"Lotus Building" premieres tomorrow night, led by Cheng Yi, can the suspense martial arts drama be a hit?

I was drawn to a clip from the trailer.

Putting on ancient forensic gloves, his sharp eyes looked at the woman in the coffin.

"People who believe in gods and worship immortals often say that good and evil are rewarded, but if they really want to seek justice, they rely on people."

The city lord's daughter was killed, and there were many doubts in the city, and they were killed one after another, suspected of being murdered by evil spirits.

Li Xiangyi and others did something, but they talked about the secret room at night and found out the trick. Where are there any ghosts and gods in this world, the perpetrators of evil are naturally people.

Turmoil in the rivers and lakes, and there are enemies coming. But it wasn't until the end of the trailer that Li Xiangyi finally drew his sword, like a wild goose, flew lightly and landed in the forest,

Everyone raised their swords and slashed at him, Li Xiangyi raised his hand and slowly drew his sword, and the cold light of the sword illuminated his eyes that seemed to be smiling.

A sword slashed, sword qi swept by, and the rivers and lakes were eventful from then on.

Have you ever seen a martial arts drama filmed like this?

This summer file, ancient occasion appeared occasionally. But either fall into a fan carnival, such as "Changfeng Du", "Jade Bone Yao", "An Le Chuan", or controversy and popularity fly together, such as "My Human Fireworks", in the end, the audience has been tired of various idol romance dramas aesthetically, and has long wanted to watch something new.

Finally, he drew his sword - on July 23, that is, tomorrow night, iQiyi will broadcast 40 episodes of the costume martial arts suspense drama "Lotus Tower".

I know what you're worried about, how long has it been since you watched a decent martial arts drama?

Which was the last unsolved drama that stayed up late to chase?

As soon as these two questions come out.

I guess a lot of viewers hesitate.

It's not because people don't have a good memory, but because there are too few good things.

Especially martial arts dramas, basically only bad hearts remain. The most impressive martial arts drama in recent years should still be Yang Youning's version of "Dragon Babu",

And the golden age of martial arts created by 9-point martial arts dramas such as Huang Rihua's version of "Dragon Babu", Hu Jun's version of "Dragon Babu", and Gu Tianle's version of "The Condor Heroes" seems to be long gone.

But I believe that many viewers, like me, hope that a decent martial arts drama will be broadcast and regain its former glory.

"Lotus Building", is there a chance?

Director Guo Hu and Ren Haitao, old partners of ancient puppet dramas.

Starring Cheng Yi, Zeng Shunxi, Xiao Shunyao, Chen Duling, are all popular peanuts.

What attracted me the most was the story. It is no longer the immortal love of the three lives and the three seas, but in martial arts + suspense to solve the case.

Wuxia declined, and the cold market scared away practitioners. The decline in the quality of the series disgusted the audience. But there are always audiences who are not dead to martial arts, and the real problem is: how should today's martial arts be filmed, and how to reconstruct the rivers and lakes in a way that is accepted by the audience in the new era?

"Lotus Tower" may give a good answer: suspense martial arts, can it save martial arts?

1. Story: martial arts + suspense + solving the case, martial arts finally broke the game

The biggest problem with domestic martial arts dramas in recent years is that they are either remakes or have a lot of tricks, but in fact, they still imitate Master Jin Yong, and there is no new idea for a long time.

But "The Lotus House" tells a new story.

The series is adapted from Fuji Ping's novel "Auspicious Lotus Building", which tells the story of Li Xiangyi (played by Cheng Yi), the famous martial arts master of the Sigu Gate, who was seriously injured after a big war, and since then retired to the rivers and lakes to become a li lotus in Langzhong who is indifferent to fame and fortune, and is re-involved in the rivers and lakes after encountering the new friend Fang Duo (played by Zeng Shunxi) and the old enemy Di Feisheng (played by Xiao Shunyao).

The series has three major breakthroughs: the first major breakthrough is suspense.

Ten years later, Li Xiangyi, who turned into a famous rural doctor Li Lianhua, dragged a lotus building to walk the world, and inadvertently got involved in the rivers and lakes again.

Fang Duo's dream is to act chivalrous and fight righteousness in the world. He saw that Li Lianhua was a fake doctor and wanted to expose him.

Di Feisheng, the alliance leader of the Golden Mandarin Alliance, is the one who fought with Li Lianhua ten years ago. After the war, they were all seriously injured and lost their sect, so Di Feisheng wanted to take revenge on him.

But as the three meet again, various bizarre and tricky events occur frequently, and the three can only work together to solve the case.

The original book is a big story that connects several small quacks, each of which is independent.

The original has fifteen stories. Including Biyou Ghost Killing, Lingshan Pearl Recognition, Yipin Tomb, Famous Medical Association, Wedding Clothes Unknown, Jingsheng Buddha Fire, Guanyin Weeping, Women's House, etc. It is likely to be integrated into several units of the play.

Judging from the trailer, "Bi You Ghost Kills" should be the beginning of the story, and the story is very intriguing. It seems that behind the revenge of the fierce ghost, it is actually the separation and betrayal of people, and it is still people who finally seek justice for the daughter of the murdered city lord.

The second breakthrough is the male group like martial arts.

The focus of this drama martial arts is not in the traditional sect dispute, but on Li Lianhua, who has been re-involved in the rivers and lakes after ten years of retirement.

He and Di Feisheng, who has always regarded each other as enemies, and the teenager Fang Duo who wants to debunk him is forced to join forces to investigate the case and break into the rivers and lakes.

As a result, friendship was formed in the process of solving the case with laughter and scolding.

As far as the setting of "Lotus Building" is concerned, I think this drama is worth watching. Who said that to break into the rivers and lakes, you must have a peerless beauty.

There have been too many ancient puppet dramas in the name of martial arts over the years, and "Lotus Building" has finally broken through this shackle.

Finally, there is the aesthetic of martial arts dramas that keep pace with the times.

In today's dilemma of martial arts dramas, in addition to the old-fashioned story, the other biggest key is aesthetic backwardness.

The "happy vendetta" of the previous generation is not the cool point of this generation. And the coolness of this generation may have surpassed the counterattack adventures, the appreciation of predecessors, the enemies of the blade, breaking through the limits of the flesh, and so on.

Although the original work of "Lotus Building" is less logical than the suspenseful criminal investigation text, the rivers and lakes of Li Lianhua and Li Xiangyi presented by her are definitely different from the past.

Li Lianhua has never thought about chasing the deer and rivers and lakes, but quitting the rivers and lakes and lying flat, which is the story of the rivers and lakes that this generation of young people wants to see.

2. Main creator: Guo Hu + Ren Haitao, the new martial arts explosion is stable

The directors of this drama, Guo Hu and Ren Haitao, are old partners, and they are also the directors of a new generation of ancient puppet dramas that have emerged in recent years.

The two have participated in popular ancient puppet dramas such as "Three Lives and Three Lives and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" and "Chen Xiyuan", and independently directed works such as "Agarwood Like Crumbs".

Guo Hu also independently directed "Zhou Shengru".

This main creative team has been working hard in the field of costumes for many years, and has a good understanding of the shooting techniques of costume dramas, and the portrayal of the emotions of the characters is also relatively delicate.

The advantages of the new generation of ancient puppet creators are that they are good at controlling the preferences of young audiences, fast work, and guaranteed quality control, but whether they shoot good works or mediocre works depends on performance.

"Lotus Building" took nearly four years from script development to completion.

There are 394 scenes in the play, and many details are eye-catching, such as Li Lianhua's carriage, full of antique texture, as if directly driven from the original. Multiple suspense scenes have a strong sense of substitution, and the director should have put his mind into it.

Another highlight is Cheng Yi's fight.

At present, the overall martial arts style is biased towards retro, at least much better than the current fairy idol dramas that fire lasers at every turn.

The action scenes in the current trailer have no air shock wave and no laser penetrating the sword. Most of them are serious cold weapon duels, the camera editing is smooth, the lens editing has a sense of picture, the music drums are just right, and Cheng Yi's movements are like flowing clouds.

If the main drama can maintain the level of the trailer, the quality of the series will definitely not be bad.

3, actor: led by Cheng Yi, assisted by the male god of costume dramas, it is eye-catching, and the acting skills are not bad

The cast of "Lotus Tower" adopts the old and new model like many ancient dolls, and there are many male gods in costume who participated, but the key to the success or failure of the entire drama is still pressed on the young actors.

The most important thing is, of course, the new generation of male god in ancient costume Cheng Yi.

From the cold Lin Jianyu in "Qingyunzhi", to the affectionate Yu Sifeng in "Liuli", to the emperor Ying Yuan who protects the sky in "Agarwood Like Crumbs", Cheng Yi is good at injecting flesh and blood into the character in the framework of ancient dolls.

Among the internal entertainment students, he is the best choice to play Li Lianhua, clean, gentle, and with a hint of sick vulnerability.

I have two expectations for Cheng Yi: First, the action scenes, Cheng Yi's action scenes have obvious advantages in this batch of students, dashing and ethereal. I hope he can perform Li Lianhua's feeling of breaking the sky without making a move.

The second is literary drama.

Li Lianhua definitely has a role to play. Especially from Li Xiangyi's brazenness to Li Lianhua's stoic calmness, if you can perform the character arc, it will be very good-looking.

Liushenlei once said: "I think the essence of the word martial arts is 'sympathy'. Why do we pull out our swords to help when the road is uneven? Because you sympathize with him, sympathy is to be able to empathize with the pain of others, and treat the suffering of others as your own, which is the essence of martial arts. ”

The biggest problem of the male protagonist of the new martial arts drama in recent years is precisely that he cannot let the audience truly sympathize with and empathize with a certain character.

And the role of Li Lianhua, Lian, "pity", is not only his pity for his own fate, but also alludes to the fate of the characters like duckweed, hoping that Cheng Yi's performance this time can make the audience find empathy.

Let's talk about the male second Zeng Shunxi.

Many viewers know for the first time that Zeng Shunxi is the new "Legend of Relying on the Sky and Slaying the Dragon", and the performance of Zeng Shunxi in that drama is actually not very good, too immature, and classic versions such as Tony Leung and Wu Qihua are a little far away.

But Zeng Shunxi is one of the few students who let people see the progress of his acting skills, and his acting skills are eye-catching when it comes to "Final Note".

He is also one of the students who have performed the most martial arts dramas, and his performance in "Say Heroes" is not bad.

I hope that this time, Fang Duo's illness played by him will also amaze the audience.

It is worth looking forward to and the heroine Chen Durin.

Although her appearance has always been a little suspenseful, but in general, she is the most popular little flower in ancient costume.

In the fairy drama "Long Moon Ember Ming", she plays the triangle alone, from the extremely evil Tianhuan to the sassy and invincible Ye Bingchang. There are white clothes fluttering like fairies, and there are red clothes who appear moving.

This time she played Li Lianhua's remarried ex-girlfriend Qiao Wanyu, who was also involved in a mystery case, hoping that she would prove with her strength that the shine in "Long Moon Ember Ming" was not a flash in the pan.

Next is the Mesozoic powerhouse worth looking forward to.

First, Xu Baihui.

Xu Baihui, whose acting skills are amazing in "The World", turned into a playful costume woman this time, and the role is not low. Let's see if her costume can amaze the audience.

Second, He Zhonghua.

The old drama bones of a generation of audiences were surprised with "The Sword of the Third Young Master",

In recent years, he has also become a frequent guest in ancient puppet dramas, "Liuli" and "Agarwood Crumbs" have him, as the director's old team, the acting skills of costume dramas are of course no longer stable.

Third, Liu Ximing.

This somewhat embarrassing former Hong Kong drama boy was once a powerful newcomer known as the son of the sun with Lin Wenlong, Chen Jiahui and Zhang Weijian, and won the wireless "Golden Song Golden Song" Newcomer Gold Award in 1991, but a scandal interrupted his ascent path.

Now that Liu Ximing's appearance and acting skills are still in middle age, it is not difficult to stably output acting skills in costume dramas.

Fourth, Lu Xingyu.

Another former costume male god, in recent years, he has also appeared in costume dramas such as "Long Song Xing", and his body shape and temperament have not decreased in the slightest,

With these costumed old drama bones, the martial arts taste of the drama will not be bad.

4. Breaking the circle: Can the new martial arts walk out of a new road and watch "Lotus Building"

In the current domestic film and television drama market, martial arts dramas are of course a gradually declining genre, but in fact, martial arts dramas have still come in recent years.

Among them, there are also "There Jade" in 2020, "Sword in the Snow" by the big male frequency IP in 2021, "Youth Song Xing" at the end of 2022, which focuses on youthful spirit, and ambitious works such as this year's "Yunxiang Legend", these dramas are also trying to reconstruct a new martial arts world, but no work can really break the circle.

From the ratings point of view, "Lotus Tower" can be regarded as the right schedule, the audience is tired of watching ancient dolls, and there is a vacuum in the market dramas, the next spy war drama "Lurkers" with explosive potential will only appear on July 27, and "Lotus Tower" that takes the suspense martial arts route has no competitors, and the ratings will not be bad.

But my greater expectation for the series is to find an answer for the new martial arts.

The suspense martial arts concept of the drama is good, the lineup is also reasonable, in addition to the actors' acting skills, the most important thing is that the story logic should be self-consistent, and the martial arts style is not to say that all are in accordance with tradition, at least it must be filmed seriously.

Among the audience of Chinese dramas, there are still many martial arts fans. But audiences want to see really good drama.

There are different eras of martial arts in different eras, the Hong Kong version of martial arts in the 80s and 90s focuses on a chivalrous tenderness, and the Zhang Jizhong series in the 00s focuses on real scene light and shadow, and uses blowers wildly; The new martial arts of the 10s are representatives of abuse of special effects and slow motion, and the martial arts flavor has been seriously lost from this stage, and the audience is becoming more and more disappointed.

However, there are still many martial arts projects to be broadcast and filmed, such as "Cloud Feather" by Guo Jingming adapting his own work, "Yinian Guanshan" joined by Liu Shishi, "Jin Yong Wuxia World" filmed by five directors, Xu Bing, Deng Ke, Cao Dun, Cai Yuexun, and Yang Lei; In the field of film, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero" directed by Tsui Hark has also been approved.

"Lotus Tower" combines hot-blooded martial arts with suspense detectives, and may be the most innovative martial arts drama in recent years.

Can you find a new solution for the martial arts genre, this may be this suspense martial arts drama, its biggest suspense. The answer, right tomorrow night.