Run, Best Actor!

August is now in its latter half.

In the middle of this month, a movie starring Yang Mi was released.

It's the Hong Kong film "The Bullet Vanishes," which was released on August 14th. It stars Yang Mi's idol, Nicholas Tse, and Mr. Lau, a good citizen of Hong Kong.

Yang Mi plays the third female lead, Xiao Yun Que, a fortune teller who sets up a stall on the street.

Okay, in reality, she's just a supporting female character.

However, she was happy to be paired with her former idol, Nicholas Tse, and have many scenes together.

Set in the Republican era, the film tells the story of a mysterious arsenal where a "ghost bullet" that takes lives invisibly triggers the most sensational case in the country.

This movie has been hailed by some fans as the "best suspense film of the year," but a quick look at Douban reveals that its rating doesn't even reach 7.

Because the plot of the whole movie has too many problems, the director and screenwriter created plot twists for the sake of plot twists, and didn't bother with the basic logic.

In the end, it turns out that Guo Zhui (played by Nicholas Tse), a good policeman who has always pursued fairness and justice, is the mastermind behind all the events.

Song Donglu (played by Liu Qingyun), the police officer in charge of investigating the case, insists on confronting Guo Zhui in order to achieve true fairness and justice.

The two people facing each other played a game of divine judgment—each of them shot themselves, and if they survived, they could ask the other a question.

In the game, Guo Zhui admitted that he had indeed made mistakes throughout the process.

But he insisted that he did this in pursuit of justice and to save more lives.

Guo pressed Lao Lu, "If I were to leave here today, would you spare my life?"

As Guo Zhui turned to leave, although Lao Lu pointed his gun at his back, he had actually felt a pang of pity.

If Lao Lu were to stop Guo Zhui at this moment and tell him to go over there, then let him go over there.

If the two continue to work together on cases, or if Guo Zhui leaves the police force, then this ending is barely acceptable.

However, the director must have felt that this would be difficult to pass censorship.

So in the end, Guo Zhui shot himself.

He did so much in pursuit of justice, and finally gained the power to eradicate the long-standing corruption within the police force.

He even won the love of the little lark.

Moreover, his eyes and words clearly revealed a strong desire to survive before he turned around.

This person committed suicide?!

WTF? ! !

As always, many people blame Yang Mi's performance for the movie's poor quality.

Yes, blaming Yang Mi for bad movies has become a tradition in the last two years.

However, upon closer analysis, the reason why "The Bullet Vanishes" is so bad is primarily due to its flawed script.

Secondly, those who have seen Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes will find a strong sense of familiarity in this movie.

The familiarity mentioned here does not refer to the deductive reasoning they use when handling cases.

Instead, Guo Zhui shot at his home, which sparked protests from neighbors, and then killed Wang Hai across the old road.

There's also the scene where Lao Lu runs ahead during the factory explosion, and Guo Zhui extends Er Kang's hand, telling him not to run back.

I'm sure many Sherlock Holmes fans can already picture it in their minds by now.

Sigh, it's an old tradition in Hong Kong. Whenever a foreign film or television series becomes popular, a "tribute" film or television series will soon be released in Hong Kong.

Clearly, this movie is paying homage to Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes!

Yes, it's a "homage" that completely copies the camera composition, image quality, and color grading.

It's set in China during the Republican era, but ignoring the actors' dark eyes and yellow skin, just looking at the movie and the actors' clothing, you'd think it was set in Victorian England!

Oh, I forgot to mention, there's another very abrupt character in this film—the female prisoner Fu Yuan, played by Jiang Yiyan.

When the investigation of the case reached a stalemate, Song Donglu would take the train to the prison where she was being held to visit her, hoping that she could help him analyze the case.

Clearly, the intention is to create the image of a wise detached observer.

Upon closer examination, this female prisoner's criminal story is a replica of Guo Zhui's criminal methods in another world.

Therefore, when Guo Zhui's story unfolds, it seems as if there is always a pair of eyes watching things from high above, and everything is running within its trajectory. No one can escape this predetermined "fate".

However, the movie's plot twists were forced and disjointed, making the female prisoner's storyline completely irrelevant to the main plot.

Whenever this female prisoner appears, she always gives the audience a strange feeling.

And yet, the production team, including producer Derek Yee and director Law Chi-leung, still dare to claim that this film's script was "written over five years"...

Anyway, bragging doesn't cost anything, right?

Therefore, before a movie is released, whether you can tell if it's a bad movie depends on whether the filmmakers say that the script took several years to create.

It's normal for a script to take 1-3 years to polish.

Films made in less than one year or more than three years have a much higher chance of being bad.

Because most investors aren't fools, there aren't many hidden gems in the market.

However, ignoring the various problems with the script, the movie is quite appealing overall.

Despite the criticism that Xie Tingfeng and Yang Mi represent bad movies, their popularity is undeniable, and their fans are genuinely willing to spend money to support their idols' films.

Liu Qingyun's acting skills are indeed excellent; there are never any major flaws in her performances.

In addition, veteran actors Liao Qizhi and Wu Gang also star in the film, ensuring that the minimum standard of performance is not low.

The casting of Wang Ziyi and Jing Boran, both currently young and attractive, enhances the overall appeal of the film.

As a result, the film led the national box office and screenings on its opening day, with a market share of nearly 30%. It grossed over 1500 million yuan on its opening day, 8150 million yuan in its first week, and 1.6 million yuan in its two weeks.

Despite polarized reviews, it easily secured the top spot at the box office in its opening week.

The movie's staying power was terrible. Two weeks after its release, or strictly speaking, only 13 days later, the daily box office revenue plummeted.

The day before, Sunday, the box office was nearly ten million, but the next day, Monday, the daily box office was less than one million...

There was no other reason; it was because "The Dark Knight Rises" was released that day, and all the screenings in the market were given to that movie.

After that, the box office journey of "The Bullet Vanishes" entered a period of stagnation.

The daily box office revenue was only a few hundred thousand, and this continued until the film was taken off the screens in late September.

The total box office will not exceed 200 million.

Based on the film's previously revealed budget of a staggering $1200 million, this result represents a huge loss.

However, considering that Hong Kong film crews have a history of exaggerating costs, this figure is likely heavily inflated.

However, judging from the film's costumes, props, and visual quality, the investment is estimated to be no less than 70 to 80 million RMB.

That still resulted in a loss.

Fortunately, regardless of the movie's quality, Yang Mi still gained a lot.

Its popularity remains unchanged.

As a result, Liu Taile also gained something—

[Ding! Evaluate the character "Little Lark" in the movie "The Bullet Vanishes": World-building completeness is average, character portrayal is average, screen time is average, character development is average, professional evaluation is average, public evaluation is above average... Overall evaluation is average, reward: Blue Treasure Chest.]

"Open the treasure chest."

Liu Taile always opened treasure chests rated blue or lower on the spot because they weren't very cost-effective.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have received the following rewards:]

Deception experience points +2000;

A bucket of hanging tags (blue)

Sure enough, Little Lark was a liar!