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"Once Upon a Time" is a hit. It is a trilogy series with ratings higher than 8.5 for each film. The key is that the box office is equally impressive.

This time, the two consecutive films have made "Once Upon a Time" become the most popular screen character nowadays.

Of course, what followed was the establishment of many movies and TV series about "Once Upon a Time".

After all, this is a big IP, but it doesn’t belong to anyone.

Putting this aside for the time being, the entire trilogy of "Once Upon a Time" has been released. This time, most film critics and media people are no longer commenting on any one part of the trilogy, but all three parts together. The interpretation also begins with the entire series.

Film critic Liu Fei, a die-hard fan of Li Yi, highly praised this trilogy.

"I don't know if you have noticed, but in the trilogy, whenever the bad guys in the movie hear the words "Once Upon a Time", they are all frightened and panicked. As an audience, when I hear the background music playing, Everyone would be inexplicably excited. At first I thought it was just because of the music melody of "Men Should Be Strong", but it was not the case. I think this is the charm of a hero.

For every ordinary person in this world, the word "hero" carries too much content: on the one hand, people regard heroes as an unattainable romantic imagination; on the other hand, they earnestly hope that they can achieve something in their lives. There are real, living heroes. "Heroes" have always been a combination of romance and reality, and people's yearning for heroes has also developed in two different directions.Many of the heroic images in Chinese culture come from myths and legends about battles between gods and demons, and gatherings of demons and immortals. Others are real people who once lived on this land and come from every corner around us. .The image of a hero like Sun Wukong is enviable, while another kind of hero has developed a variety of different legends and stories. In the traditional Chinese martial arts culture, there are many cases of "heroes" that have been adapted and re-created.

But only Once Upon a Time is special, and even more special is the "Once Upon a Time" series directed by Li Yi.

In my personal opinion, the greatest success of the "Once Upon a Time" series is that he elevated the film to the level of an epic film.What the film focuses on is no longer the martial arts battles of traditional kung fu movies, nor even the hatred of family and country in the style of King Hu. Instead, it stands at a higher level and reflects on the entire country and nation to a certain extent.

We can see a lot of things in the "Once Upon a Time" trilogy.

The reflections on "Once Upon a Time" are multifaceted:

About national self-strengthening;

Something about national self-esteem;

About the corruption of the Qing court;

About the ignorance of the people;

About revolutionary sacrifice;

About traditional martial arts and foreign guns and artillery;
About the technological revolution;
There’s even one about the idea of ​​love.

The list goes on and on. These reflections may not be profound, but this kind of courage and vision have never been seen in previous Kung Fu movies or even commercial films.

In terms of content, Tsui Hark focused the time and space of the film on the background of the late Qing Dynasty, a period of "changes unprecedented in 3000 years", and interspersed various historical events: the Sino-French War, the Black Cavalry, the militia, human trafficking, and the White Lotus. Church, Revolutionary Party... Although there are many historical errors, this approach has indeed greatly enhanced the watchability of the film.

The second success of the film is in creating a new image of Huang Feihong.Different from ordinary kung fu movies, Zhao Qian's version of Huang Feihong has an "image", and his identity and personality are quite complex: he is not only an ordinary citizen, but also a well-known local martial artist, and he also serves as the instructor of the Black Cavalry Army and the chief of the militia. Coach; although he is an outstanding representative of traditional culture, he hates the corruption of the government and the ignorance of the people; he has an open attitude towards advanced Western technology, but still never forgets the national self-respect, self-love and self-improvement; in every other aspect, he is Active and determined, but when it comes to love, he is passive and reserved... Injecting modern characters into ancient characters, Director Li Yi's approach of "putting new wine in old bottles" has undoubtedly shortened the distance between the characters and the audience.

After watching the movie, I have to sigh. Looking back at the modern history of China at this point in time, it really makes people feel extremely emotional and grateful. I feel that the revolutionaries have gone too hard on this road to save the nation; at the same time, I am extremely grateful for our ancestors. Your blood and tears have not been in vain, and today’s beautiful country is as you wish.

Many people have seen the story of Huang Feihong, but they have overlooked that it is also a modern story of China.

Let’s first take a look at the historical background of “Once Upon a Time”.

The story of the movie takes place in the late Qing Dynasty, when Cixi was in power, and it was also the most decadent and turbulent era of the Qing Dynasty. From the movie, we see that there were many foreign concessions at that time, and disputes between China and foreign countries were frequent.After Yingguo established a concession in Shanghai at a very clean price from the Qing government, it built more than 800 simple houses along the Yangtze River for Chinese refugees to live in, and started a real estate business.Following the Eagle Concession, more and more countries established concessions in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing government gradually lost control of the concessions, resulting in the phenomenon of a state within a state.

During the Qing Dynasty, the great powers each occupied their own mountains and became kings. The Qing government's loss of sovereignty over its territory quickly eroded the Qing government's credibility among civilians.The people could not rely on the government, so many civilians became keen on practicing martial arts to protect themselves, and martial arts among the people flourished.The image of Huang Feihong was the spiritual representative of the folk martial arts troupe at that time.

"Conflict" is an essential element in the plot of the script, and the conflict in "Once Upon a Time" comes from the confrontation between China and foreign countries at that time, the confrontation between cultures, and the confrontation between the times.

In "Once Upon a Time 1", in the scene where Huang Feihong meets Aunt Thirteen for the first time, Aunt Thirteen, who has returned from overseas, shakes hands with Huang Feihong. Huang Feihong is stunned for a moment, and bows to Aunt Thirteen. At this time, Huang Feihong It is the epitome of the Chinese attitude towards foreign culture at that time, which was old-fashioned, conservative and exclusive. However, the thirteenth aunt who returned from overseas accepted Western culture and was full of curiosity and thirst for knowledge about foreign technology. The relationship between the two created a very special atmosphere in the movie. The many points of conflict and laughter also reflect the conflict between Chinese and Western cultures.

In the first part, there is actually another point, as Yan Zhendong said before his death: No matter how good our skills are, we can't beat foreign guns and cannons.It also hints at the end of the cold weapon era in modern times.

There is a scene in "Once Upon a Time in China" where foreign traffickers and businessmen opened fire in the theater in order to assassinate Huang Feihong. Many civilians were injured as a result, but Huang Feihong was framed by the Qing government.In Baozhilin, Huang Feihong held a foreign musket thoughtfully, and said to Thirteenth Aunt, "Tangshan should change, fists and feet cannot defeat guns." Huang Feihong understood at this time that even if he was a militia coach, No matter how powerful his martial arts is, he can't fight against guns and cannons.In history, with the fall of the Qing government and the establishment of the Republic of China, guns gradually took over the dominant position, and the cold weapon era truly became history.

The change of Huang Feihong's attitude towards Western culture in the play reflects the Chinese people's desire for new knowledge and their desire for change in modern China.

It can be seen from the plot in the movie that at the very beginning, Huang Feihong was resistant to Western culture. For example, in the scene where Thirteenth Aunt helped Huang Feihong to fit him into a suit and make a suit, Huang Feihong said at that time, "In the future, the Chinese people will When you have to put on a suit, let me wear it!" Later, Huang Feihong began to wear a foreign hat and sunglasses, take the train, and even participated in medical exchange meetings, using a steam machine to make medicine, Huang Feihong completely reproduced the Chinese nation The process of "learning utensils" experienced by modern people learning from the West.

Compared with "Once Upon a Time in China", the second film "Once Upon a Time in China" is closer to history. In it, characters like Lu Haodong and Mr. Sun appeared. Mr. Sun and Huang Feihong were in the medical field. We met during an exchange meeting, and later used Chinese and Western medical techniques to treat the injured at the Eagle Country Consulate.Mr. Sun here is the gentleman we know well, including his nickname "Yixian" and his profession as a doctor, which basically restores his personality.Why put the character of Mr. Sun into the movie?Because if we are talking about the past of China, then the element of the Revolution of [-] is indispensable.The movie secretly expresses a point of view that in China, which was oppressed at that time, practicing martial arts could not save the country, nor practicing medicine could save the country. Only ideological reform could help the people achieve independence, democracy, and prosperity.

Of course, what is even more unforgettable and disappointing is Lu Haodong!

Especially when faced with the ignorance of the people, his reactions are really disappointing. This is not the biggest problem faced by the pioneers of that era.

Lu Haodong was not confused in the end, but became more and more determined. Only by changing everything can he save this country. A single spark can start a prairie fire!

He dyed that flag red with his own blood, and he is just one of many martyrs. There are too many such people. They may be nameless, but they all sacrificed their lives and blood for the same goal. !

The plot line of Once Upon a Time in Time III: The Lion King is that in order to prevent Li Hongzhang from signing a treaty with the island country and ceding the Liaodong Peninsula, Tsarist Russia decided to assassinate Li Hongzhang during the Lion King match.After Huang Feihong accidentally learned the news, on the one hand he had to deal with the local tyrant "Zhao Tianba" at the time, and on the other hand he had to destroy Tsarist Russia's plan and prevent the assassination of Li Hongzhang.

The treaty mentioned in the movie is actually the historical "Treaty of Shimonoseki".An important article in the Treaty of Shimonoseki was that the Qing Dynasty ceded the Liaodong Peninsula to the island country. At that time, Tsarist Russia always regarded the northeastern region of the Qing Dynasty as its own sphere of influence, so it united Germany and France to put pressure on the island country, and the final result was the return of the island country. The Liaodong Peninsula was lost, but the Qing Dynasty needed to pay an additional 2 million silver in addition to the original 3000 million taels of compensation.This large sum of money was equivalent to 15 years of treasury income of the Qing Dynasty, which allowed the island country's military power to develop rapidly.

The climax of the movie is the lion king competition at the end. In fact, the setting of this scene is very interesting. The Qing Dynasty held this competition to show its national power to other great powers. When the various forces fought to death under the city, , I think the great powers of the countries who were watching on the city wall were not sighing at the power of the Qing Dynasty. What Huang Feihong said to Li Hongzhang after winning the gold medal is still a classic.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the villains in the movie. We all know that if the success of the protagonist group determines the quality of the movie, then the success of the villains also determines the quality of the movie. The upper limit of movies!
A successfully created villain can definitely raise the upper limit of the movie as a whole.

The villains in the "Once Upon a Time" series of movies are undoubtedly very successful.

In "Once Upon a Time in the Sky", Yan Zhendong is an extremely contradictory and tragic character. The director of the film devoted a lot of effort to this character.In a sense, he is the epitome of traditional Chinese martial arts: he originally had the dignity and bottom line as a martial artist, but under the oppression of survival, he had to bow to the evil forces he despised in his heart, and even helped them.And when he resorted to despicable hidden weapon methods, but still failed to defeat his opponent Huang Feihong, the last fig leaf in his heart was ruthlessly torn off, and he could only die in madness. When he was dying, he only left "Our kung fu can no longer be used". "It's too high, but it's no match for a foreign gun," he sighed helplessly.

For a character like Yan Zhendong, it can be said that he is really not a pure villain. When people see Yan Zhendong, I believe their first impression is definitely not disgust, but sympathy and sympathy for his untimely birth!

Similar to this, there is Nalan Yuanshu in "Once Upon a Time in the World", whose role is more complicated.Strictly speaking, Nalan Yuanshu should be called the opponent of the protagonist Huang Feihong rather than the villain: the two are both equally matched opponents and sympathetic confidants.Both are heroes who stepped forward when the country was in crisis, but the paths they chose and the methods they used were different.

From the perspective of our audience, the character Nalan Yuanshu may feel that he is a complete villain and that he is not a qualified official.

But in fact, from his standpoint, the only thing wrong in everything he did was the object of his loyalty!

He knew English, he sympathized with the people, he even sympathized with the White Lotus Sect, his attitude towards foreigners was neither humble nor arrogant, etc. It can be said that he was an outlier among the officials of that era!But he still made a mistake and ended up like that!

I won’t say much about Zhao Tianba in the third part. This character is actually very simple. He is an arrogant and domineering gang leader who is unscrupulous and unjust. His evil is also pure. He is the purest among the villains in the trilogy. of evildoers.

What I really want to talk about is the character creation of Gui Jiao Qi, which is absolutely outstanding in the third part.

Compared with the pure evil of Zhao Tianba, Gui Jiaoqi is a very pure person from the bottom of society. He is not an independent personality. He is the leader of the coachman. If he is attached to Zhao Tianba, then he will do evil and attach himself to Huang Feihong. Do good!

Gui Jiao Qi is also pure. He is more like a microcosm of those at the bottom of society at that time. There is not so much good and evil concept of right and wrong, evil is also pure, and good is pure!

Gui Jiao Qi was lucky because he met Huang Feihong, Aunt Thirteen, and people like Huang Qiying. Otherwise, after being discarded like garbage by Zhao Tianba, his end could be foreseen! "

(End of this chapter)