In recent years, crime suspense genre dramas have been boundless.
Almost all of the popular top Chinese dramas are of this genre, "Hurricane", "The Long Season", "I Am a Criminal Policeman" and so on. And the top actors of the Mesozoic Generation, who once dominated the big screen, have also "gone to the sea" and become policemen or criminals in the play.
As soon as Guo Jingfei's "Yellow Sparrow" was broadcast, Wang Baoqiang's "Chess Warrior" was connected, followed by Duan Yihong's "Sandstorm".
It stands to reason that it is rare for a single type of drama to storm the city and land in the market.
But why are there so many excellent actors in suspenseful crime dramas?
This question has been pondered for a long time.
It wasn't until I watched "Chessman" and "Sandstorm" that I realized that the answer was hidden in the play.
In the past few days, it has been on the hot search one after another, it is Wang Baoqiang's acting skills.
I have to say that in terms of performance, Wang Baoqiang really didn't say it.
In "Chess Warrior", he plays an honest Go teacher Cui Ye, an ordinary person who is cornered by life and blackened.
After 12 years away from the small screen, Wang Baoqiang returned this time, and also chose a crime suspense drama, and played the villain in the play.
In addition to "Hurricane", the villain is the male lead, and there are not many dramas that can be broadcast on CCTV, which also proves from the side that Yang Ma recognizes the quality of Wang Baoqiang's new drama.
In the play, Wang Baoqiang's performance is excellent, and there are two scenes, which make people tremble.
One, spitting at himself in the mirror, Cui Ye, who was still an honest man in front, had sharp eyes at this time, and he was a cold-blooded bandit.
The other is the confrontation with his brother Cui Wei at the police station, the brother who has always been strong is righteous and strict, and the honest brother is also full of tension.
The performance and quality have pushed "Chessman" to the top, and the ratings are rising day by day, basically locking in the hottest crime suspense drama at the beginning of the year.
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"Chess Warrior" is not over yet, Duan Yihong's "Sandstorm" has been launched, which is quite a bit of a duet in the air.
is different from Wang Baoqiang, Duan Yihong played the role of criminal policeman Chen Jianghe in "Sandstorm".
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Duan Yihong has created nearly 10 police images so far, although the most impressive police image for him is Yi Gu Chun in "Scorching Sun".
But in comparison, Chen Jianghe has more criminal police demeanor, more experience, and looks more aura.
Duan Yihong has completely turned himself into a man in the northwest, especially the "plateau red" in the strong wind, which gives people a rather real sense of immersion, which seems to bring the audience into the suspenseful desert of the west.
In the past two years, Guo Jingfei has appeared in four crime suspense dramas, but coincidentally, they all chose to play the role of a police officer in crime suspense dramas.
In addition to the anti-pickpocketing policeman Guo Pengfei in the just-finished "Yellow Sparrow", the upcoming "Imperative" also has the criminal policeman Luo Weimin played by him.
Before this, Guo Jingfei had already played the policemen Chang Sheng and Peng Zhaolin in "Station" and "Bleach".
Guo Jingfei's portrayal of the police is better than the "blessing of details", and every police image he plays has various details to help shape the character characteristics.
It's just that the image of four policemen in two years has basically made Guo Jingfei's acting path relatively fixed.
That's not all, those top male stars of the Mesozoic Era who used to dominate the big screen are now playing police roles in crime suspense dramas.
53-year-old Yu Hewei, last year's "I Am a Criminal Policeman" became popular all over the country.
46-year-old Qin Hao, in the drama version of "The Three Teams", also had an addiction.
47-year-old Zhang Yi, An Xin in "Hurricane", Wei Guoping in "Who is He", Cheng Bing in "Three Teams", and Lei Xu in "The Prosecutor of the Nine Divisions" have almost made him a "police professional".
There are also 54-year-old Wang Jingchun ("Police Story"), 0-year-old Chen Minghao ("Chessman", "The Long Season"), 0-year-old Liao Fan ("The Silent Truth"), 0-year-old Chen Jianbin ("Black Soil Without Words"......
These actors are not general, they are recognized acting schools, almost everyone has the level of an actor, and there is no shortage of roles and works. Why did they crowd into the "crime suspense drama" track?
First of all, there is the type of bonus that is suspected of being the subject of crime.
As a very mature genre work, suspense crime drama has a relatively fixed narrative structure and character settings. This kind of genre creation not only has high reproducibility, but also forms a fixed audience and reduces market risk.
For actors, joining such a relatively stable creative system can obtain more stable career development and exposure opportunities.
At the same time, the suspenseful crime genre also allows creators to innovate and break through within the framework of the genre. From the twin identity replacement of "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", to the alternate world setting of "Once Upon a Time by the Water", to the narrative strategy of "The Long Season" that integrates the changes of the times, etc.
We will find that suspenseful crime is no longer a single crime, it can be integrated with plot, narrative, era, history and other genres.
These innovations also provide actors with more diverse performance space and challenges, and they are also the key to the fact that this type of drama is easy to produce good characters and characters.
In recent years, the aesthetic level of the audience has been greatly improved.
The audience began to pursue more in-depth and closer to reality of Chinese drama works.
This preference coincides with suspenseful crime dramas.
We know that most suspenseful crime dramas have the shadow of real crimes in them.
For example: "White Silver Case" in "Who Is He", "Zhou Kehua Case" in "I Am a Criminal Policeman" and so on.
These plots are tense and exciting, the characters are complex and three-dimensional, and they have a reflective effect on social reality, which just meets the audience's "hardcore" aesthetic needs.
Top actors joining this genre can not only get more attention, but also gain waves of positive traffic.
Secondly, it is the difficulty of the transformation of middle-aged actors.
It is said that it is difficult for actresses to transform when they are older, but in fact, for male actors, the situation is almost the same.
When you are young, with your looks, you can play any role in any type of film and television work. But when you are over 45 years old and enter the middle-aged and elderly stage, the role is basically fixed.
Acting young people are sprayed to "pretend to be tender", acting bully is always sprayed with "greasy", older male stars of the Mesozoic Generation, the choice is actually very narrow.
And the suspense crime drama just fits the performance needs of these actors.
For example, experienced criminal police characters usually need to have complex psychological states and behavioral logic, they must not only show professional professionalism and calmness, but also show emotional fluctuations and human struggles in the face of crime.
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This kind of role setting requires a certain age and experience to be better interpreted, which also provides the best transformation plan for older male stars who are in the throes of transformation.
Like Yu Hewei showed in "I Am a Criminal Policeman", the process from a young policeman to a seasoned leader. There are also Guo Jingfei, Zhang Yi, Duan Yihong, etc., in different dramas, the differentiated shaping of various police roles.
It can be said that in crime suspense dramas, middle-aged actors have found a position that suits them, with eye bags, wrinkles, rough skin, and middle-aged state, all of which have become the blessings of favorable roles.
Through these roles, middle-aged actors are able to break free from the shackles of their previous images and show a more comprehensive, complex, and professional level of acting.
This provides an ideal development path for powerful actors who are facing age anxiety, and also reflects the all-round test of actors' performance ability and experience in suspense crime dramas.
The maturity of the characters corresponds to the actual age of the actors, allowing them to naturally integrate their life experiences into the performance, forming a positive interaction between age and the role.
And this professional path not only prolongs their career life cycle, but also injects more new possibilities into the continued creation of such themes.
Finally, I have to mention the creative ecology.
As a special narrative method, the crime suspense theme can reflect various problems in social reality in a mirror way without directly touching on sensitive topics.
For example, "I Am a Criminal Policeman" shows the improvement of the police force's ability to solve cases through the advancement of criminal investigation technology.
This kind of mirror expression provides creators with more creative space and achieves a balance between entertainment and criticism.
And this genre itself has a certain mystery and curiosity, and to a certain extent, it has a natural attraction to the audience.
But we can also note that although the suspense crime theme touches on the dark side of society, it is an eternal theme that evil does not prevail over good, the supremacy of law, the combination of human feelings and legal principles, the protection of the weak by the law, and the pursuit of justice and equality.
This kind of intrinsic value orientation, which is both ornamental and educational, makes suspense crime dramas an ideal carrier for the flexible penetration of "justice".
For actors, acting in such works can not only meet the needs of the market and the audience, but also fit the mainstream concepts, achieve a balance between artistic expression and social responsibility, and provide them with a safer creative environment and a broader space for development.
Top actors have starred in suspense crime dramas, and it is no accident that the market has followed suit.
To some extent, this is not only the result of personal career choices, but also the epitome of the film and television industry's search for breakthroughs.
Through these high-quality crime-themed works, we have seen the transformation of TV dramas from genre to diversification, from single entertainment to social thinking.
The "breaking the circle" of top actors is not only reflected in the wide recognition and social influence of these roles, but also in the new ideas and new possibilities they bring to the film and television industry.
These innovative attempts are expanding the performance boundaries of suspense crime dramas and providing new ideas for the film and television industry.
At the same time, this trend also reflects the maturity of the national drama market and the improvement of the audience's aesthetics.
When the suspension drama is no longer the mainstream of the small screen, when the dermabrasion filter and the makeup of the spicy eye no longer occupy the eyes of the public.
In the process of change, top actors are rewriting the rules of the game in the entertainment industry, and they are no longer just traffic symbols, but have become an important force to promote the development of the industry.
Through their superb performances and deep understanding of the roles, they have not only won the recognition of the audience, but also used their acting skills and experience to set a new benchmark for the creation of Chinese dramas and accumulate new experience.
Although the actors "involuted" crime suspense dramas, it is not what we want to see.
But it is undeniable that almost all the boutiques burst out in the fierce competition.
Mr. Tomato believes that in the foreseeable future, the combination of top actors and crime suspense dramas will continue to shine.
While bringing more high-quality works to the audience, it is also contributing to the development of the national drama market.
Source: Movie Rotten Tomatoes