Low-cost and rough production has caused controversy in the web drama “Hunting Ice”
Beijing Evening News reporter Qiu Wei
After the online drama “Hunting Ice” was aired, it attracted attention. The anti-drug theme is directed by Gao Qunshu, and more importantly, Zhang Songwen once again plays the role of the male villain, which made many viewers “soul-pierced” in “Hurry”; on the other hand, Yao Anna plays the heroine, and her zero-based acting skills have been questioned. Looking at the whole drama, the strengths and weaknesses of “Hunting Ice” are obvious. This anti-drug drama adopts a documentary style that has been rarely used in TV drama shooting in recent years. Zhang Songwen’s acting skills have raised the quality of the work to a higher level. However, the film’s perfunctory and rough production also greatly reduced the quality of the entire drama.
Zhang Songwen reprises his role as a villain and focuses on details
“Hunting Ice” tells the story of the peaceful coastal town of Sanping, where the anti-narcotics brigade accidentally seized a batch of new methamphetamine during an operation. Its size and purity were extremely rare. Sanping Public Security immediately launched an investigation. With her keen sense of smell and insight, Zhao Younan, a policewoman who has been transferred from the army, played by Anna Yao, targets Huang Zongwei, who is engaged in chemical business, played by Zhang Songwen. The scheming Huang Zongwei and Zhao Younan, who was persistent in handling the case, started a long-term “game”. In the end, the anti-drug police represented by Zhao Younan wiped out Huang Zongwei and his drug-making gang.
Huang Zongwei in “Hunting Ice” has a “postdoctoral” level of chemical knowledge. It is said that the prototype character is Liu Zhaohua, a drug lord who taught himself how to make drugs in the 1990s. Perhaps for this reason, Huang Zongwei in “Hunting Ice” is full of story sex and contradiction. In terms of character identity, Huang Zongwei is not only a telecommunications employee who has been suspended without pay but also the leading drug lord in the South and even Southeast Asia. In terms of emotions, facing his wife and triplets, Huang Zongwei is a good family man with gentle and loving eyes, but in the next second, he is a cruel, cold-hearted, ruthless, and highly intelligent criminal.
“Ice Hunt” was filmed just after “The Blast” was finished and before it was aired. Zhang Songwen played the villain for the second time in the crime drama. He transformed from a gangster to “Breaking Bad”, almost shaping Huang Zongwei into an upgraded version. Gao Qiqiang: When being interrogated by the police, Huang Zongwei “predicted the police’s predictions.” When he escaped by chance, the snap of his fingers as he went downstairs showed his inner pride; when he went to worship in front of his ancestor’s memorial tablet before escaping, Huang Zongwei suddenly seemed uneasy because the match couldn’t strike.
Many subtle details in the play make Huang Zongwei’s character very full. Compared with those villains who stick the word “bad guy” on their faces with all their teeth and claws, Zhang Songwen uses a counter-processing method, using ordinary people’s sense of ordinaryness and pyrotechnics to create a warm illusion of the character, and then uses the arrogant snap of his fingers after the plan succeeds. The pen outlines the cunning and cruelty of the drug lord, creating a sharp contrast, and also perfectly expresses the inner turmoil under the calm appearance of the character. It can be said that Zhang Song’s acting skills alone supported a drama.
Yao Anna’s role is incompatible with the whole scene
Compared with the characters and stories of Zhang Songwen’s drug dealer line, Yao Anna’s police line is much inferior. Although netizens have complained a lot about Yao Anna’s acting skills, based on the setting of Zhao Younan as a veteran in the play and the character’s somewhat stunned and unreasonable personality, Yao Anna’s performance most of the time is still relatively close. The character has the temperament of a newborn calf who bravely ventures into the world. It’s just that the character itself is too flat, and he constantly makes correct judgments in the play as if he has opened his “eyes in the sky”.
At the beginning of the chapter, Zhao Younan was still the “Little Zhao” in the data room. After an undercover operation, she opened her “eyes in the sky”: in the KTV murder case, she was the only one who noticed the footprints on the door and followed the clues to find out Boss Huang; she took the suspect’s portrait and went home to look for him. Brother-in-law, it was immediately determined that Boss Huang was Huang Chongwei; he was stationed around to keep tabs on someone and said “there’s something wrong with him” when he saw one. After checking, it turned out to be a supplier of guns for drug lords.
The screenwriter’s portrayal of the character Zhao Younan was a little careless, and the family drama scenes given by the director were unable to enrich the three-dimensionality of the character. Coupled with the fact that Yao Anna always has a bitter expression, empty eyes, and untrained body movements, many of Zhao Younan’s scenes have an inexplicable sense of joy, which is incompatible with the overall tone of the play.
“Hunting Ice” was originally positioned as a low-cost account-sharing drama. After its broadcast, it has ranked at the top of multiple online broadcast data rankings, and related public opinion topics have continued to help increase the overall popularity. For a web drama with a cost of 40 million, this achievement is an astonishing return. However, at the same time, the negative reputation of the drama continues to ferment, and the work continues to be out of the industry due to controversy.
This work, which has outstanding advantages and disadvantages, is both brilliant and obviously confused in its creative attitude. The whole drama only advances the main plot, ignoring “leakage” in logic and details. The plot arrangement and lens language appear random, and the catastrophic editing is often perfunctory, and there is even a scene of “six people were killed with five shots”.
Director Gao Qunshu has repeatedly emphasized that “Ice Hunting” is a low-cost TV series, and he is trying to prove that “you can make a good show with little money.” But low-cost production does not mean that the work cannot be polished, use various coincidences to promote the plot, and install characters with similar tools as the protagonists. If the drama is done so carelessly, it is no wonder that the audience is not considerate enough.