America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 260 259. It’s better to burn than to linger

At the Arclight Cinema, as the lights went out, movies such as "Million Dollar Baby," "The Polar Express" and "The Merry Men" opened at the same time.

The main show tonight is obviously the competition between MGM and Warner, but Paramount, Universal and other companies are also involved in showing their own movies.

However, they are generally not A-level major productions, because the current market environment does not allow for three A-level major productions to be released on the same day at the same time.

Although Disney and Warner really want to swoop in and take down MGM, weaker companies such as Paramount, Fox, and Universal still have to consider their own revenue.

So their current strategy is to attack MGM with a blockbuster every week. This week is "The Polar Express," next week it's Fox's disaster masterpiece "The Day After Tomorrow," and the next week it's Universal's sci-fi action blockbuster "Star II."

I compete with you on a big production every week, and the audience will naturally choose newer works that are more fresh. Three weeks is enough to kill MGM movies, not to mention the investment in "Million Dollar Baby" was only 30 million US dollars.

From the perspective of investment, publicity, cast, genre, etc., there is no reason for sports-themed movies to win, even with the support of Clint Eastwood, a veteran.

No matter how awesome you are, you are still an old guy. Most of the people who watch movies now are young people. After all, real movie lovers are in the minority. Most viewers will just follow their feelings. They have not experienced the era of western movies, not you. A fan of this old man.

Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank?

Haha, how many young people can be attracted to a movie theater by a thousand-year-old green leaf and a female star who is good at acting but not really beautiful?

"We will definitely win!"

To Eric's right, Nicole squeezed his hand and whispered.

"Of course I will win!"

Ouch.

After the roar of the lion's head, the movie officially begins.

As a sports-themed movie, the plot of "Million Dollar Baby" is not complicated, but it is profound enough, and it also breaks away from the traditional routines of ordinary commercial movies.

"People love violence!"

"When they pass the scene of a car accident, they will slow down to see what the body looks like."

"This group of people likes violence, and they also say they like boxing."

"But they have no idea what boxing really is!"

"It's about human dignity. You win your own dignity while depriving your opponent of their dignity."

At the beginning of the movie, under Morgan Freeman's deep narration, a fierce duel is taking place in the boxing ring under an overhead camera.

Finally, when he finished reading the last sentence, the game was decided.

Morgan Freeman is nicknamed the man with the voice closest to God, so many movies like to have him read narrations or even play God directly.

This game showed the rich coaching experience of Frankie Dunn, the male protagonist played by Uncle Dongmu. He played a vital role in the apprentice's ability to win the game.

After the game, Maggie, the heroine played by Hilary Swank, also appeared. She is a 31-year-old woman.

She started working at the age of 13 and is still serving as a waitress in a restaurant today. However, she has her own dream, which is to stand in the boxing ring and win the gold belt.

For this reason, she secretly packed up the leftover meat from the guests and ate it for nutritional supplements. After being discovered, she could only say in embarrassment that she took it home to feed the dog, not knowing that she was the dog.

After seeing Frankie on TV, Maggie thought this old coach could help her become a real boxer, so she came for help.

"Coach Frankie, I'm Maggie. I'm a boxer. I fought in amateur matches and won. Have you seen it?"

But Frankie just left without looking: "Miss, do I owe you money?"

"No!" Maggie hurriedly caught up.

"Did I have an affair with your mother?"

"Huh? I hope so, then you should train me."

"What?"

"I want you to be my coach, train me, and make me a professional boxer!" Maggie said with anticipation.

Frankie snorted and said with some disdain: "I don't take girls with me."

"Maybe you should watch my fights. I punch very hard, everyone says so."

"Girl, punching hard is not enough!"

With a conclusion, Frankie ignored Maggie and left with his lover.

The next day, in Frankie's old boxing gym, the camera showed a young man played by Jay Baruchel.

He was full of enthusiasm for boxing, pumping his fists quickly and shouting excitedly: "I am Boxer Butch, nicknamed Danger Kid, and I will become the lightweight champion!"

But then he was beaten violently by Anthony McCann's guest character, and his heart was instantly flattened, and he ran away crying.

On the other hand, Maggie, in order to gain Frankie's recognition, used her saved salary to pay half a year's tuition and practiced alone in the boxing gym. Her lonely figure attracted the attention of Frankie and Eddie, played by Morgan Freeman.

But an expert can tell at a casual glance that Maggie has not received any professional training, and her so-called fierceness can only be regarded as an innate intuitive reaction.

But Frankie's current attention is on his most popular disciple, and he is bored to death by Maggie.

On the contrary, Eddie, who was also a boxer, saw from Maggie the excellent quality of perseverance for dreams.

At this point, the movie has been going on for 20 minutes. It can be said that the plot is uneventful, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is very cliché.

Due to the bland plot, even the three great actors with superb acting skills have no chance to show their skills, and they can't show off their acting skills even if they want to.

In the audience, many people's attention has begun to drift away, and several spies sent by the six majors can't help but laugh in their hearts.

"Hehe. It seems that the boss is overthinking. This is a mediocre movie no matter how you look at it. At least there is no highlight at present."

"It's too cliché, the script is too cliché. I can already imagine the development later. It must be that Frankie trains Maggie to win the championship, and then it ends successfully."

"I think that's probably it. It's a pity that Rocky has played this set too much. It can't be reproduced casually by changing gender."

"Send a text message and tell the boss not to worry. "The Polar Express" will win."

"Wait, don't worry, or watch it again, just in case."

On the big screen, Frankie and Eddie quarreled due to the betrayal of his favorite disciple.

"I trained him for eight years, eight whole years, but he switched to someone else!"

"Frankie, that's because you're blocking him. Willy's strength is enough to challenge the boxing champion, but you made him wait again and again. He had this strength two years ago. To be honest, I'm surprised that he can wait for you for two years."

"I just want him to be more stable. I'm protecting him, not like you did back then, and finally got blinded in one eye!"

"But at least I tried, I went on stage!"

Finally, more than half an hour into the movie, Frankie began to train Maggie.

In the process of the two people's contact, Frankie's past was slowly revealed. He had a daughter as old as Maggie, but because of Frankie's problems, the relationship between father and daughter was very bad. He wrote countless letters, but they were returned by his daughter every time.

Seeing this scene, many people sighed again. It was still a clichéd plot.

After several months of training, Maggie ushered in actual combat. Hilary Swank's three months of training were not in vain, and all kinds of movements were in good shape.

Eric gave Swank, who was sitting across from him, a thumbs-up, praising her professionalism. He couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by "Sweet Blow".

Maggie is an explosive player, and she is indeed talented. She often knocks out her opponents with silky combos.

She fought in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle, and won 12 consecutive victories in one go. There were finally cheers in the cinema.

This is the plot that the audience likes to watch. Everyone hopes that the protagonist will win, and they hope to see the protagonist beat the opponent with a punch. The sense of satisfaction finally came.

Seeing the audience's reaction, Gadot, Charlize Theron and other women finally breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, they also felt that the movie was not worth watching and was a bit too boring.

But their men made such a big scene today. If the movie is really mediocre, I'm afraid it will be embarrassing.

At this time, Hilary Swank finally had a chance to show her acting skills.

Maggie's nose was broken by a punch from her opponent. The crisp click and blood immediately made many viewers frown.

But Maggie didn't want to give up the game, so she asked Frankie to forcefully break her nose.

Unable to resist Maggie's pleading, Frankie stuffed a towel into Maggie's mouth and performed a trick. The pain of the process was perfectly shown by Hilary Swank. Everyone watching couldn't help but stand on end, as if their nose was broken.

"Take a deep breath!"

"What?"

"Suck the blood back! You must knock down your opponent within 20 seconds!"

With the belief that she must win, Maggie endured the severe pain and burst out. At the moment of knocking down her opponent, many viewers relaxed.

Then Maggie prepared to go to Europe for the competition. Frankie customized a cloak for her with a Gaulish word on it - Mokushile!

Maggie lived up to expectations and defeated her opponent again. The heroine activated the plug-in, and the movie seemed to suddenly enter the cool movie mode.

She took Frankie to the restaurant where she and her father had eaten together in childhood, symbolizing the father-daughter friendship between the two.

On the other hand, Maggie's family are all vampires. They spend the money she earns from boxing without any gratitude, which highlights the preciousness of their relationship.

90 minutes into the movie, the heroine also ushered in the championship challenge.

The audience was eager to try, and some were looking forward to the next big battle. The half-hour boxing match must be very interesting.

The opponent of Maggie is the professional boxer Lucia Ricole invited by the crew. She is a real boxer, at the level of a boxing champion.

She has 36 wins in 37 games in her career and is called the female version of Tyson. She has a muscular body and a fierce and sharp fighting style.

After the game started, Maggie was suppressed and beaten. The audience was a little anxious, but it didn't matter, because everyone knew that she would soon beat her opponent, like Rocky.

The plot really developed as the audience expected. Under the guidance of Frankie, Maggie seized the opponent's weakness and punched wildly, leaving the opponent without any chance to fight back.

"Yeah!"

"That's it!"

Many viewers shouted excitedly, and then hurriedly shut up and concentrated on watching the movie.

But just when the audience thought that Maggie would take advantage of the victory and completely defeat her opponent to win the gold belt.

The opponent suddenly attacked from behind and knocked Maggie down with one punch. Her head was hit again and she fainted on the ring.

Then the scene changed, and Maggie was lying on the hospital bed, paralyzed from the waist down, and her life was over.

At this moment, not only the audience on the screen was silent for an instant, but the audience outside the screen was also silent.

What does it mean? This plot is wrong, isn't it?

Why don't you play according to the routine?

Shouldn't it be the heroine who wins the gold belt? What the hell is being beaten to paralysis?

"I understand, the heroine must have stood up again through hard work, and then staged a battle of revenge!" Some viewers thought.

But look at the time, there are less than twenty minutes left. Isn’t it a little short?

"I think this one should end when Maggie stands up, and then the sequel, the battle of revenge, will be made. That's definitely the case."

"Haha. If the movie is shot like this, do you think there is still room for survival at the box office?"

"That's right, it won't work anymore. I don't understand what the director wants to do."

Nicole frowned, feeling something was wrong, and suddenly felt a sense of crisis that didn't come.

On the big screen, Maggie's muscles began to disappear after being unable to move for a long time, her body began to atrophy, and bedsores developed under her arms.

This scene is a bit disgusting to watch. Thinking about the heroine who was so energetic just now, I can't help but feel worried.

Frankie went to the best doctors, went to church and prayed, tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked.

It wasn't until the heroine's leg was amputated due to necrosis that the audience finally gave up their fantasy and everyone knew that Maggie really couldn't stand up.

The blow of reality made Maggie want to seek relief. Instead of dying on her knees, it would be better to live standing!

She bit her tongue and committed suicide, but was discovered by the doctor who sewed up the wound. Frankie also understood that this woman did not want to spend her life in a hospital bed.

This plot once again allowed Hilary Swank's acting skills to be fully demonstrated. The grief, despair, unwillingness, and stubbornness towards death were all expressed on her face.

"I can't go on like this. I've experienced everything in life and seen the world."

"People were chanting my name and they were cheering for me."

"I have never expected this to happen before. Rather than lingering, it is better to burn to the fullest."

"Frankie, I don't want to make you do this, but I got everything I wanted."

"I don't want to have my dignity taken away from me!"

In front of the hospital bed, the two had a heart-to-heart talk.

Frankie also said what Mokushler meant - my true love, my flesh and blood!

At this moment, many viewers felt their hearts were hit hard and their eyes couldn't help but heat up.

Knowing what Mokushler represented, Maggie's last wish was fulfilled and tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

After kissing each other gently on the cheek, Frankie stopped Maggie's ventilator, injected her with medicine, and sent her away from the world with her own hands.

After sending Maggie away, Frankie himself disappeared without a trace, and no one saw this old figure again.

Eddie stayed at the boxing gym, waiting for his friend to come back, although he didn't know whether Frankie would come back or have died somewhere.

Just when many spectators were feeling uncomfortable, the door of the boxing gym was pushed open.

The dangerous boy who left earlier is back.

"Sir, I think you are right. Everyone will experience failure, but I still want to win the gold belt."

"Then go train. You've been idle for a while."

"I'm Butch the Boxer, nicknamed Danger Kid, and I'll be the lightweight champion!"

Ultimately, the film seems to end with renewed hope.

Wow.

bang bang bang bang

When the lights came back on, the audience spontaneously applauded.

Looking at Hillary Swank who came on stage to thank her, Nicole applauded and sighed.

"Eric, I suddenly felt a little worried just now, and now I understand why."

"Um?"

"She will be a strong competitor for next year's Oscars."