[New work hot review · "Sword Rain"]
In the martial arts film "Sword Rain", the combination of character, plot tension and action scenes can be said to be the most balanced among Chinese martial arts films in recent years.
As a film that is both "John Woo’s work" and "Su Zhaobin’s film", if we ignore the entanglements behind the film, "Sword Rain" can be said to be the best Chinese martial arts film after "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
In terms of story level, "Sword Rain" can be said to be an ancient martial arts version of "Face Changing", so the "John Woo Works" that won the bidding for the final subtitles of the film is still famous. But from the overall style of the film, as the director of "Tricky Silk" and the screenwriter of "Double Eyes", director Su Zhaobin still left his own style imprint in "Sword Rain", "Sword Rain" is still a justifiable "Su Zhaobin movie".
As a martial arts film, "Sword Rain" not only maintains a high standard in traditional action scenes, but also creates a new path for the narrative transformation of Chinese martial arts films in terms of drama structure and character creation. Chinese martial arts films began with the earliest Sword Immortal films. After decades of development, through the interaction of martial arts novels and martial arts films, a set of basic narrative rules has been established very early, the main elements of which are rivers and lakes, treasure hunting, hegemony, revenge, and strange feelings. By the 1960s and 1970s, as one of the important types of Hong Kong films, martial arts films had reached their peak in narrative. The story mode created by martial arts classics such as "Golden Swallow", "Chivalrous Girl", and "One-armed Blade" has continued until the beginning of this century without any fundamental changes.
Chinese martial arts films have always had an inborn flaw in the narrative structure, that is, the plot clues and action scenes are disconnected from each other in the narrative process of the film, and cannot help each other. The plot of most martial arts films will come to a standstill when they develop into action scenes. There was a time when domestic film critics were popular to divide the scenes in martial arts films and action films into "literary opera" and "martial arts", which is actually a reflection of the audience’s interest caused by this disconnect between the plot and the action. In this sense, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee in 2001 is indeed a revolutionary improvement on Chinese martial arts films. As a film that fuses the classic Hollywood narrative mode and traditional elements of Chinese martial arts films, all the action scenes in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" are directly involved in the characterization and plot advancement. Although due to the limitations of the era, the film still retains the inherent traces brought by traditional martial arts films, but in terms of overall style, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is indeed a generational innovation of Chinese martial arts films.
The last wave of innovation in Chinese martial arts films was the new martial arts films led by the 1992 director Tsui Hark’s "New Dragon Gate Inn". However, the contribution of new martial arts films to traditional martial arts films lies more in the innovation of action than the innovation of narrative mode. The problem of disconnection between film plot and action scenes in the film narrative process has not been fundamentally solved in this wave of innovation in martial arts films. If the essence of Li An’s "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is actually far from the traditional concept of martial arts films in terms of story type. But it is this distance that has created a breakthrough in the narrative type of martial arts films.
With the box office success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the recognition of the Academy Awards, Chinese films have also set off a trend of martial arts films. But starting with "Hero" in 2001 and ending with "Banquet" in 2006, among many works, no martial arts film can really make substantive innovations in the narrative structure and technique of martial arts films.
In the martial arts film "Sword Rain", the combination of characters, plot tension and action scenes can be said to be the most balanced among Chinese martial arts films in recent years. Even without the sword fighting scenes of the ancient knight in the film, the film can still attract the audience to pay attention to the fate of the characters in the film with its tight plot tension, and be moved by the emotional atmosphere created by the characters in the film. As a story that can be called "the ancient martial arts version of" Face Changing "to some extent," Sword Rain "completes the inheritance and innovation of Chinese martial arts films through a complex but clear-cut story, combining the narrative rules of traditional Chinese martial arts films, and fusing the classic Hollywood narrative genre.
As a martial arts genre film, the story of "Sword Rain" involves all the typical elements of martial arts films such as rivers and lakes, treasure hunting, hegemony, revenge, and strange affairs. And this is actually an innovation for Chinese martial arts films. The three story lines advance simultaneously, with distinct priorities, creating a tight story rhythm. The emotional motives and story dynamics of all characters are clear and clear. While the audience follows the story on the screen, they can also penetrate into the inner emotional world of the movie characters. It can be said that it has exceeded the audience’s expectations for a martial arts genre film and satisfied another part of the audience’s desire for a good movie: in a romantic and bizarre screen story, they touch their inner world.
□ Zhang Xiaobei (Beijing, film critic)
