Whenever police and gangster films are mentioned, Hong Kong films are definitely the most discussed. For so many years, Yu Meng has grown up watching Hong Kong criminal investigation dramas and movies, such as Young and Dangerous, Brother Hongxing Dafei, Brother Laughing, just mention it, everyone can discuss for hours. It is enough to see the great influence of Hong Kong police and gangster films on the audience. When it comes to Hong Kong police and gangster films, one has to mention a person's name - John To.
Johnnie To is a director with a clear film style and prefers noir films. The relationship between Johnnie To and the Galaxy Creation Team is also inseparable. His works with Wei Jiahui are very classic. Wei Jiahui's works without cooperating with To Qifeng are very messy, which shows that To Qifeng has strict control. His creative team gave the story more connotations and plot twists. To Qifeng has the side of a craftsman, but also the side of self-control and creation.
Among all of To Qifeng's works, one movie became the top-grossing mainland police and bandit movie in the early days of its release, escalating the beauty of death in the form of violence. What I want to discuss today is the "Drug War", a police and bandit battle about drugs that Koo Tianle, Sun Honglei, and Huang Yi have joined hands to perform.
Zhang Lei (played by Sun Honglei), the captain of the anti-drug squad in Jinhai, just completed his undercover mission and successfully captured a group of drug dealers who were hiding drugs in their bodies, but met Cai Tianming (played by Gu Tianle) who was injured in an out-of-control crash in the hospital. With his keen professional sense of smell, Zhang Lei identified that Cai Tianming was suspected of making drugs, and found the drug den that had been bombed into a mess. At the same time, two anti-drug police officers in Yuejiang, Guo Weijun (played by Zhong Hanliang) and Chen Shixiong (played by Li Guangjie), tracked the truck carrying the drug raw materials. Zhang Lei responded to the two and learned that the drug raw materials came from the big drug lord Li Zhenbiao, and the consignee was It's Cai Tianming! Facing the facts of the crime, Cai Tianming confessed, and in order to seek a reprieve, he expressed his willingness to assist the police, trap Li Zhenbiao, and make meritorious deeds.
The police officers from Jinhai and Yuejiang, headed by Zhang Lei, disguised themselves as buyers and started a risk game with Li Zhenbiao's drug gang. In the end, Zhang Lei discovered Li Zhenbiao's shocking secret, and he was inextricably related to Cai Tianming. Zhang Lei realized that this Cai Tianming might not be his chess piece, or that he was on his chessboard. Before a single shot was fired, the drug war had already begun.
Today is the second time to watch this movie. Compared with the first time, the plot, characters, and the whole story are much clearer.
In fact, it is not easy for "Drug War" to be shown on the big screen. Compared with ordinary police and gangster films, it has a lot of "large-scale" content, not eroticism, but about unfamiliar drug-related ones. On the dark side, the scene is enough to subvert the audience's imagination.
At the beginning of the film, it was Zhang Lei who, as an undercover policeman, captured a group of drug dealers who were hiding drugs in their bodies. I always hear about the hidden poison in the body in police and bandit movies, but everyone just listens to it, and in the movie "Drug War", there are many explicit shots of the hidden poison in the body. How to hide poison in the body? Where do drugs hide in the body? How to get rid of toxins? What are the consequences of breaking the drug in the body? What is the shape of the drug hidden in the body? What color and so on these questions, in this movie can be seen. Illicit drug trafficking may really be a lucrative industry, but after watching these clips in the movie, does anyone want to try it? The film also played a certain deterrent effect on a certain basis.
The human body hides the drug, that is, the drug is packaged in the shape of fruit candy, and then swallowed. A person can hide 500 to 1500 grams of drugs in the body at a time, and it usually takes five to more than ten hours to swallow the drugs. Drugs can stay in the body of a drug collector for about four days, during which the drug owner basically does not eat.
The scene in which Zhang Lei played Brother Haha was an explosion of acting skills. You can say that Sun Honglei can move freely, or you can say that Zhang Lei has become more and more comfortable when he walks between black and white. In order to win Brother Chang's trust, Zhang Lei sucked white powder. The moment he sucked the white powder, Zhang Lei shuddered and his eyes began to blink involuntarily. After Brother Chang left, Zhang Lei fell to the ground, as if countless bugs had crawled over him. This scene is what a first-time drug overdose looks like. During the filming, Du Qifeng did not have any "soft hands" towards Sun Honglei. In order to convince drug dealers to take drugs on the spot, Sun Honglei suffered a lot. "It still feels very choking to inhale prop powder through the nose. I jumped into the bathtub and covered my whole body with ice cubes. To be honest, after the filming of this movie, I don't want to smoke anymore." Sun Honglei said at the press conference.
To Qifeng really dares to shoot, the shooting of drugs in Hong Kong films is actually beautified in many cases. After those adults take drugs, they will have a feeling of ecstasy, which makes many people who have never seen drugs have a lot of reverie. Maybe one day in an unexpected situation, he will have a chance to take drugs, maybe he will. Resist the temptation to try it. Just like Adam and Eve stole the forbidden fruit, because they did not understand and never ate it, they opened the forbidden door under the temptation of the snake. And Director Du used a very dark method to show the audience what he looked like after taking drugs. I believe that people who have seen it will not dare to taste what this drug is like.
The first time I watched this movie, I felt that Cai Tianming, played by Louis Koo, originally wanted to submit to the police, but in the next step, he found that he had a chance to escape, which caused a big melee between the police and the bandits. The second time I watched this movie, I found out that Cai Tianming is a very scheming person. On the surface, he is working for the police, and he is slowly approaching the drug lord's nest with Zhang Lei's team. In fact, he is looking for An opportunity like this to make the police believe him completely, and finally let the police and the bandits have a big scuffle, so that he has a chance to escape. In the final climax of the film, in that shootout, the audience can see Cai Tianming shoot at the police, Cai Tianming will also shoot at the Gang of Seven, and even shoot at his apprentice. In order to pay homage to the deceased teacher, these two apprentices can use their real money to pay homage to her. In this shot, I saw that a drug dealer has been completely marginalized. He has no comrades, he has only himself, and he can do whatever he can to survive.
Throughout the movie, the police did not win, and neither did the gangsters. The ending of the whole movie broke the ending that the righteous side would definitely defeat the dark side in the previous police and bandit films, and it was a lose-lose situation. Perhaps in the real battle of wits between the police and the bandits, the police have to make many sacrifices in order to solve the case, just like this film, in order to completely defeat the big drug lord. As for the police officers who died after being undercover, his graves only have a serial number and no name. This is the norm!
Director Du really dared to film a battle between the police and drug dealers, which made the audience deeply aware of the dangers of drugs and the annihilation of the conscience of drug dealers. I would also like to thank the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for making this film a success. Let us realize how terrifying the grey world is so far from us.
The American entertainment media "Hollywood Reporter" said, "The drug war has subverted the routine of traditional police and gangster films with a fascinating story. The film's excellent special effects and photography give an unexpected sense of realism to the intense gunfight. With the social situation "Deadly Gold" Different, "Drug War" is bloodier, more brutal, and more optimistic about the box office prospects of this film."
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