America 1987

The positive reception of the sequel, Chapter 131

"To shave one's head as a sign of resolve?"

"Oh, that's their cultural tradition—"

Influenced by the concept in the Classic of Filial Piety that "our bodies, hair, and skin are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them," the ancients regarded shaving their hair at will as an act that was close to being unfilial and carried a punitive meaning.

Therefore, the act of voluntarily shaving one's head carries a strong sense of ritual and a resolute attitude. This story can be traced back to the tale of King Goujian of Yue cutting his hair and tattooing himself after his defeat, enduring hardship and humiliation to remember the shame and strive for a stronger nation.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the historical context of Jackie Chan's Project A story IP.

Although the general time period is the late Qing Dynasty, the specific late Qing Dynasty needs to be analyzed in conjunction with the specific details of the film, since the Qing Dynasty after the Opium War can basically be called the late Qing Dynasty.

The sequel to Project A features a core plot where the Qing government dispatches top imperial guards and secret envoys to Hong Kong to arrest revolutionaries. This likely corresponds to the real historical background of the activities of revolutionaries in Hong Kong around 1900 during the late Qing Dynasty.

The appearance of pirate characters with queues and the Chinese police system of the Hong Kong British police force at the end of the Qing Dynasty also perfectly match the characteristics of this era.

When David first read it, he thought it was completely fictional, mainly because he didn't expect that the revolutionaries in the late Qing Dynasty could be associated with Hong Kong Island.

After checking the information, I learned that Sun Yat-sen's Revive China Society was established at 13 Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong Island.

Of the 10 armed uprisings in the south that he directly led, 6 were secretly planned from Hong Kong Island.

Upon closer examination, it becomes understandable. After all, Hong Kong Island was a free port under British colonial rule at the time, which the Qing Dynasty, in its terminal state, could not directly control. The movement of people, goods, and funds was highly free, and its proximity to Guangdong Province made it a perfect fit for the needs of revolutionaries to carry out "border region revolution."

No wonder the Chinese police chief played by Uncle Biao dared to beat up a Qing dynasty prince at the end of the movie.

"What does it mean that the remaining people bit their fingers?"

Catherine was very curious, "It feels like a completely different kind of ritual."

Well, actually, David didn't understand what these pirates were up to at first either. Could they really do the same thing—shaving their heads to show their resolve and swearing a blood oath?

The truth is, they really can be done together.

Shaving one's head to show one's resolve is an extreme way of damaging one's body and hair to demonstrate one's determination to the gods and companions; swearing an oath of blood is a traditional ceremony in which blood is used as a token to bind all participants together in a covenant, subject to divine supervision, and to bring retribution upon those who break the oath.

The successive completion of these two actions elevates an individual's resolute will to a shared oath for the entire team. The sense of ritual and binding force are far stronger than that of a single action, perfectly aligning with the covenant culture logic of late Qing Dynasty Jianghu organizations.

It seems Jackie Chan is quite meticulous when making movies, even paying attention to such details.

"What, are you going to shave your head to show your resolve?"

David, who had just finished washing his hair and came out of the bathroom, asked a question in surprise.

The main reason for this is that Catherine's hair on one side, hanging over the hood of her clothes, was particularly noticeable.

"No."

Wearing a loose white casual outfit, Catherine quickly tidied her hair. "I was just thinking about something."

"What's the problem?"

"Didn't you usually say you don't like making sequels? Why are you so obsessed with one today?"

She wore an oversized white coat with wide, puffy sleeves and white trousers with frayed edges at the hem. The overall style was simple and relaxed, with a pure white tone, which was perfect for her to wear at home.

Catherine was barefoot, her toes slightly curled, sinking into the wrinkled sheets. She hugged the fluffy pillow with one hand, rested her chin on it, and looked at him with cat-like eyes.

"I said I didn't like filming simply because it's too difficult to film and it's hard to completely satisfy the audience."

David replied matter-of-factly, "That doesn't mean I don't like watching it. If it's well-made, why wouldn't I watch it?"

"Was it filmed well enough?"

"So, compared to the first one, which one has a better reputation?"

"Um, the first one————"

There's nothing that can be done about it; when the quality is comparable, the sequel just can't match the reputation of the first film.

Moreover, the "iron triangle" combination in the first film was indeed a top-notch golden combination in the Hong Kong film industry at that time, and the chemistry between the three people is, to some extent, one of the core emotional points of the film.

When the sequel was filmed, the other two were absent, and even with the addition of a legendary combination like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, it was still impossible to satisfy the nostalgia of the older audience.

Finally, even if the film's action design and narrative completion are better, it will still create a sense of disappointment for longtime fans who are used to the "iron triangle," which will directly lower their subjective word-of-mouth evaluation.

Even so, Project A Part II achieved an unexpected 8.0 rating on Douban thanks to its high quality.

This was something David hadn't expected before he started investigating.

It's worth noting that Jackie Chan's movies haven't consistently received very high ratings on Douban. The only one he seems to recall scoring above 8 points is *A*.

"The Plan" and "Police Story", oh right, I almost forgot about "Drunken Master II".

It seems that there are only these three films. He didn't expect that "Project A Part II" could also make it into this category. You know, even Jackie Chan's longest film, "Project A," only scored 7.9 points.

"Then why don't you analyze the first film instead of the second?"

"The first film was able to surpass the second in terms of critical acclaim because it had the advantage of being released earlier and because of the scene depicting the clock tower falling down."

In addition, another important reason is that the narrative structure of the first film is relatively simple, mainly based on a single line of development. The core highlights are concentrated on iconic death-defying action scenes such as "bicycle chase" and "clock tower fall", which are more suitable as material for action design analysis. The overall narrative dimension has far less room for analysis than the sequel.

Generally speaking, there are three types of films that are not suitable for film analysis.

One type is characterized by mediocre and undesigned audiovisual language. This refers to a style that uses straightforward, direct shots throughout, where the visual language serves only the straightforward narrative and lacks any clever staging or staging.

Such a breakdown doesn't teach any effective creative techniques; most mass-produced, sensational films that rely solely on traffic fall into this category.

Another type is those with chaotic and out-of-control narrative logic. This refers to plots that are disjointed, contradictory, and lack a complete structural logic, such as some low-budget cult films, poorly made sequels, and most of the films Jackie Chan made after "Chinese Zodiac".

Analyzing films like this is a waste of time and offers no reference for their narrative structure.

The last type relies excessively on sensory stimulation. For example, films that use gore, sensationalism, or vulgarity as their core selling points, such as "Mermaid in a Sewer" and "Human Centipede," are extremely restricted films that offer no creative value beyond sensory impact and can even cause discomfort.

Oh right, I almost forgot, there are also Hollywood superhero movies that rely on special effects and spectacular scenes as their core selling point, especially the sequels that follow the first blockbuster, such as "Iron Man 2".

The first film boasts a complete and solid origin story, with the cave armor-making scene serving as a classic template for superheroes, comparable in classic status to Uncle Ben's death in Spider-Man. The character transformation logic is clear, and there are no obvious redundant plots throughout.

The second installment was a major letdown. The plot was loose, with multiple storylines running in parallel but only scratching the surface. The resolution of the palladium poisoning was too hasty, the villain Whiplash's motivation was very weak, and the final climactic battle was extremely short. Overall, the story lacked sincerity, and the director was clearly just going through the motions for the audience.

The fact that such a low-quality film could still gross over $6 million at the box office back then was entirely due to Robert Downey Jr.'s still outstanding acting skills and Scarlett Johansson's alluring curves.

It's no wonder that Hollywood went to great lengths to make sequels and capitalize on intellectual property after entering the 10s.

"Interesting, you seem more passionate about this than in bed."

Catherine, lying on her side on the bed with her body facing David and her head resting on a pillow, joked, stretching one arm forward and resting it on the side of the pillow, while the other arm was placed naturally.

With both legs stretched out to the right edge of the bed, toes pointing to the lower right corner, the person is in a relaxed side-lying position, like a stranded fish lazily sprawled on the white sheets.

Are you planning to sit there all night?

Her eyes narrowed slightly, her lips parted slightly, and her expression held a hint of amusement.