Chapter 264 259 Rather than Lingering on, It Is Better to Burn Out

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 today she is still serving as a waitress in a restaurant, but 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 guy 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 annoyed to death by Maggie.

On the contrary, Eddie, who was also a boxer, saw from Maggie the excellent quality of persevering for his 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. Unfortunately, this set of Rocky has been played out. 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, 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, and the opponent had no power 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, but also the audience outside the screen.

What does it mean? This plot is wrong.

Why not play by the rules?

Shouldn't the heroine win the gold belt? What the hell is being beaten into paralysis?

"I understand, it must be that the heroine stands up again through hard work, and then staged a revenge battle!" Some viewers imagined.

But look at the time, there are less than 20 minutes left, isn't it a bit short?

"I think this part should end when Maggie stands up, and then shoot a sequel of revenge battle, it must be like this."

"Hehe. If the movie is shot like this, do you think the box office will still have a chance?"

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

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

On the big screen, Maggie's muscles began to disappear due to long-term inability to move, her body began to shrink, and bedsores grew under her arms.

This scene makes people feel a little sick. Thinking about the heroine who was full of energy just now, I can't help but feel distressed.

Frankie went to find the best doctor, went to the church to pray, and tried everything he could think of, but it didn't work.

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

The blow of reality made Maggie want to seek relief. It's better to live standing up than to die on her knees!

She bit her tongue to commit suicide, but the doctor found it and sutured the wound. Frankie also understood that this woman didn't want to spend her life in bed.

This plot once again showed Hilary Swank's acting skills vividly. The grief, despair, unwillingness, and stubbornness of living to death were all expressed on her face.

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

"People are calling my name, they're cheering for me."

"I never expected this to happen before. It's better to burn out than to linger on."

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

"I don't want my dignity to be taken away!"

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

Frankie also said what Mokushile meant - my beloved, my flesh and blood!

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

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

After gently kissing each other's cheeks, Frankie stopped Maggie's ventilator, injected her with drugs, and personally sent her away from the world.

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

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

Just when many viewers were upset, the door of the gym was pushed open.

The dangerous boy who left at the beginning came back.

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

"Then go to training. You have been idle for a while."

"I am the boxer Bucky, nicknamed Dangerous Boy, and I will become the lightweight champion!"

In the end, the movie seemed to end with renewed hope.

Wow.

Clap, clap, clap

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

Looking at Hilary 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."

"Huh?"

"She will be a strong competitor at the Oscars next year."