Chinese Rally Racing Movie Series Could be FunChina Media Capital (China Media Capital)I first heard of the Pegasus movie franchise in the International Daily, a semi-propaganda advertising supplement to the LA Times that extols the virtues of China and all its glories, from new shipping ports to more pandas. The Daily said the guy in the movie was like the Chinese Vin Diesel and that the series of videos was like the Chinese Fast & Furious.Like many items in the International Daily, that might have been exaggerated. (Yes, it’s true that we don’t have to review every movie ever made about cars or racing, but here we go again.)China Media Capital (China Media Capital)As near as I can tell, there are three movies in the series, each available on YouTube. Pegasus is the first one, all about rally racer Zhang Chi, who pilots a Volkswagen up the very dangerous Bayinbuluk mountain course. One wrong turn and you plunge to certain death. The cars look correct, with real rally looking shifters, seats, tires, etc. Even the driving looks accurately portrayed as real rally driving. But maybe it’s all CGI. And the finish of the first video makes no sense, seemingly showing Chi driving off a cliff that looks to be about a mile or so high.AdvertisementAdvertisementYet there he is again in Pegasus 2, washed up and wondering what he’s going to do next. He is teaching in a regular old driving school.“You want the race car driver to teach you,” he says on the phone to a potential customer, “That will cost more.” Then an unlikely savior in the form of an industrialist who makes knock-off copies of cars—there’s an Audi with five rings on the grille—steps in to offer him a full ride.Consider the YouTube summation of Pegasus 2:Five years ago, at the Bayinbuluk track, legendary racer Zhang Chi (played by Shen Teng) gave it his all in a dramatic bid for victory. While he won the race, he lost everything else. Due to a missing lead seal, his results were disqualified by the committee. Struggling to make ends meet, he opened a driving school, only to face online harassment and fall into obscurity and poverty.One fateful day, a phone call reignites his passion for racing. The director of a struggling electric car factory, an avid fan of Zhang Chi (played by Jia Bing), offers sponsorship for Zhang's team to compete in the final Bayinbuluk race. Among the factory’s employees is the exceptionally talented Li Xiaohai (played by Fan Chengcheng), who shows immense promise. Under the guidance of Zhang Chi, veteran racer Sun Yuqiang (played by Yin Zheng), strategist Ji Xing (played by Zhang Benyu), and perpetual rookie driving school trainee Liu Xiande (played by Sun Yizhou), Xiaohai grows rapidly as a racer. However, the path to victory is fraught with hardships and challenges. Some dream too big, while others are weighed down by stark realities. The road to triumph is never easy.Will he make a comeback? Like the International Daily, it looks optimistic.Do you want to spend several hours of your precious workday—when you should be working—watching this? Maybe you do, it’s not that bad. There are logic and reality gaps that we wouldn’t find acceptable, but maybe Chinese audiences don’t mind. And especially if you speak Chinese, it’s a lot easier to follow.China Media Capital (China Media Capital)AdvertisementAdvertisementIf you can figure out what’s going on, let me know. My Chinese neighbor figured out how to turn on the English subtitles for me, and I was reading them as fast as I could, but none of the movie made complete logical sense. So in that regard, it is like Fast & Furious.The Chinese-language YouTube comments, translated by Google, offer another perspective:“No fancy cars, no beautiful women, no crime, no riches, just passion and humor,” wrote @jianfengchen6256.“I can confidently say that these two movies are the best Chinese racing films I’ve ever seen,” raved @aliengaming558 11 months ago.“Nice,” said @jianmingtan1090 one year ago.AdvertisementAdvertisementMaybe Pegasus 3 will be better. Fast & Furious 3 was better, wasn’t it?For now, Yīlù shùnfēng!*Literally “May the wind be with you all the way,” commonly used as “have a safe trip” or “bon voyage.”
