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In 1986, one of Jackie Chan's most important IPs, "Asian Eagle"The release of "Armour of the Dragon" (released in Hong Kong in 1987) not only broke the Hong Kong film box office record at the time, but also became the number one in the annual box office rankings in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Moreover, the film grossed 1.5 billion yen (about 69 million Hong Kong dollars) in Japan.

So, in 1991, Jackie Chan filmed the sequel to "Dragon Brothers", which cost 115 million Hong Kong dollars and earned about 310 million Hong Kong dollars in box office worldwide.Although the box office was a huge success, the film company did not make a big profit, which led to the basic end of the "Eagle Series".

In 2004, the remake of one of Jackie Chan's most successful IPs, Police Story - New Police Story, was crushed by Stephen Chow's Kung Fu.The following year, he and Tang Jili filmed the treasure-hunting adventure film "The Myth", which unexpectedly won 94 million RMB at the box office and ranked second in the annual box office rankings of domestic films., second only to the blockbuster "The Promise".

Maybe Jackie Chan saw the potential of treasure-hunting adventure films at this time, so he restarted the "Asian Flying Eagle" series 21 years later, but because he did not have the copyright, he could only be called JC in the movie. However, he brought the audience back to "Flying Eagle Project" through his name abbreviation, chewing gum and other actions, as well as similar movie content.

"Chinese Zodiac" is produced by Huayi Brothers and is Jackie Chan's 101st film. It is written and directed by Jackie Chan (co-written by Stanley Tong, Tang Jingsheng, and Chen Xunqi), starring Jackie Chan, Yao Xingtong, Kwon Sang-woo, etc. It was released in 3D format on December 20, 2012.The box office grossed RMB 881 million, ranking third in the 2012 mainland movie box office rankings and second among domestic films., second only to Lost in Thailand. The global box office reached approximately 156 million US dollars.

It is said that the original release date of "Chinese Zodiac" was December 12, 2012, but in order to avoid the release of "1942" on November 29 (as required by Huayi), the release date was postponed, which ended up benefiting "Lost in Thailand". At the same time, on January 8, 2013, Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster" was released. In the end,Under the pressure of four super blockbusters, "Chinese Zodiac" has achieved such a success, which is really the pinnacle of the new Jackie Chan era.

In addition to its impressive box office performance, 711,000 people gave it a score of 6.8 on Douban (which was originally higher than 6.8 when it was released), and it won the Best Action Choreography Award at both the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards and the 50th Taipei Golden Horse Awards.

It can be said that "The Chinese Zodiac" has achieved a win-win situation in terms of box office, word of mouth, art and other aspects.

From Luoxue's personal point of view, the film has a tortuous story with many twists and turns, a lot of comedy, thrilling action scenes, and a very fast pace, which makes people excited throughout the whole process. Moreover, the film was shot a lot abroad, which gives the film a very strong exotic style. It is a very qualified commercial popcorn movie, especially suitable for the Lunar New Year period, which is suitable for happy comedies.

but,From the perspective of the movie's story, the overall story is extremely incoherent, with a very obvious sense of patchwork, and a large number of elements stacked together. It caters to the audience's taste on the surface, but it greatly lowers the quality of the movie.

At the same time, many scenes in the movie can remind people of "Eagle Project", and it can even be said thatMany of the story settings of "The Chinese Zodiac" are a poor imitation of "Project Eagle", which is an extremely disgusting money-making behavior.

The following is a serious spoiler. For those who haven't seen it, I suggest you go watch the movie first and then read Luoxue's recommendations! (For those who don't have the channel, you can click Luoxue on the menu homepage to watch the movie)

1. Action comedy

"Chinese Zodiac" is a very standard "Jackie Chan-style" comedy action film, and it can even be said that this is Jackie Chan's last action comedy. Because although the later "Dragon Blade" also has comedy elements, the main comedy elements are not on Jackie Chan, and "Kung Fu Yoga" and "Vanguard" are directly in the ranks of bad movies, so there is no need to discuss them.

The film has twists and turns in its plot, with constant transitions and turns. It is well versed in the routines of commercial films, and the entire story revolves around the search for the bronze heads of the Twelve Zodiac Animals from the Old Summer Palace, with a concentrated focus.

In the movieThe use of a large number of action elements, comedy elements and transitional plots gives the film a very strong sense of rhythm, allowing the audience to feel happiness and a burst of adrenaline in the movie.

For example, when stealing the rat and rabbit heads from the castle, he first encountered the door code problem, but he found the code by looking at the books on the wall. After successfully stealing, he unexpectedly encountered a guard on the way out. He was about to get rid of the guard, but was chased by a hunting dog and finally entered a tree maze. After several rounds of games, JC finally escaped successfully.

But unexpectedly, he met COCO again at this time, and while escaping from pursuit, he helped the other party obtain the rabbit head, thus establishing a connection with the subsequent story.

Throughout the story,The director not only combines elements of action, comedy and other elements and constantly presents twists and turns, but also keeps the audience at an emotional high point, allowing them to immerse themselves in the dream created by the movie.

However, the most typical scene in the whole movie is the treasure hunt on the deserted island. The use of classic treasure hunt elements such as deserted islands, ancient ships, hidden treasures, pirates, and forests in the movie not only makes the movie full of novelty, but also through the use of a large number of comedy elements and adventure elements, the audience will not be bored throughout the whole process.

For example, the French girl's purple underwear joke, as well as the later shouting joke, random grandfather joke, pirate joke, black Mandarin joke, bee little wind-drilling joke, Captain Jack joke, etc., all make the whole movie full of a very strong atmosphere of joy.Basically, there is a joke every 30 seconds and a comedy element every minute. The overall laugh points are extremely dense.

At the same time, the use of the above elements directly enhances the rhythm of the film in terms of presentation.Basically, there is a story every 20 minutes in the movie, and a wonderful fight every 3 minutes. Along with the fights are the comedy elements presented in the movie, which are everywhere in the movie.

The audience can not only exclaim at the exquisiteness and danger of the action design, but also feel the joy that bursts out from time to time in the movie.

However, in addition to the interesting story, the fast pace, many twists and turns, and dense comedy elements,Jackie Chan's most outstanding action elements are highlighted to the greatest extent in the movie.

For example, the thrilling chase at the beginning of the movie; the climbing over eaves and walls when stealing in the ancient castle, the back-and-forth game with the hounds; the back and forth battle with the pirates on the deserted island; the thrill of flying to save the dragon head in the crater; and the most exciting sofa battle with the nine-headed bird in the counterfeit factory, and the offensive and defensive battles between all the guards, all of which are very frequent.

With ingenious design, difficult movements, the use of various props, and the accompaniment of music and editing, the director presents the most exciting action scenes in Jackie Chan's movies.You have to know that Jackie Chan was already 58 years old at that time, and it is really admirable that he could achieve such results.

Therefore, if you just watch "Chinese Zodiac" as a popcorn movie, it is still watchable and good. But if you are more careful and watch this movie with your brain, you will really be "bad" by the movie.

2. Parody

The bad quality of "The Chinese Zodiac" is essentially caused by the director's imperfect story framework.It's like the director only thought of a few scenes instead of a complete story.Therefore, the director seemed unable to do his best when connecting these scenes together, and the connection became extremely deliberate and fake.

It feels like "The Wandering Earth 2" forced Liu Peiqiang and Tu Hengyu, two characters who have no connection at all, into one story, giving a clear-cut feeling of separation between water and oil.

For example, the movie starts with a theft in an ancient castle in Paris, then suddenly turns to an adventure on a deserted island, then stealing treasure from the deserted island, turns into rescuing people in a counterfeit factory, and finally flying in the crater to rescue the dragon head.In fact, these plots have no essential connection, and there is no reason that can connect the entire movie.

On the other hand, each plot of "Project Condor" is strongly connected. This connection is most vividly demonstrated in Nicolas Cage's "National Treasure", which allows the audience to find that the treasure-hunting plot of the entire movie is closely linked and inseparable. The lack of any part may cause the protagonists to fail to find the final treasure.

In this film, although there is a main storyline of finding the bronze heads of the twelve zodiac animals, the treasure hunt in the castle, the treasure hunt on the deserted island, the rescue of people in the factory, and the rescue of treasure in the crater are all independent story plots, similar to the feeling of playing a game and constantly downloading different copies.

at the same time,There are also many extremely deliberate and meaningless plots in the movie. It is just for the sake of story and action for the sake of action. The whole story is extremely perfunctory.

For example, Jackie Chan's five-minute escape at the beginning of the movie was a very exciting action scene, which showed Jackie Chan's hard work and dedication. But the problem is,This scene has no need to exist, it is just for the sake of showing the action scene. This includes Zhang Lanxin's long legs, which also have no need to exist.

For example, in "Project Condor Heroes", Jackie Chan also has a wonderful action scene at the beginning. However, the director explained this scene very clearly, that is, Jackie Chan went to steal the gems. It also showed Jackie Chan's professionalism and superb skills, and even laid the groundwork for the ending.

But in "Chinese Zodiac", why was Jackie Chan being hunted? Why did so many military personnel want to catch him?The movie doesn't explain anything clearly, it's just for show, but this scene is extremely boring.

The fight scenes in the counterfeit factory are also meaningless. First, Jackie Chan and Jiu Tou Niao fight for the sofa. Although it is extremely pleasing to the eye, it is unnecessary.There is no fundamental driving force to promote the formation of fighting, and it is just fighting for the sake of fighting.Moreover, this idea of ​​grabbing the mat has been around a long time ago (I forgot which movie it was, but it was about two people fighting and both of them left the mat, but the protagonist finally took a piece out from under his butt and won).

Similarly, there is the bet between Jackie Chan and Morgan, where they either release the person or not, or they put forward conditions. In the end, it became a battle of "I will prove it".In order to recreate the chase scene with thieves in "Project Condor", a lively and illegal action scene was forcibly created.

Then, in order to present a scene of beauties fighting each other, the director designed a scene where Zhang Lanxin snatched the water bottle from Jiu Tou Niao's female companion and hit her, and then the two of them started fighting for no apparent reason. It seemed like they were fighting in coordination just to stir up the atmosphere.

In other words, can't the fights in these two scenes respect the audience? Even if Jackie Chan heard the sound and went to find someone by force, and finally fought with the other party, and the nine-headed bird female companion was Morgan's person, it would be fine. However,The director made the two parties who had almost no conflict fight each other. It was so deliberate!

This deliberate design also includes the last scene of saving the dragon head for no reason, and the sudden reconciliation between Quan Xiangyou and Zhang Lanxin for no reason. However, what Luo Xue couldn't stand the most was the treasure hunt on the island.

Two girls with very different personalities and no kung fu skills, who made things worse and then started shooting randomly.Isn’t this just the settings and plots of "Project Eagle" being re-enacted in a different "shell" 21 years later?

In addition, the design of the shock-absorbing suit that Jackie Chan used to save the dragon head at the end of the movie was too disrespectful of the audience's intelligence. Such a thin, small and insignificant shock-absorbing suit could actually allow a person flying at high altitude to land safely in the end. It was too disrespectful of the audience! I accepted the device used in the escape at the beginning of "Project Flying Eagle", but the one in "Chinese Zodiac" was too "nonsense".

In general,The story of "The Chinese Zodiac" is very fragmented, without a complete whole, and the story is very deliberate, with a very strong sense of "Project Eagle", and it can even be said to be a poor imitation of it.However, the overall atmosphere of the movie is relaxed, with many comedy scenes, interesting fights, and a fast pace. If you just watch it as a brainless popcorn movie, it's still okay, but don't delve into it, and don't watch "Eagle Project" first!

Okay, let’s stop here for today. If you think what Luoxue said makes some sense, please repost, comment and like it. If you want to understand a movie from different dimensions or want to watch a good movie, please follow Luoxue. Thank you!

Thank you all teachers for your rewards. Compared to the few dollars, Luoxue is more happy that my ideas and my understanding can be recognized by you.In such a vast sea of ​​people, it is a rare happiness in life to be appreciated by you. I have no words to express my gratitude, but I can only say, thank you!