Since the popularity of "Mekong Action", Lin Chaoxian has completed a gorgeous turn of his career with the perfect integration of action movies and main themes, but he does not consider himself to be the so-called "main theme director", in the end, Lin Chaoxian is still exploring more possibilities in the field of his favorite action genre films.
Lin Chaoxian has always been the backbone of the Hong Kong film industry, and in 1998, "Beast Cop", co-directed with Chen Jiashang, shined at the Hong Kong Academy Awards, and since then it has won the attention of the film industry, and its flamboyant, sharp images and rich excavation of the human level have become the most distinctive characters in a series of action films since then.
Today, although Lin Chaoxian in the early years did not have the control of the big scene today, he relied on the spirit of bold innovation in the small pattern to forge his own golden signboard, and even Lin Chaoxian himself admitted that since "Jianghu Emergency", his film world has not been so interesting anymore.
In 2000, the director's "Jianghu Emergency" is Lin Chaoxian's most satisfactory work, not shackled to the genre norms of traditional gangster films, but cloaked in the cloak of gangster films, and trying to subvert the regulations of gangster films with absurd black comedies.
The birth of this masterpiece is largely due to Lin Chaoxian's "improvisation" of letting go of his hands and feet, he did not shoot completely according to the rules and regulations of the script, and also gave the actors more space to play, and the final film and the script only matched about half, but achieved the film's free and uninhibited temperament from the inside out.
In just 17 days, this absurd and philosophical "anti-gangster film" turned out to be a "gangster film", although the box office performance after its release was not good, but full of stamina, since then this "pearl" has been continuously mentioned for more than a decade, becoming one of the few bright colors in Hong Kong in the period of gradual decline.
Liang Jiahui, a "big guy" in a red suit and a decisive killing decision, created one of his most classic gangster roles- Ren Yinjiu, unlike the previous scheming gangster Zhou Chaoxian, Ren Yinjiu's promiscuous skeleton and exaggerated style of behavior make this role seem somewhat cynical, contrary to the stereotypical image that the gang boss has always given to people.
In an atmosphere of absurdity, Ren Yinjiu danced intoxicatedly in the darkness, immersed in the stage of the jianghu, enjoying the attention of the audience, but he did not know how many pairs of eyes were staring at him.
Ren Yinjiu, a gangster who has been traversing the rivers and lakes for twenty years, has established an irresistible position by virtue of the prestige he has established over the years, but he cannot avoid making countless enemies in the open and in the dark, and he is hated by others.
He didn't take it seriously at first, but when a cold shot came at him unexpectedly, he realized that his position was no longer stable, so he quickly gathered the four major companies to hold a gang meeting in the name of "jianghu emergency", vowing to find the culprit who assassinated him.
The essence of "Jianghu Emergency" is "anti-gangster", it punctures the dream bubble of gangsters with the absurd brushwork of black humor, this is not an epic legend of gangsters, "Jianghu Emergency" jumps out of the sadness and cruelty, romance and blood of past gangster films, and shows its "anti-jianghu" rebellious temperament everywhere.
When Ren Yinjiu and Lu Laosi confronted each other in the room for the sake of Ji Ge's territory, there were two groups of men and horses outside the room; but there was no expected bloody rain and bloody wind, but because the fourth elder suddenly had a heart attack, it evolved into a hilarious disturbance: the busy Ren Yinjiu tried his best to give the fourth elder a heart resuscitation, and even took the wire to do "electrotherapy" for the fourth elder, and vividly turned the original solemn atmosphere into a chicken flying dog.
Not only is the plot not played according to the rules, but the emotional expression of the film is also biased.
Ren Yinjiu and Su Hua, who is still a little sister, met on the streets of London, and the two became "Mandarin duck thieves" who made a living by robbery, and finally made a fortune by "Liuhe Lottery" and returned to Hong Kong to establish their own jianghu - not a crying love story, but a ridiculous "smelly match", completely unable to see that this is a jianghu legend.
Although Ren Injiu has a young and beautiful mistress Jo Jo, the wildflowers outside are not as fragrant as his own chaff wife; near the end, Ren Injiu and Su Hua escape the killer's crazy pursuit, and the two survivors refuse the protection of the bodyguards, holding each other's hands and staggering forward.
The love between Su Hua and Ren Yinjiu is very different from the ups and downs of the gangster legend in our imagination, and the hand-holding at the end is also a return to the truth in the chaos of chicken feathers in a place, dissolving the moving "jianghu legend" of traditional gangster films.
The brotherhood of the liver and gallbladder is no longer pure, Ren Yinjiu's bodyguard Ah Yu is loyal to the liver and righteous gallbladder, several times disregarding life and death to protect the life of the boss, but after being seriously injured, ren Injiu's confession stunned Ren Injiu like a thunderbolt, and it is even more subversive: It seems that good brothers will have "long-term love" after a long time.
When Ren Yinjiu visited Ah Yue in the hospital, because of Ah Yue's "confession" the two seemed a little embarrassed, when Ah Yue asked Ren Yinjiu if he could still follow the mix, Ren Yinjiu did not refuse, but he clearly told Ah Yue: Lao Tzu will never go to the sauna with you in the future.
The most eye-popping scene is Guan Yu's apparition, where Ren Yinjiu, who was held by the killer with a gun to his temple, thought that his death was coming, but he waited for Guan Laoye, who came from the sky, to draw his sword to help.
The senseless magic reality is staggering, and it also highlights the film's rather unfettered "absurd" attitude; when Guan Yu proposes to Ren Injiu to turn Gange into a jade vessel instead of killing to stop killing, he is sneered at by Ren Injiu: No wonder you can only be the second elder in this life, and you can't be a big brother.
Today is different from the past, is there still the word "loyalty" in this world today? Probably as Su Hua said, the word "loyalty and righteousness" is easier said than done; and those who believe in God and worship Buddha worship and worship, and believing or not believing are two different things.
Before leaving, Guan Yu sighed and said, I was really a little disappointed in this apparition.
It seems absurd, but it is a true commentary on reality: what faith and benevolence and righteousness can be taken care of in the face of power and money? Not to mention the underworld.
The almost whimsical absurdity is the sharp blade that pierces the illusion, and how many people dream of romance, gangster life is ruthlessly crushed in the light and light ridicule, just like Jo Jo's brother, who longs to join the underworld and can have everything: mighty, rich, with women, leisurely and fast, husband and wife.
When seeing the teenager being stabbed to death in the cold street, the dream of the jianghu was also shattered, becoming a fool's dream, watching the bloodied teenager on the street, and his gangster dream disappeared, who would look forward to the gangster's freedom?
At the end of the film, when Ren Injiu stands on the streets of London with Su Hua to imagine the future, he is completely unaware that a gun is aimed at the back of his head, ready to fire the deadly bullet...
Who is going to kill Ren Injiu? The film does not give a clear answer, but it also implies that everyone may be the murderer behind the scenes, as said at the beginning of the film, the jianghu is not a place where the law is not paid, where there are only rules, morality and grievances, and the prosperous and rich life is just an unattainable gangster myth, the yellow sorghum dream of teenagers.
People walking in the rivers and lakes, no matter what their status, are actually sentenced to death suspension from the moment they step into the rivers and lakes, and they are either happy or worried waiting for the "death penalty" to be executed at some date.