"The Bodyguard" is indeed a bit beyond expectations. The fighting scenes are exciting, and the sandstorm scene is very exciting. Tomoyo loves to ride in carriages, which is a bit funny. There are many familiar faces in martial arts movies, but the plot is not too new. It prefers tradition and stability, and does not throw out some novel and eye-catching designs.
The final heroic spirit and bloodiness are forcibly sublimated. "Thousands of miles of dust and sand are all homeland, and I am willing to kowtow to Chang'an for the common people." It seems blunt and abrupt. There is no transition from choosing friendship to surviving the disaster to the overall situation of the common people. These knights are too free, and there is no credible "local" background behind them. The team of Di Ting tramples on human lives to seek glory in the past. Daoma's statement that there is any life more important than human life is like a slogan. The previous plot failed to support this expression of value.
Perhaps only the logic of Ayuya's revenge for her father is completely tenable and resonates based on universal human ethics. The other logics of commitment, rebellion, protection, common people, and court are not fully developed, and there is no strong narrative to connect the entire film.
The only person who carries publicity is Chishiro, who is a funny clown. Most character motivations are also highly personal. Daoma's purpose as a bodyguard is to make money, Shu's pursuit is to become the best in the world, and Ayuya's motivation is to see Chang'an and avenge her father. The grievances and grievances between the villain and Yi Xuan who pursue power and listen do not go beyond the scope of personal grievances.
Not only does Daredevil set the scene in the desert, the style is also very close to western movies and wasteland worlds. In traditional martial arts, the protagonist is often forced to fight, while in western movies, it is a one-on-one duel where the protagonist takes action at the slightest disagreement and settles the grudge. Traditional martial arts films often focus on foreshadowing sufficient justice and rationality, so that the final counterattack has sufficient impact.
The first ten minutes of the movie are designed to lead to a small decisive battle between Jet Li, Zhang Jin and Wu Jing. But the beginning should set the tone. It should quickly, accurately and dramatically express the logic of survival in this troubled world, and quickly explain the perspective and stance of the film itself.
Get the audience into the action quickly. It is right to focus on fighting, but the problem is that if the literary drama cannot serve the fighting well, it will weaken the pleasure brought by the fighting. The emotions must be well-set, and the fighting can arouse the desire to watch.
Similar problems run through the entire film. The lack of explanation of the background of the troubled times and the background of the characters makes the importance of bodyguards and protecting Chishiro appear to be empty, which makes it difficult for the whole story to be established. This lack of background makes many people unable to understand why the fight was fought.
The literary dramas of Zhang Jin (Two-Headed Snake) and Jet Li (Chang Guiren) were very unsuccessful. The son of the two-headed snake feels that his father is a coward, and he is going to reverse it at first glance, which does not help explain the background of the times. It makes people think why is this child so ignorant, and his father is likely to suffer another tragedy. I always feel that the meaning conveyed in this paragraph is not very accurate. It gives people the feeling of handing in homework just for the sake of inheritance. This was the case in Shaw Brothers' martial arts in those days. NPCs are NPCs and heroes are heroes. This sense of routine greatly affects movie viewing. The audience always expects something beyond the routine, a surprise.
The final arrangement of brotherhood falling in love and killing each other did not have enough tension and lack of foreshadowing. Why did Di Ting chase him all the way and then feel relieved before he died? There is no explanation, which makes people feel that this is it, why is it this routine again? There are too many similar deja vu plots that make the movie look mediocre.
The ending is too safe and optimistic. The initiative of this team suddenly became stronger. It would be better to take the initiative to enter the game and make a fuss. Even if they gave the reason of "I want to fight for a better future for Xiao Qi", it would be better.
It seems that there are all the necessary elements, but they are only five or six points high, and the heat is not enough. After supplementing the original settings, it can barely come true, but it is far from the optimal solution that the movie can give. Of course, there are not too many emotional lines between men and women and excessive sensationalism, and there is less sense of male cohesion that is common in martial arts movies. These are great advantages.
"The Bodyguard" does a good job at the martial arts level, but it fails to focus on emotions and concepts, so it fails to leave something that can be savored, and even the plot logic fails to be completely coherent. Of course, many minefields that were easy to step on were not stepped on, but also many basic points were not obtained. There is a possibility that the main creative staff feels that the upper limit of literary drama has been nailed down, and honestly explaining the background will easily make the filming vulgar and thankless, so they simply omit it. Another possibility is that they also lack the desire to express themselves, lack the sense of belief, lack the courage, and the literary drama will be weak.
From another perspective, focus on technology and maintain a certain degree of restraint. It is difficult to say whether this is a reasonable choice. The concept of "The Grandmaster" is very strong, but the concept of ending the martial arts is a prequel to the hero, recalling the glory of the past without the ambition to pioneer, treating the past as the future and as an object of fetish. In addition, starting from "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the value of martial arts films is too harsh. They are always for the sake of the world and saving the people, or breaking etiquette and loving freedom. After all, it is a kind of defensiveness. It is ultimately Machiavellianism that embroiders on the existing value map and defends the power and the right of the winner to speak.
Martial arts is the foundation, not focusing on martial arts but focusing on chivalry. There are too many things other than martial arts that are impure, and in the end it becomes more and more arrogant and soft. But if it’s too pure, no one will watch it soon. Martial arts people always emphasize inheritance, but many things that should not be passed on should be thrown away. Wuxia is monopolized by experts and becomes aristocratic, unable to renew itself, and will eventually become closed.
So in the end, what is important is not the balance between martial arts and literary drama, which is formalized, but the martial arts not only see fighting, but also live thinking, rather than prefabricated thinking. In other words, literature and opera should be the main focus, and should be strong and tough enough. The concept of martial arts has become obsolete since its inception, and only the most vivid spirit of the times can keep it standing.
Regardless of martial arts or chivalry, it is still a dream and a myth. After all, the resistance to the Sui Dynasty and the peace of the world depended not on these knights, but on heavier and more oppressive forces. In its heyday, martial arts films were used as a universal grammar to express other content. The dream of martial arts can carry many things. In the backward 19th century China, it manifested as the tension between tradition and modernity. You have science and I have magic. In modern society, violence is used to fight violence, and the body is used to resist the oppression of hegemonic forces. When compared with temples, it represents the dignity and resilience of civil society. It can also be an imaginary schema that teenagers rely on to construct themselves as they grow up, or it can be an aesthetic style that connects with classical life and is more romantic…
Martial arts is a dream for the weak and a dream for the people. The theme of martial arts films is to fight against power, not to be attached, not to belong to the emperor's family, but to uphold justice for the people among the people. The story of "The Bodyguard" takes place in the late Sui Dynasty when the warlords were separatist. The interest structure was rigid. All forces used all their resources to compete for the final fruits of victory. Under the pressure of layers of oppression, the people at the bottom would increasingly live in cruelty and violence.
The barbaric era, where everyone is enterprising but the rules and interests have not yet been finalized, is more likely to create a craze for martial arts and better martial arts works. Because everyone yearns for opportunities and everyone hates injustice, but that also means that everyone lives more tiredly and less relaxed. With the decline of traditional martial arts and the fragmentation of the image of Jianghu, society has also entered a more moderate state of operation. We still look forward to justice, but it seems that it is difficult to find a common denominator in the narrative paradigm of "martial arts".
Injustice remains the same in the modern world, but the opponent has become invisible behind more complex laws and economic and social rules. This is a peaceful and chaotic world, and the enemy has also given up his body. A new storm has emerged, and the world has reached a crossroads where it may become barbaric again. The globalized interest pattern formed after the Cold War has become rigid again, and the living space of ordinary people has become increasingly narrow. The romantic imagination of martial arts may no longer belong to the public of this era, because the public has to sacrifice their flesh and blood for the whims of the strong, as well as the potential to dream. The past is accelerating the colonization of the future. Even when we fall asleep, what we dream may be the dreams of others. The old arena now really needs to lay out some new options for itself.
