. The director handles the emotions between the two quite restrained, subtle eye contact and subtle emotional fluctuations, all of which are self-evident, but have far-reaching meanings.
The film "Eliminate the Three Evils Everywhere" has triggered a shocking effect in the market with its outstanding reputation, like a crisp slap in the face, bringing a profound reflection to the Spring Festival schedule worth up to 8 billion yuan.
Nowadays, the Chinese film market is showing a peculiar phenomenon: the unpopular time period is not cared for, but the popular time period is crowded. Among them, the Spring Festival stalls have become a treasure for many film and television works to compete for because of their strong movie-watching boom and box office explosion potential, and films from all walks of life have flocked to this ** schedule with the intention of getting a piece of the pie.
However, the reality ruthlessly reveals a rule: the Spring Festival schedule often only accommodates a few top blockbusters and animation IP "Bear Infested" and other sure-money works, and once the rest of the films get involved, most of them will be reduced to the fate of running together, and it is difficult to break through successfully.
"Removing the Three Evils Everywhere" has a unique way and chose to be released on a relatively quiet schedule after the Spring Festival, but it still achieved considerable box office results, which strongly proves the importance of the quality of the film itself. This case sends a stark message that the quality of a film is always the key factor in success or failure, no matter when and where it is.
At the same time, the successful release of "Removing the Three Evils Around the Week" also reflects the audience's increasing demand for diversified film genres. Compared with the common comedy sketch films, film adaptations and remakes, and works that cater to the joy of the whole family, films with a spicy irony and thought-provoking taste should also occupy a place in mainland cinemas and become a regular option on the audience's daily viewing menu.
Therefore, "Removing the Three Evils Around the World" not only sets a good benchmark for the start of the Chinese mainland film market in 2024, but also provides useful inspiration for future film creation and market strategies.