Special feature of 1905 film network In previous years, in the summer file, there was almost a Hong Kong film explosion:In 2017, Kill the Wolf and Greed the Wolf, 2019, Anti-drug 2, 2021, and 2022, the highest box office record of Hong Kong films in the Mainland has been constantly refreshed.
These films are all gangster action films, which is a trump card favored by the audience in the film market at present. Nowadays, everyone has gradually formed the habit of watching Hong Kong-made action movies every summer.
In the middle of this year, there has not been a Hong Kong film explosion, but finally a powerful new film of this type came in the summer file: Anti-drug 3: People in the Tianya released on July 6 (hereinafter referred to as Anti-drug 3).
For the audience who love watching Hong Kong films, familiar faces, classic feelings and upgraded scenes, "Anti-drug 3" can be described as full of sense of ceremony.
The three old operas are assembled for the first time, and the out-of-print lineup is one less.
Liu Qingyun+Louis Koo+Aaron Kwok, with an average age of 35 years, did not expect that it was only in "Anti-Drug 3" that the three people first cooperated in the same box. Louis Koo and Aaron Kwok last partnered in Judo Dragon and Tiger List in 2004. The last time Liu Qingyun and Aaron Kwok teamed up was in 1992′ s Dangerous Lovers.
Aaron Kwok said at the premiere that he had known Liu Qingyun and Louis Koo for a long time. More than 30 years ago, when he was in the training class for wireless artists, Liu Qingyun was his elder brother. Unfortunately, he didn’t maintain long-term cooperation after his debut.
Louis Koo and Aaron Kwok used to play judo in Judo Dragon and Tiger List. This time, in Anti-drug 3, they also had a specially designed "one minute" mixed fighting skill, and the confrontation between them was full of "recalling and killing".
Louis Koo and Liu Qingyun are well-known friends in the circle. In the past 22 years, they have cooperated in 17 films, and they are the actors who have cooperated with each other the most. Liu Qingyun is even more ridiculous. He doesn’t meet Louis Koo at ordinary times, just relying on filming to maintain the freshness of friendship.
After ten years, Liu Qingyun returned to the Anti-Drug series to catch up with Louis Koo, and the newly joined Aaron Kwok helped the trio to be on the same stage for the first time. This starring configuration can be said to take care of both the series of fans and the expectations of the audience who want to see the new changes in the lineup.
In the past fifteen years, Liu Qingyun, Aaron Kwok and Louis Koo have successively won the Best Actor Award in the Hong Kong Film Awards, and Liu Qingyun won the third Best Actor trophy this year with Detective Wars. They have both audience affinity and acting ability, which is obvious to all.
The series "Anti-drug" has always maintained the golden lineup of "Best Actor+",with Louis Koo+Nick Cheung+Liu Qingyun composing Anti-drug 1 and Andy Lau+Louis Koo composing Anti-drug 2. It is precisely because of this series that it is possible to gather more film emperors who are able to take the lead alone on the same stage.
This time, Liu Qingyun is no longer the front policeman in "Anti-Drug 1", but changed the image of a good man on the screen in the past, with long hair and beard, and made his first appearance as a drug Lord villain. Louis Koo interprets a completely different role from the previous two films, while the series "Newcomer" Aaron Kwok challenges a more complicated and psychologically deep character type.
They used to lead a series of excellent Hong Kong films to accompany the audience to grow up. Now they are all over 50, and their actor status is still the same as that of the past. They can still see their dedication and struggle on the big screen every year to perform action-packed films for the audience. "Anti-drug 3" can form such a luxurious out-of-print lineup made in Hong Kong, which can be said to be a rare opportunity to watch one less.
"Anti-drug" series for ten years, as brothers continue to accompany.
After the five-part series of Anti-Corruption Storm ended, only Anti-Drug and Shock Wave 2, two modern Hong Kong gangster films, are the most popular in the mainland market and are under development.
In 2013, "Anti-drug 1" won 237 million box office, won 7 nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards, and was rated as "one of the best-looking gangster gun battles in Hong Kong" by the media.
"Five years! For five years! You know how I have been here for five years! " Awei is dead. You chose, idol! Duan Kun, I can’t eat it, and Jesus can’t keep him. "… The classic lines in the film and the brotherly confrontation scene of friendship and entanglement have always been praised by fans.
"Anti-drug 1" successfully opened up a new series of Hong Kong-made gangster films. In 2019, "Anti-drug 2" surged to 1.312 billion box office, setting a new box office record for Hong Kong films in China film history that year, and won the best visual effect award at the Hong Kong Film Awards, competing for the best international film award on behalf of Hong Kong, China.
From the story level, there are two core factors that can accumulate a large number of fans and form a strong market appeal.
On the one hand, this series firmly grasps and continues the immortal charm of undercover narrative modes such as Dragon and Tiger Storm, Marginal Man, Disciples and Infernal Affairs, and integrates them into the dangerous anti-drug theme, and the plot of identity reversal is full of twists and turns.
On the other hand, it follows the expression of brotherhood in classic Hong Kong films such as True Color of Heroes, Crossing the Sea, and Bloody Heroes, and leads the audience to taste the friendship and romance between men.
"Anti-drug 1" starts a brotherly complex with tortuous feelings from a poem "Vowing to Go to the Mountain of Knife", while "Anti-drug 2" depicts the betrayal and misunderstanding in friendship.
These emotional expressions are the most familiar background colors of Hong Kong films.
This time, "Anti-drug 3" has also returned to the mode of the first three heroes. It does not bury the puzzle of weaving "Who is undercover", but comes straight to the point, adopts a flashback memory narrative structure, and is parallel in two lines. On the one hand, police friends meet and join hands in undercover tasks, and on the other hand, drug lords lead their brothers to make a comeback in the Golden Triangle, so as to go deep into the story of police and robbers competing with each other.
The friendship between the police has moments of caring for each other and sharing life and death. There is suspicion, trust, regret and disappointment between undercover and drug dealers, which condenses into a touching friendship test.
"Anti-drug 3" continues the indispensable brotherly theme of Hong Kong films. The series has been accompanied by male audiences who like Hong Kong-made films like brothers for ten years. When the third part hits, it is still a classic formula and the same taste.
Hong Kong’s signboard is burning high, and the firepower is upgraded again.
In addition to the Hong Kong-style literary drama that does not fade with the changes of the times, the ultimate pursuit of action visual wonders in the series "Anti-Drug" also shows the true entertainment spirit of Hong Kong films.
In recent years, Qiu Litao, director of "Anti-drug 3", has been committed to challenging the shooting of hot scenes with high difficulty:
Shock Wave 2 fought fiercely in the Hung Hom tunnel; "Anti-drug 2" ran amok in the Central subway; Shock Wave 2 bombed Hong Kong International Airport and Tsing Ma Bridge. ……
In "Anti-drug 3", the gun battle between the police and drug dealers to bomb the Hong Kong pier was just a "starter". After moving to the spatial background of the Golden Triangle, the film completely got rid of the visual routine of bombing the urban landscape of Hong Kong.
The film did not hesitate to invest a lot of money in production, and set up a scene of nearly 50,000-square poison villages in the Golden Triangle at 1:1, showing the mountain forest raid gun battle and the highlight — — The plane’s heavy firepower air strikes and bombing, sweeping the poison village, such a more explosive and exciting grand scene.
Louis Koo bluntly said, "It’s not just a gunfight and an explosion, this time there are planes and cannons. When I read the script, I didn’t fantasize that the scene design that the director hoped was so exaggerated. It should be said that it was a police film outside my imagination. "
According to reports, there are as many as 18 kinds of firearms in the film, and each starring actor is equipped with at least one set of real guns under the condition of legal shooting.
Aaron Kwok said, "The actor fired a real gun, although it was a fake bomb, but the appeal and shock of shooting were different. It seems that in the process of real fighting, the excitement is stronger and the atmosphere is very real. "
The exploding action scene is the golden signboard of Hong Kong movies. Anti-drug 3 expands the firepower scale of the scene production, so that the audience can really enjoy the sense of visual sense. This is also the strongest weapon that Hong Kong-made gangster action movies can maintain their vitality.
In the ten years of "Anti-drug" series, the third part ushered in a more powerful world war. "Anti-drug 3" will not be the end of the series. I hope there will be a sequel and a new beginning, and the unique genre of Hong Kong films that have been going on for decades cannot disappear. It needs more excellent works and more support!