Film Name: 人潮汹涌 / End Game / Endgame
The most surprising (box office) fiasco in this year’s Spring Festival melee is probably End Game, with fewer theaters and poorer showtimes, and even though the situation has improved over the past two days, it’s still at the bottom of the box office among the seven new films.
According to the film’s audience reputation and the actual quality of the film, such a result is obviously some bad luck …… Here we do not talk about the distribution and marketing mistakes, let’s talk about the color of the film itself.
As a remake of Key of Life, End Game does a pretty good job of adapting the localization of the film. Whether it’s the scheduling of the actors or the use of details, director Rao Xiaozhi has made a lot of progress compared to the past, and he knows how to tickle the flesh of his fans! …… It’s just that this movie, which is good in many ways, lacks control of pacing, focus, and perspective.
In short, it’s true that it’s worse when it shouldn’t be at the bottom, but it’s not too bad.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below, so read at your discretion].
Let’s talk about what makes End Game so delightful.
As a fan of the movie, Rao Xiaozhi has stuffed the film with a lot of homage to the movie, homage to the predecessors of the bridge and elements, including a large piece of Andy Lau’s movies, such as “Shanghai Grand”, “If Sky Have Love”, “Infernal Affairs”, “Running Out of Time” and so on, fans who like Andy Lau will certainly be call it cool.
At the same time, the movie has a lot of stems about Hong Kong movies, like the very typical King of Comedy famous scene and the As Tears Go By emoji, which undoubtedly bring the audience closer.
The film also features tributes to old theater authors like Samuel Beckett and Peter Brook, who are unfamiliar to most people (including me), showing the depth of Rao’s love affair with theater people.
Even more interesting are the cameo appearances by Lu Yang, Guo Fan, and several other directors from the young and middle-aged generations. In particular, Guo Fan’s embrace of Andy Lau and his words “I thank you for Chinese cinema” simply speak to the hearts of countless Chinese moviegoers and creators.
Liu likes to support new directors, and is willing to give generously to those who seem to have the potential to follow in their footsteps. Although not all of them can be successful, from Ning Hao to Rao Xiaozhi, how many young directors have been able to make a name for themselves can be traced back to Liu’s help, which is a great story that will live in China’s movie history.
But the problem is, those things are just the spices of the movie, no matter how much or how little they are, whether the audience can understand them or not, they can’t determine the watchability of the movie – in the environment of the Spring Festival, where most people can’t get the sentiment, Rao’s small-mindedness can only be a plus point with little effect.
Of course, going back to the movie itself, End Game has quite a few redeeming qualities, such as the characterization of the characters and setting up the appropriate control groups. In addition to Zhou Quan and Chen Xiaomeng, the male leads, the seemingly unrelated female sidekick personas of Li Xiang and Hui are also interesting, as they share a lot of similarities (being let down by a man, being self-reliant, etc.), but ultimately live out their lives as two kinds of lives.
The thickest character in the whole movie is Fai. I remember that Huang Xiaolei has always been a “pretty harmonic star”, but the Fai in End Game not only has Huang Xiaolei’s inherent “harmonic”, but also her uncommon “pain” and “hate” – it is because of her hatred of her own upbringing and deception that she has changed from secretly buying a murderer to stabbing a man. “Pain” and ‘hate’ – it is because of her hatred of her own upbringing and deception that she alienates herself from secretly buying and killing people to stabbing them with her own hands, and the emotions and sinking contained herein are very chewy. sinking and chewy.
The movie uses a lot of professional movie language, details, ambush is also well buried, for example, Chen Xiaomeng opened the trunk of the car only found the tools of the crime, but did not see the body, suggesting that Zhou Quan is not the real killer, Li want to and his son between the “card copy” of the code, but also played a second to reveal the secret, the police to call the police to ask for help.
What I admire most is the very clever localization of End Game: like many domestic creators, Rao Xiaozhi took the initiative to put on a “tightrope”, Zhou Quan is just a liar disguised as a killer, and the “risk factor” in the film has plummeted, circumventing many possible consequences. The “danger factor” in the movie has thus plummeted, avoiding many possible pitfalls.
But accordingly, the “amount of gunpowder” that finally triggers the conflict between Zhou Quan, Chen Xiaomeng, Li Want, Hui Sister and others is completely insufficient, so the movie cleverly uses “Li Yu was kidnapped” to trigger the explosion of such a black humor misunderstanding, which seems to be absurd, but there is a reasonable place! It seems absurd, but it makes sense, and I can’t help but be impressed.
However, even with the great treatment, End Game still “dwarfed itself” a lot, safety is safe, but also lost a lot of the power to really struggle in the dark between life and death …… I can’t help but think of the line in the movie: “If the actor no longer go deliberately looking for security, the real creative force, will be full of space.” If this is true of the actors, how much more so is it true of the director?
The bigger problem with the film is the imbalance of priorities – due to an accident, Chen Xiaomeng, a popular actor whose life has failed to the point where she can’t even commit suicide, gets the family of Zhou Quan, the “killer Mr. Z”, and Zhou Quan, who has lost all his memories, begins to live Chen Xiaomeng’s life as a “loser” – such a story is a great example of how to make a success of your life. Mr. Zhou Quan, who has lost all his memories, begins to live the life of Chen Xiaomeng as a “loser” – what is the most important thing that the audience wants to see in such a story? What the audience wants to see most in such a story? Of course, it’s the various misadventures and hilarious farces that happen after the two of them swap identities.
Of course, these scenes, such as Zhou Quan returned to Chen Xiaomeng’s “kennel”, with practical action to prove that as long as serious, hardworking, positive, even if the conditions are no longer poor, the starting point of the low can live a personal style, Chen Xiaomeng also used a good card to play the magic operation of the bad, showing that he is a bad actor, deserves to have a bad life.
But End Game spends a lot of space on the relationship line that the two open up with their new identities, which is a complete case of putting the cart before the horse……. Taking a step back again, the relationship line in the movie is also very confusingly filmed, with Chen Xiaomeng risking a lot of money for Zeng Jiurong for no reason, not to mention the fact that the self-proclaimed (and rightfully so) ” no longer talk about pure emotion” Li want to also wishful thinking constantly back to the full, and then the two fell in love, I can only explain as Andy Lau is too handsome ……
The emotional line is bland, even if it pulls the crotch, but the core of the movie is also the main line of the advancement of the same four flat, not shocking.
The jokes of the two protagonists are not enough, Zhou Quan has recovered his memory, and after he contacts Chen Xiaomeng, he quickly enters the stage of accepting reality and cooperating, without even a few decent conflicts and twists and turns – the “bizarre story” that lacks obstacles and obstacles is not persuasive. The “bizarre story” is not convincing without obstacles and obstacles.
The huge dramatic tension in the basic setting of “End Game” is simply not released effectively, and the audience’s emotions and feelings are not in place before it ends in a half-baked stir-fry, which is really a waste of the rights bought for adaptation.
Realistically, Rao, a stage director by trade, has done a pretty good job, and compared to 2018’s A Cool Fish, which I personally think was overrated, he’s made a lot of progress with End Game, and has more of a movie director’s can-do attitude and look……. Unfortunately, this year’s more mature work, both at the box office and by word of mouth, didn’t quite live up to his raw predecessor.
The reason for this is that I think it’s because I started to play the “lofty” End Game with my feet off the ground, completing a false life adventure with a piece of false head hunting experience, while it lacks the grounded true feelings, the perspective on the ordinary people’s desolate life of respect, which is precisely A Cool Fish’s greatest and even only merit. its greatest, if not only, strength.
Rao has washed away his scars and tenderness, but he’s also washed away his edges and sharpness – the awkwardness of End Game was unfair, but for Rao, who’s still trying to grow up, it’s not a bad thing.
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