Chapter 889

In the first week of June, the North American film market ushered in a hot showdown. The three films "Life and Death", "The Hillbilly Conquer New York" and "Heavenly Soldiers" were released at the same time, although the three films were all under 45 million US dollars. The "small-cost investment" of the company did not have the demeanor of a strong man who swept thousands of troops, but the fierce competition still ignited the first climax of the summer program in 1994.

In addition to these three new films, "The Flintstones" and "Beverly Detective 3" released last week, and "The Gambler Ma Huali" released last week also still have strong box office momentum. All are enough to make this week's North American film market into a white-hot showdown.

After the premiere, "Life and Death" easily emerged as a dark horse, shaking the entire North American film market. The action movie has been pushed to the classic position step by step. This kind of strong momentum continued after the national release on the weekend, and the second batch of film reviews was released.

Surprisingly, four professional film review magazines gave full marks, even more generous than the "Los Angeles Times", including the "Chicago Sun" and "The Hollywood Reporter", two authoritative media!

As top film critic Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times' film review column, "We've seen similar subject matter—and many, many, but rarely so well, and rarely so well. Such high energy, and maintaining this high profile from the beginning to the end, is rare, rare!"

Although Roger did not express his appreciation positively, he can be seen from the words of the film review, and the full score of 100 also proves this, and in the recommendation column, Roger said, if " "Terminator 2" is three stars, then "Life and Death" is four stars.

There is no doubt that Roger's favorable impression of "Speed ​​of Life and Death" is all-round, even surpassing the classic "Terminator 2" in the minds of countless people.

Us Weekly, which is also a member of the 100% Club, commented, "This movie looks like a classic action movie - like 'Die Hard', but it uses better technique Combining all the elements of action movies together, it's like a perfect mixture of excitement and restraint, climax and humor. Even after leaving the movie theater, the brain still can't get out of the movie. That kind of constant pleasure continues to this day. Incessantly!"

Although "US Weekly" is also considered to be a member of the "pro-Hugo faction", and their main coverage is mainly gossip, it is undeniable that their film reviews are still welcomed by many readers. This time, their comments were obviously much bolder than the "Los Angeles Times", and they also compared "Life and Death" with another classic action movie "Die Hard", and thought the same as Roger. It is still the "speed of life and death" victory, which is definitely a rare sight.

The "New Yorker", who has always been professional, aloof and sarcastic, was also impressed by "Speed ​​of Life and Death" this time, not only giving a perfect score of 100, but also commenting, "The results are obvious, and there is no doubt that, It's the best vehicular action movie in half a century since Henri-Georges Clouzot's 'The Price of Fear (Le. Salaire. De. La. Peur) in 1953!"

The foothold of "The New Yorker" is even higher. You must know that "The Price of Fear" is one of the most famous action films in the international film industry. At a time when the international film festivals were not mutually exclusive, this work has successively won It won the highest awards at the Berlin and Cannes film festivals and is regarded as one of the most influential French films of the 1950s. And the "New Yorker" now compares "Life and Death" to "The Price of Fear," which is definitely the highest praise.

The last percentile review came from The Hollywood Reporter, "De Bont and his team have pushed the visual thrill and impact to the extreme, yet incredibly reasonable and harmonious, and continue to do so. Down. A great movie!"

The influence of "The Hollywood Reporter" in the entire North American film industry can be described as unparalleled in the world, and their attitude can also be seen in the current attitude of the entire Hollywood towards "speed of life and death".

At this moment, if someone goes to read the previous predictions about the "speed of life and death", they will definitely fall under the glasses, just as the "New York Times" previously called Hugo's choice of "pulp fiction" "stupid", "life and death" The public opinion frenzy faced during the filming stage of "Speed" is not inferior, even worse than the treatment of "Pulp Fiction" - because Jane de Bont's influence, popularity and strength are not comparable to Quentin Tower. Lentino.

To be precise, no one could have predicted such a situation just three weeks before the release of "Speed ​​of Life". Fox himself lacked self-confidence.

But as a result, "Speed ​​of Life and Death" ushered in a frenzy of praise in the first week of its release. Such a sharp contrast makes it impossible to pull back the dislocated jaw, and can only walk into the movie theater stunned, then leave the movie theater stunned, and finally He opened the newspaper in a stunned manner... The jaw is probably not coming back.

Although Variety, another authoritative magazine in the Hollywood film industry, did not give a 100, it still gave a high score of 90. "This is the most wonderful situation: Jane De Bon, the first director, I met a great actor who executed a great idea perfectly and presented a fantastic finished product!"

The "Rolling Stones" who have always been against Hugo - in fact, they have never given Hugo a good face except for "Schindler's List", from the movie to the band, but this time for the first time. Out of 88 points, after "Schindler's List", he praised Hugo twice in a row, which is really shocking.

"If you're looking for the perfect action movie, try 'Life and Death,' a mixture of suspense, excitement and fun for an unforgettable runaway roller coaster ride!"

And "Empire" magazine from the United Kingdom commented, "There are very few movies that can use such sharp and fast editing to present the film like 'Life and Death', and maintain that excitement for a long time. Two hours!" The 80-point evaluation still shows their appreciation.

Of course, it's impossible for a popcorn action movie to get unanimous praise, and the New York Post, in the face of a box-office gamble, naturally can't praise the movie. Menden's (Ralph. Kramden) fantasy life's worst day is packaged, polished, and glorified to make it to the big screen and become the best day for the protagonists."

Ralph Karamenden is a character from the 1955-1956 series "The. Honeymooners". He is a New York bus driver who likes to daydream all day, so he There were many jokes.

Obviously, the "New York Post" satirized the vulgar and boring trick of the bus as a story carrier in "Life and Death" in this way, and they were not interested in the film at all. And only forty-five points of evaluation can clearly see that Colin - Meiler valued this bet.

And "USA Today" seems to agree, "In this type of film, timing is everything, and it's really interesting that all the people who meet for the first time seem to be able to put aside power, class, prejudice and work together." This ironic tone is paired with their sixty-point evaluation, and it is not difficult to see their attitude towards the film.

"USA Today" seems to be full of infinite resentment against Hugo. From "Scent to Know a Woman" to "Schindler's List", it has almost never given Hugo a good face, and this time is no exception. However, they still gave 60 points, and they had to pass the pass line threshold, and it seemed that it was not bad enough.

Even so, the overall evaluation of "Life and Death" is still mostly positive, and high scores of more than 80 can be seen everywhere. "Scroll View" believes that "Jane de Bont turns a possibly boring and cliché story into thrilling and exciting. , wonderful again and again"; while "TV Guide" commented, "De Bonte's directorial debut is incredible, and he has completed an absolutely gripping action film".

Both media have given 88 points of evaluation.

A total of 19 media sent comments, and finally rated the "speed of life and death" at 81 points. This is definitely a perfect answer for an action movie. If you make a horizontal comparison You know, the media comprehensive evaluation of "Terminator 2" in that year was only 68 points, and obviously, the "speed of life and death" was a whole level higher.

What does this mean? It means that action movies can also win the love of film critics. As the "Los Angeles Times" said, action movies are not only made for male audiences, but should be seen by all audiences. Simple and crude assembly line products will only Let the action movie market gradually lose its vitality. Only when more works like "Life and Death" appear, can action movies continue to continue.

There is no doubt that "Life and Death" is an excellent example, which won the audience's favorite at the premiere, and then won the unanimous praise of the film critics, which made people realize that the popcorn commercial film can also be word-of-mouth. Go hand in hand with the box office, and such a work has a wider audience market! Judging from the theater scores after the opening weekend, the "A" score also proves that the cheers at the premiere were not just accidental, and the film still withstood the test of the audience after the full release.

Under such circumstances, almost everyone focused on the box office performance of "Speed ​​of Life and Death". This work seems to have become a hot topic in the first week of June, and even the peak of the topic since the summer of 1994. , then can it break out the amazing data that matches it at the box office?

Preliminary numbers for the first week of the game between The New York Post and Speed ​​of Life are about to be revealed!