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Bai Ke plays the role of Xia Ran, a police officer and veteran of the police station in the movie "The Wind Kill".

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Today's reviews are hard to avoid being disturbed by box office or social media ratings - those reactions from others will make people wonder if they are watching the same movie. From last year's "Old Gun" to this year's "The Wind Kill", I can't help but shout "good" to the empty audience (like Don Quixote facing a windmill). Maybe they are all unable to stand on the waves of the times because of some disappearing aesthetic taste, but fun is ultimately a cycle. After a round of waves, the work that was rewind back to the beach must be a well-textured and unique work, and I believe "The Great Wind Kill" will be in it.

Then eliminate the interference and see what's good about "The Wind Killing".

Some people say that the editing is neat and tough, and the expression of images and sound effects is stylized. All are right, but none of them talked about the key points: "The Great Wind Kill" tells a solid and good story, and is full of energy, and keeps the high-intensity and high-level state to the end.

The story is set in 1995 when the economic order is in progress and a complete ban on guns is about to be implemented. The space is even more tricky: the sparsely populated and lacking police force in the northwest town of Mangya was occupied by more than 40 bandits. They cut off external communications (it was easier to do in an era without a cell phone than it is now) because a large sum of money was scattered all over the town and needed to follow the map before the strong wind blew (sandstorm) and fled far away with the money. This is the most typical closed environment mode in westerns, crime films and even suspense mystery films.

Isolated from the world, the sound of the wind whistles, the silhouettes on the windows, the terrified eyes exposed on the head strangled by wire. We can find similar atmospheres and elements in the enclosed spaces of "The Seven Samurai" (1954, Kurosawa), "The Eight Eight Wicked Man" (2015, Quentin Tarantino), "The Swordsman of the Double Flag Town" (1991, He Ping) and even "The Mouse Trap" (Agatha Christie's stage play). Many people see traces of paying tribute to "Let the Bullets Fly" in the film, but I think at least in the first half, "The Wind Kill" is more like "No Man's Land" of that year - that is my favorite movie in Ning Hao's works.

The policeman who went out to deliver the letter from the town police station sent it back "as is", with bullet holes on his head and a walkie-talkie hanging on his chest - the bandit leader shouted to the police during the symphony, and even shouted to his subordinates and the people in the town: "I will do my business first, you can take care of your people."

The difference in power balance is clear: there are only three policemen left in the police station, one of whom is the young and the young lack combat effectiveness. Xia Ran (a veteran) with the only military experience is also burdened with the psychological shadow of him being the only one left in the entire team on the battlefield. In addition, there is Dorje, a herder who was temporarily detained due to a dispute. From almost all perspectives, there is no suspense in the outcome.

The reason why it is said to be "almost" is because there is indeed an angle with a very small chance: waiting for the other party to be evil and eat bad. Xia Ran knew that he was not a superhero, and his only chance was the enemy's internal strife. Therefore, when facing the bandit leader Zhao Beishan, that soul-sentence question was the only card in his hand:

"Are you so sure they will save you?"

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Zhao Beishan, played by Xin Baiqing, has a combination of micro-expressions and lines in this scene, which is as helpful as God. The subtle and unaware "death in my heart" reveals the fear hidden deep in my heart in Zhao Beishan. Yes, internal strife between the gang is not only possible—but it has happened.

The prerequisites set by the screenwriter for internal strife are reasonable and ironic: Zhao Beishan was imprisoned for three years and escaped by fake death (this time is obviously the Count of Monte Cristo), but the dosage accidentally doubled. So the first scene of the whole film is when the bandits find a doctor to save the elder brother. As soon as the electrocardiogram is recovered a little, the doctor is quickly killed - unusually fast. You can say that this is silence, or you can see that the inside of the bandits is not a solid piece. Maybe, maybe, not everyone hopes that the eldest brother can survive?

At this point, the structure of the bandit gang is gradually becoming more complicated in front of us. The director portrayed it very concisely and patiently, without any idle writing: Tramado, who jumped out as the "traitor" who came out of the way when his elder brother was in a coma, was of course the first to be killed, but through this picture, several leaders also saw the thoughts between each other and knew that the elder brother's cohesion was no longer the same as before. The new generation of "bandits" are more like project-based mercenaries, and are no longer willing to accept the strict management model of "receiving monthly wages".

Zhao Beishan's wife Li Hong originally wanted to "go to Shenzhen" to fly away, but was coerced by the bandits to hand over the account book that recorded the place where the money was hidden. From beginning to end, she was an outsider in this dispute over interests: she didn't stand on Zhao Beishan or his brothers. What she wanted was not money, but freedom - if she didn't want it, she would rather die. It was this "disharmonious sound" that eventually turned into a bomb that prompted the turning point of the incident and changed the balance of power.

Among the "masses" who were watching, there were also many people who wanted to take advantage of the chaos. The boss of the Huayu City dug out a sum of money and asked for a shareholding as a letter of investment. Zhao Beishan looked contemptuous and asked the boss to tell him what the name of the "big brother" he wanted to join. The boss was smart and said first that the eldest brother was definitely not tramado, and then he said that he was a person called "accountant". As soon as this statement was made, Zhao Beishan and the "accountant" changed their faces at the same time. The former confirmed that his reputation in the world no longer existed and his power had long been undermined, while the latter had a premonition that this sentence was about to bring him a murder.

The "accountant" finally did not escape this disaster, but the words he asked the sniper to send to the boss before his death revealed Zhao Beishan's real dilemma:

"Three years inside, and thirty years outside, and now no one can believe it."

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Between the turbulent clouds, a new balance was quickly reached: in such a big bandit gang, only the "gray wolf" and "tongue" who are truly loyal to Zhao Beishan, so the ratio of core numbers between the positive and negative sides is actually a humorous draw.

We can completely foresee that after several rounds of offense and defense conversions, combat losses and consumption, the decisive battle will inevitably take place between Xia Ran and Beishan. They are cats and mice, blocking each other, forming the structure referred to in the English title of this film: Trapped, dilemma.

Therefore, the theme of this film has long evolved from a police and gangster showdown in a genre film to a metaphor and disassembly of the power structure in a set extreme environment. Because of this special time point, many people regard "The Wind Kill" as a mirror image of the economic transformation period in the 1990s. I think this is certainly not wrong, but it may not necessarily be so constrained.

In ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, there are rivers and lakes in places where there are people, and there are trapped beasts formed based on complex interpersonal relationships. A group of people in a closed environment can form ever-changing arrangements and combinations - the good thing about "The Great Wind Kill" is that in more than two hours, with high narrative efficiency, select, deduce, and splice them in these combinations, and then grow a flesh-and-blood story.

Of course, we can see various mirrors of reality in this story, from international storms to office politics.

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If the number of movies is read enough, then the story of "The Great Wind Kill" that wraps the core of the literary metaphor with a genre film coat is definitely not a new thing. What impressed me more was its completion, and its director's ability to tell a good story to the end.

Whether it is the scheduling of the shot, the rhythm of the editing, or the performance status and line quality that are rare in movies in recent years, they are so full and confident. In particular, the "bite degree" of the dialogue and the "unit information" carried in the lines are both rare in domestic films - this will inevitably constitute a threshold for understanding to a certain extent.

The main creators all know what this play wants and what level it can do. This firm attitude is implemented in every detail. This very literary story doesn't seem to be too "pretty", because this story is full of "play flesh", the characters don't have time to linger or sigh, and the director doesn't have time to give empty shots.

For example, it is well known that in domestic films, good people are usually more difficult to write than bad people and are more likely to fall into the trap, but the two good people in "The Great Wind Kill" have both sacrifices and both sacrifices, and they all try to stand outside the trap.

The old policeman Zuo Luo fell into the bandit's nest. When he heard that Xia Ran who had broken into the next door was exposed and was being arrested, he used his weak body to hold Zhao Beishan's time. At that moment, his originally dim eyes suddenly shone, pretending to answer the other party’s most concerned question ("Do you have reinforcements?"), but what he said was inevitably a "leak talk" that would be exchanged for a shot:

"Why do you want to be a thief?"

At this moment, I seemed to hear the tone of "Dogs in the Water" or "Pulp Novels" (Qentin Tarantino).

The young policeman Jane Ning was shot, and his dying obsession was "If the gun was still pointed at him, it wouldn't be like this" and "Am I going to die?"

"Yes," Xia Ran said with a sob.

"You are really good at comforting people."

These shaping of heroes are unconventional and anti-routine. They resolutely amplify the side of heroes being born as "human", making the police's ordinary and helplessness form a moving contrast with their behavior itself.

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There is controversy over whether there are obvious flaws in the plot logic of the second half of "The Wind Kill". There are two things I want to say about this:

First of all, in my opinion, all the characters' behavior logic in the film have clear development lines and solid text preparation. For example, why did Zhao Beishan issue an order to "attack the police station" when most of the money has been dug out? Is it really just to grab the two money placed in the police station?

Of course not. At this time, Zhao Beishan's most concerned issue had changed from "where to find money" to "I am still not a big brother" or "the team is still fine but not easy to lead". His wishful thinking was that by actively launching a "battle", he could always achieve one or two KPIs between gathering people's hearts, eliminating dissidents, or even killing people with a knife. However, as the "accountant" expected, after sitting down in prison for the past three years, the world has changed and people's hearts have also changed. The mercenaries will never obey the elder brother's PUA again.

Similarly, whether it was the ending of Li Hong or the strong wind that swept through people and money, there were neat lines buried in front of him, following the uneven dramatic rhythm. I didn't see any scene or any character swaying in the air. As the first work of the big screen as a director, it is not easy to achieve such maturity.

Secondly, I would like to say more is that in my opinion, judging whether the logic of a literary work is valid, we must consider it from two dimensions at the same time: realistic logic and dramatic logic. There is a unity between the two but there are also conflicts between them. Generally speaking, if the latter can be perfectly closed under set conditions, its importance is often greater than the former.

If these two logics are regarded as two images, then they can be consistent and balanced within a certain accuracy - "The Great Wind Kill" belongs to this category. If you must increase the accuracy at the same time, exceed the reasonable range, and then seek a high degree of unity between the two, it is neither necessary nor possible.

For example, in the dramatic logic, the setting of burying money in various parts of the town in the film is a prerequisite for the establishment of the entire drama, and it is also a plot that generally conforms to the actual possibility - after all, this town is about to be abandoned and the population is not large. However, if you have to ask after reading the complete story, "Didn't the people accidentally dig it out in the past three years?", then I can only think that this is "no worries" that can't understand the play - and don't want to understand the play. To a large extent, this is using the "box office success or failure theory" to reverse the flaws of the movie (not that this movie has no flaws), which is a bit like Zhao Beishan's meaningful word:

"I don't care about life or money. I don't know what I care about, I don't even care about me."

(The author Huang Yuning is a translator and writer, and a member of the Shanghai Literary and Art Critics Association)

[Editor in charge: Tang Wei]