Before the name "Tang Jili" hit the screen, I was basically satisfied with the performance of "Kung Fu Yoga" (please note that it is basically), but after I learned that this New Year's Eve drama comes from director Tang, my inner turmoil began to make me overturn the standard of judgment that I had just given to this movie. With the multi-dimensional elements of international superstars, face value and regional flavor, and the New Year's Eve slot, this movie has to have an acceptable performance, but if this big investment and big production New Year's Eve drama can be slightly improved and upgraded in some details, I think this movie will not only rise to a new realm at the box office and reputation, but also rise to a new realm in the success of the movie with the likes of Tang Jiri, Disha Patani, and Mukhtar. Tani and other artists such as Mukhtar will also achieve a new breakthrough in terms of the value effect generated.
But sadly, the movie has 99 points of success, but only 65 points of movie value.
I was surprised to see Ms. Mukhiya, of internet fame, in the role of Prof. Chen's (Jackie Chan) teaching assistant, but considering that Disha Patani, born in '92 and runner-up of Miss Fermina India 2013, plays Ashmita, it seems only fitting that Ms. Mukhiya should be given the role of Noor Min. The role of Noemin seemed to be the only way to go. After all, as a value-added comedy-action movie, the gorgeous Disha Patani couldn't play a drag queen in an Indian joint, could she? But judging from the performance of the whole movie, I finally realized that Ms. Mukhiya is not only a good yoga practitioner, but also has a very good face value, and I can't even imagine if the role of the female lead would have ended differently if she had been cast as the female lead.
As for Zhang Yixing, the fresh meat ...... cough, I'm not saying that Zhang Yixing is bad or that his acting sucks, his face value is very high in this movie and he performs very hard, but I still think that he's such a fresh meat that he can't support an all-purpose value of the role set. Also a fresh meat, Lee Ji Ting's performance has a lot of flaws as well, but there's still more or less something to be said for the characterization. Regarding the decision to set up Zhang Yixing in the role of Xiaoguang, I wonder if it was director Tang's belief that the amazing face value had to be paired with a fresh face in order to support the box office? If that's the case, I think it would have been better to replace the role of Zhang Yixing with a beauty queen with the same amazing face value.
The age of Jackie Chan in fact belongs to the behind-the-scenes producer and other roles, but Jackie Chan, who is in his sixties, is still fighting in front of the front-line screen. As a renowned performer at home and abroad, Jackie Chan starred in the movie, although not necessarily on the word of mouth and the box office situation, but not so bad as to fail to the embarrassing situation of the intolerance of direct viewing. If the movie had been made with normal thinking from the beginning, then it would have been possible to deduce that the overall performance of the movie would not have been too impressive. However, in terms of piling on the fresh meat and choosing the direction of the movie for the sake of Chinese New Year, the movie changed its intention from the very beginning. As I was walking out of the theater, my friend and I remarked that the song-and-dance routine at the end was a complete red herring, because setting up such an inexplicable end-of-period resolution was a tribute to the way Indian films sing and dance at the end of inexplicable periods?
I can't find a more plausible explanation for Zhang Guo Li's appearance other than "playing it safe".
To pile on the face value for the sake of face value, and to invite big names for the sake of big names, it seems to me that this is a lack of confidence in Jackie Chan, and the whole movie is a lack of confidence in itself.