Both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are great actors—the kind of actors who can infuse a character with a soul and weave a dream for the audience. Therefore, the performance of the two in the same frame is a must-see event for movie fans.
Revisiting "Pirates of Fire" is like watching a grand event. What's more interesting is that a police and gangster crime film, the story of the police chasing the robbers, because of the successful character creation and the meticulous arrangement of the structure, it looks like a short reunion of confidants and friends, chatting with each other about life, and disappearing after shaking hands. The story of the sea.
In the film, Neil Macaulay, played by Robert De Niro, is a lonely and calm robber, and Vincent Hannah, played by Al Pacino, is a lonely and lost cop. Neil commits the crime, and Vincent pursues it; in the process of dealing with each other, the two understand each other's life.
For "Pirates of Fire", the first time I watched it, I was attracted by the classic gunfights in it. The police team led by Vincent blocked the Neil gang who had just completed the crime on the street. The tacit cooperation of the robbers, the classic positioning, and the real gunshot sound effects all brought me the ultimate audio-visual experience.
Afterwards, the gunfight scene quickly faded from my mind; instead the opening, which I didn't pay much attention to at first, fascinated me for a long time.
The night sky of the city is brightly lit, the train slowly stops at the platform along the railway track, and the overhead wires are racing against the night. Accompanied by the whimpering background sound, the protagonist Neil appeared as the elevator ascended, hurried through the crowd, and left the station to rob an ambulance in preparation for the crime.
The opening scene creates a sense of tension and loneliness. After watching the film in its entirety, I realized that this scene is particularly like a lonely traveler who has traveled from afar, and is about to go to a friend's party, but the police and the bandits are between them. The "party" is a bit special, always requiring the robbers to make some noise first.
The film then depicts Vincent's life scene: in the room, Vincent just had a routine intercourse with his wife, and directly refused his wife's invitation to have breakfast, hurriedly tidying up and preparing to go out to handle the case; the stepdaughter couldn't find her beloved The emotional outburst of the card is close to collapse, and Vincent's family life is a mess.
Slowly as the film progressed, I found the reason why Vincent's life was broken: he was a workaholic who spent most of his energy chasing down criminals; in order to maintain professional sensitivity, he was constantly tense and could not talk to his wife. work, so Vincent's life is not understood by his wife.
In fact real understanding can only come from people who are on the same level as you. Neil is the one on the same level as Vincent.
"Don't form too close a relationship with anyone or anything, and when you feel the danger is approaching, you must be able to drop everything and leave within 30 seconds." - Neil Macaulay
As a professional thief, Neil believes in this philosophy, so his mansion near the sea has almost no furniture, and he lives without a partner other than his teammates. Only in this way can he make a good judgment calmly, properly arrange his retreat, and do his own professional work well.
It's important to have principles in your life, but it's even more important to have someone who can make you let go of principles. Edie was the one who made Neil give up his principles. The two met in the bookstore where Edie worked, and Edie took the initiative to strike up a conversation, and the two fell in love with each other. The appearance of Edie enriches the character of Neil, gives him a more solid life experience, and changes the fate of Neil's character.
Neil's job is not a normal job, so during his interaction with Edie, he can only make up some lies, but he can't talk about his real life, so in essence, like Vincent, he is also a lonely heart. people.
Then an interesting thing happened. During Vincent's pursuit of Neil, the investigation and counter-investigation between the two made the police and the robbers the most familiar with each other. The director also, through artistic processing, expanded the encounter between the two into two different speculations on life concepts, which sublimated the theme of the film. (The encounter between Vincent and Neil has a real story prototype)
If the opening scene of Neil and Vincent's life is the foreplay of the "party", then the two people in the cafe chatting with each other is the climax of the "party".
In the cafe, Neil and Vincent sat down and looked at each other like close friends who hadn't seen each other for many years. Vincent first attacked, throwing out Neil's personal resume like a rare family, and vowing that if Neil shot, he would definitely stop it; Neil confronted tit for tat, throwing out his life philosophy and showing his professional confidence.
After the confrontation, the two began to talk about life. Vincent confided to Neil about his bad life, the third marriage was close to collapse, and the question of his stepdaughter left him at a loss; under Vincent's inquiry, Neil also told Wen. Senter pours out his love life and makes up a fake identity to get along with his girlfriend Edie. Even the two sides told each other about their dreams, these topics are things they would not confide to others on weekdays.
During this period of time, Vincent and Neil were like friends in the mountains and rivers, and their social identities of marginalized people found the resonance of similar people. After a short chat, they still need to face their own work, and finally the two reached a consensus: the two can't live a life of normal people gathering and leisure, they can only be loyal to their craftsmanship, do what they are best at, and agree that if they meet again , solve the opponent without hesitation.
It is worth mentioning that this scene is also the first time that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are on the same screen. The shot was improvised without rehearsal, just to show the strangeness and tension of confrontation that Neil and Vincent were familiar with. Director Michael Mann chose to shoot when the actors were exhausted in the early morning. This scene was shot more than ten times. In the end, all the audience saw was based on the 11th shooting.
A long shed is built for thousands of miles, and there is no lasting banquet. The party is finally coming to an end. After the two met in the cafe, because of Edie's entanglement, Neil was going to quit after robbing the bank and go to another place to live with Edie. But because of the traitor's betrayal, the escape plan was obtained by the police led by Vincent. When Vincent came to arrest him, Neil and Vincent made eye contact, and fled alone in order not to involve Edie.
In the airport, planes flew through the air, and the yellow fog lights projected on the ground flickered, creating a depressive atmosphere of parting. Vincent caught up with Neil. At the moment when the bright lights flickered, the bullet from Vincent's pistol hit Neil in the chest. After being shot, Neil slowly leaned back and said with a self-deprecating tone: "I will never go back to prison," and stretched out his hands to Vincent. Vincent stepped forward quickly, held Neil's hand tightly, nodded slightly with a smile in his eyes, and expressed his respect for this opponent.
The film came to an abrupt end here, the subtitles slowly rose, the depressing music sounded again, there was no tension, and there was no lonely figure of Vincent. Vincent needs to go back and fix a mess of his life and get back on the road.
Outside of the film, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino will continue to spend a wonderful married life together.
::(I'm sure~
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