Chapter 93: Ripples

The Swordsman premiered in theaters nationwide on Friday. Within 24 hours of its release, the film dominated trending topics with related keywords. However, on major film forums, complaints about the movie had already flooded in.

The earliest comment came from a user who rarely posted but frequented film forums:

[So… did anyone actually understand The Swordsman?]

[I had plans in the afternoon, so I made an effort to catch the earliest showing in the morning. I sat through 144 minutes in the theater and still have no clue what the film was trying to say.]

The timing of the post was so early that initially, few people responded. It wasn’t until someone chimed in with a sarcastic reply—“Another anti-fan disguised as a critic”—that the thread began to heat up.

[If you can’t stand Zhang Che starring in a famous director’s film, just say it. The jealousy is practically dripping off you. Sorry, but Zhang Che is just that popular. Does it hurt to admit it?]

[The movie hasn’t even been out that long, yet there are already so many hate posts. Seriously? OP, can you at least post some evidence before throwing shade?]

The original poster had simply wanted to discuss the plot of The Swordsman because she genuinely didn’t understand it. But once she was labeled as an “anti-Zhang Che troll,” the thread quickly devolved. Within less than 30 minutes, the post had garnered hundreds of replies, with most people piling on to attack her.

What had started as an ordinary thread was soon pushed to the front page and marked as “hot.”

[The visuals in The Swordsman are stunning. The philosophical depth of the film is naturally beyond the grasp of ordinary people. If you lack the refinement to understand it, fine, but judging it as a bad movie just because you don’t get it is incredibly arrogant.]

[+1.]

[Unlike fast-food-style movies, The Swordsman has a deeper core. I think what the industry lacks today are films like this. Our tastes have been manipulated by fast-food films. Reflect on yourself first.]

Replies criticizing the original poster kept flooding in. Some attacked her taste, others accused her of being a paid troll targeting The Swordsman. Eventually, the original poster didn’t dare respond anymore, but the personal attacks against her only grew more intense.

However, once the thread reached “hot” status and floated on the homepage, a new user revived it with multiple replies:

[Zhang Che, use your main account to post, will you?!]

[No matter what anyone says today, to me, The Swordsman is trash!]

[Trash!]

[Trash Swordsman, Swordsman Trash, trash, trash, trash, trash, trash!]

As if the repetitive homophone puns weren’t enough, when this user discovered the forum supported emojis, they began spamming with an overwhelming number of 💩 emojis. On one level alone, they posted a hundred poop emojis, completely rewriting the thread’s atmosphere.

From that point on, any user who even hinted at being a “neutral bystander, just defending Zhang Che against unfair criticism” found their replies buried under a relentless barrage of 💩 emojis.

[I paid money to watch trash. Who understands my anger?]

[Did Zhang Zhizhen direct this movie using his brain? Or was he using something below his waist? What kind of artistic exhibitionist nonsense is this—trash!]

[Refund me! Compensate me for my precious time!]

[I’m definitely not wrong. Search the keyword ‘trash’ or ‘💩’ on Weibo, and all the real-time results are about The Swordsman.]

[OP, it’s perfectly normal you couldn’t understand the film—because you’re human, not a beast.]

[Zhang Zhizhen should just retire. Watching the final cut of this film, doesn’t he feel embarrassed? And now he wants to enter it into international film festivals? What, does he aim to spread this garbage worldwide so no one is spared?]

[Haha, well said! The plot of The Swordsman—what does it have to do with the word swordsman at all? Honestly, even if The Swordsman is already trash, I still don’t get the purpose of Zhang Che’s character in the film. He’s like a fly circling the trash. His presence doesn’t matter; the film is no better with or without him. What a joke!]

[The adopted daughter really got the short end of the stick. How did she end up with such a crazy old man as the protagonist?]

[…Is The Swordsman really that bad? I was planning to buy a ticket.]

[Don’t even think about it! Spend that money on a nice bubble tea instead.]

Although Zhang Che’s fans were notoriously fierce, and their relentless attacks had silenced the original poster, once the angry netizen chimed in, the thread was quickly overtaken by comments from The Swordsman’s “victims.”

Perhaps the fans’ bullying of the original poster had sparked public outrage. After that, the film forum’s homepage became flooded with post after post about The Swordsman. Without exception, they all tore into the film, unanimously condemning it as an utter failure.

Marketing accounts, known for reposting content from film forums, quickly capitalized on the buzz. By evening, after an eventful afternoon, they began transferring discussions from forums directly to their homepages.

“Is The Swordsman really that bad?”

Initially, the comment sections were filled with Zhang Che’s fans attempting to control the narrative. They argued that since this was Zhang Che’s first appearance in a film, especially one by a famous director, it was only natural for rival fandoms and trolls to target him. But gradually, even his fans couldn’t hold the line.

[…Surely Zhang Che’s fans don’t actually think his performance in The Swordsman was satisfying?]

[Over two hours long, and did Zhang Che even get 20 minutes of screen time?]

[The Swordsman being terrible isn’t an opinion; it’s a fact. It spends two hours spewing useless nonsense. The protagonist Lei Xiao feels like an old zombie buried underground for decades—completely decayed. I can’t comprehend the point of such a character.]

As marketing accounts continued to repost harsh criticisms of The Swordsman, the one-word review from the film critic—”trash”—skyrocketed to the top of trending topics.

Thus, The Swordsman became synonymous with “trash” and “rotten.”

Some even joked that the movie itself seemed to reek, exuding an overpowering stench of “old-man odor.”

When the production team of The Swordsman realized what was happening, it was already too late to reverse the situation.

There was, however, a blogger who humbly analyzed the entire film and pointed out a few aspects that were somewhat passable. But for an audience accustomed to being spoiled by masterpieces, these redeeming qualities were barely better than nothing.

What’s more, the number of people criticizing The Swordsman far outweighed those praising it. While Zhang Che’s fans were frantically trying to salvage his reputation, even they weren’t satisfied with the film.

Zhang Che’s screen time in the movie was pitifully small, and the only moment that could be considered a highlight was the fleeting shot featured in the trailer.

Who could have predicted that The Swordsman would turn out to be such a disaster?

The terms like “profound,” “philosophical,” “thought-provoking,” and “nuanced,” which fans were spreading everywhere to describe the film, were actually pre-written by influential fan accounts and distributed for them to post.

Truth be told, they didn’t understand what The Swordsman was trying to convey at all.

Some fans even vaguely felt that Zhang Che’s character was completely dispensable—his presence made no difference to the film. The movie didn’t give him many standout moments, and to be precise, his character didn’t serve any real purpose.

The problem, however, was this: before shooting began, director Zhang Zhizhen had placed so much emphasis on Zhang Che that he landed major magazine covers and secured an endorsement deal with M-brand.

His fans had been loudly proclaiming that Zhang Che had officially transitioned into the ranks of serious film actors. As a result, despite his role being a mere supporting character in the film, Zhang Che’s presence felt disproportionately significant, even overshadowing the protagonist, Wei Qiao.

Many people probably didn’t even realize that Wei Qiao was actually the protagonist of The Swordsman.

The film industry is no stranger to bad movies. Objectively speaking, out of the hundreds of films released each year, the number of true masterpieces could be counted on two hands. The majority are mediocre, unremarkable works, and, of course, there are always those films so atrocious that they make people suspect the production was just a money-laundering scheme.

Under the relentless onslaught of bad movies year after year, the audience’s tolerance had actually grown quite high.

Unless a film was so irredeemably bad that it would still be scorned a decade later, viewers would typically shrug it off.

Unfortunately, The Swordsman seemed to fall squarely into that category. In fact, one could say that it rescued several struggling film bloggers from the brink of unemployment. In an industry currently churning out mostly uninspired works, The Swordsman emerged as a rare gem of ridicule. On the night of its release, film bloggers created more jokes about it than those aired during a New Year’s Gala.

[Reading the jokes is more entertaining than watching the movie.]

[Haha, I’ve been following The Swordsman jokes all night. From this angle, Zhang Zhizhen has at least contributed to my happiness—this is hilarious!]

[…So there really aren’t any good movies this week? I was planning to go to the theater with friends tomorrow.]

[Actually, the other two new releases are pretty good. Although they’re by new directors, you can tell they put in a lot of effort. The actors were also very committed—way better than The Swordsman.]

[+1, +1! I don’t usually like wuxia, so I went to see a comedy instead. It exceeded expectations.]

In truth, the box office performance of The Swordsman on Friday wasn’t bad.

Theaters allocated plenty of screenings, and Zhang Che’s fans went all out, buying up pre-sale tickets in bulk. After the movie was released, they privately organized viewing groups to ensure Zhang Che’s first film would achieve good results.

Before word of mouth began to spread, The Swordsman had already surpassed 60 million yuan at the box office and secured the top spot on the daily charts, which gave Zhang Zhizhen some relief.

Although he was hailed as a “great director,” his box office performance had always been mediocre at best.

Zhang Zhizhen personally valued awards more, but in recent years, he had come to understand that box office success was an essential factor if he wanted to direct films as he pleased. Without strong box office numbers, investors wouldn’t put money into his projects, leaving his creative ideas unrealized—a vicious cycle in the making.

If The Swordsman performed well at the box office, it would prove that his decision to cast Zhang Che was the right one.

This wasn’t just Zhang Zhizhen being pragmatic; the entire film industry operated this way. No matter how prestigious his title of “great director” was, without solid results, no one would take him seriously.

Zhang Zhizhen did admit that the storyline of The Swordsman was somewhat obscure, but he firmly believed that true cinema lovers and those who understood film would grasp the ideas he sought to convey through this work.

He waited quietly for The Swordsman to cross the 100-million-yuan mark at the box office.

However, by the afternoon, the film’s reputation took a dramatic nosedive.

On film forums, marketing accounts on Weibo, and trending searches, it was plain to see—every post related to The Swordsman was inundated with negative reviews.

This must be the work of paid trolls! Anti-fans!

Outraged, Zhang Zhizhen posted five consecutive Weibo updates condemning these “malicious actors,” accusing them of “undermining the film market,” “stifling the healthy operation of the industry,” and damaging the market’s integrity.

He called on “true cinema lovers” not to be “misled” by the trolls’ rhetoric and encouraged them to visit theaters to experience the beauty of The Swordsman firsthand.

[Experience what? Garbage?]

No sooner had Zhang Zhizhen posted one of his updates, thinking he would finally gain the audience’s understanding, than the first comment on it turned out to be another scathing review.

This time, Zhang Zhizhen was truly enraged.

He immediately deleted the obviously premeditated negative comment.

But another comment promptly appeared: [The Swordsman’s beauty lies in the fact that no one else could possibly make something like it—it’s a masterpiece for the brain-dead and intellectually disabled, isn’t it?]

Zhang Zhizhen: “…”

He deleted that one too.

What Zhang Zhizhen hadn’t anticipated was that the more negative comments he deleted, the more they seemed to multiply. His account, which didn’t have many followers to begin with, typically only saw interactions from a few loyal fans and industry friends. Now, with an influx of harsh criticism, Zhang Zhizhen felt utterly humiliated.

[People who don’t understand art have no right to watch my films!]

In a moment of frustration, Zhang Zhizhen posted yet another Weibo update, his words growing significantly sharper.

This was like kicking a hornet’s nest.

Marketing accounts seized the opportunity, and hashtags like #Zhang Zhizhen Deletes Posts # and #Zhang Zhizhen Says People Who Don’t Understand Art Shouldn’t Watch His Films # quickly shot up the trending list.

After a full day of public backlash, The Swordsman had become infamous. Zhang Zhizhen’s series of posts only poured fuel on the fire. Even if there had been a slim chance of salvaging The Swordsman before, it was now completely impossible.

Not that The Swordsman was salvageable in the first place.

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