Is "Qing Ya Ji" under the banner of Onmyoji a bad movie?

The movie "Qing Ya Ji" has gone through twists and turns since its release. Some people praised it for being good, and some criticized it for being bad. Finally, it was forced to be removed from the shelves just two weeks after its release. It is said that director Guo Even the cost of the movie was not recovered. My personal evaluation is that it is okay. It is not a bad movie, but it is not good either. It has half and half advantages and half disadvantages.

The plot of Qing Ya Ji:

First of all, let’s analyze the plot of this movie. The main story is that the "disaster snake" wants to bring disaster to the world, and the four great wizards want to be killed. The purpose of slaying demons to collect desires is to awaken the four mythical beasts, but there is a prerequisite for awakening the mythical beasts, that is, he must awaken all four mythical beasts. These four mythical beasts are actually four stone statues scattered everywhere, in the form of our Chinese People are too familiar with them, they are Suzaku, Xuanwu, Qinglong and White Tiger.

This kind of design is not a fabrication of film and television. The "Heian Kyo" within the story framework of "Onmyoji" is really like this. Heian Kyo is today's ancient capital of Japan - Kyoto. The city's geographical location is very unique. It is surrounded by mountains and is in the shape of a basin. The Japanese believe that Heian Kyo is a geomantic treasure, a capital city protected by "gods". To the north is the Xuanwu God, to the south is the Suzaku God, to the east is the Blue Dragon God, and to the west is the White Tiger God. They all guard the tranquility of the city. This is highly consistent with the description in "Qing Ya Ji".

Then the plot comes. Whoever wants to break this peace is the villain. In fact, it is the "snake" we mentioned, but the snake is just a puppet, and the people who use its power behind the scenes are the most vicious. That person has always had a wish, that is, the world is so big and he wants to see it. Just because these four divine beasts formed a barrier like Skynet, he couldn't go abroad. The logic of this part of the movie is self-consistent, but I was a little confused while watching it (maybe because I don’t quite understand the mental models of men and women in love). There are a lot of concepts of substitutes, past lives, love, protection, and immortality mixed in. Anyway, it’s very confusing! The Onmyoji and Shikigami in Qingya Collection:

As for the visuals of "Qingya Collection", let me tell you, the film production is still very sophisticated, and it can be seen that the funds are indeed sufficient, so there are A large number of long-range visual effects give people a grand feeling, but sometimes it feels "a little empty". For example, when fighting against the evil snake, Seimei summoned his shikigami to assist, and he opened a huge barrier in the sky. You think it must be the heavenly soldiers and generals huffing and puffing. After all, the opponent is so big, but in the end it is There were only three people... It felt like they were here to give away their heads.

In Onmyoji, "Shikigami" is very important, and can even be said to be the essence of Japanese Onmyoji culture. Why are our Chinese audiences interested in the IP Onmyoji? In fact, a lot of it comes from the card drawing game. There are all kinds of ghosts and shikigami moves in it, which looks particularly fresh. In the movie, on the contrary, these characters who can make a big fuss are quickly eliminated by the villain in a crushing manner, which makes people feel completely unsatisfied.

The most important thing is that what supports the story is the motivation and logic of the characters. Many people point out that the logical narrative of "Qing Ya Ji" is a bit weak. I also have the same doubts. I feel that I want to say a lot, but there is nothing It's a common problem in many big-budget movies to end hastily after saying something very thorough. By the way, the famous director Chen Kaige's film "The Legend of the Demon Cat" is also based on the author of "Onmyoji", Meng Zhentapir, and the reviews are also highly polarized. This kind of grand magical theme is actually very difficult to control. If you shoot it shallowly, it will become superficial and become a series of MVs. If you shoot it deeper, it will be a problem where to start...

Finally What I want to complain about is that in the film and television genre with two male protagonists, whether it is intentional or unintentional, speculation on CP is an unavoidable topic. I think Guo Jingming knows this well! There are a lot of scenes between the two male protagonists in "Qing Ya Ji", but they are all the kind that just hit the mark. It can be said that they are officially forced to death!

I originally wanted to watch monsters fight, and then watch two handsome guys interact affectionately. As a single dog, I also had mixed feelings... Oh, it turns out that men can still communicate like this? I suggest that Teacher Qingming publish a book called "How to Quickly Break the Heart of Bingshan Cool Guy".

Finally, this is my opinion:

From a completely neutral perspective, Guo Jingming’s Onmyoji was not filmed well, but it was not particularly bad. A cross-border test. How to cross? It's just taking Japanese culture and changing it into Chinese culture, and filming it in a framework that is acceptable to Chinese audiences. This kind of thing is very easy to mess up.

Generally speaking, my own feeling about this movie is that the picture is very beautiful, the special effects are nothing to complain about, but some plot rhythms are a bit slow, and the lines sound very modern, such as the sentence "I wish you good luck"? Can you imagine two ancient people saying this line while chatting? A good movie is not judged by how big a star cast it has or how much money it costs, it is often judged by the details!