"Flying Life 3" is undoubtedly the box office champion of the Spring Festival season, likely surpassing 4 billion yuan, and may even exceed the total of other New Year films. With good luck, reaching 5 billion is also normal. The later it gets, the higher the proportion will be, as word-of-mouth takes time to spread. Han Han + Shen Teng are virtually unbeatable under the "adult fairy tale" logic.

Shen Teng embodies the temperament of the male protagonist in Han Han's novels: both gloomy and passionate, boring yet powerful, down-and-out yet dignified. Zhang Chi is his best role — a fallen king, the comedy king of the new era. You might believe this face could be down and out, or could return to the throne. It resonates with Stephen Chow's core but is more "healthy" psychologically, with more everyday internal struggles. There are always people you can't let go of, and you still sing "Today only a residual shell, welcoming the glorious years."
Script structure: Reconciles with opponents from the previous two films, shifting the dramatic conflict to confrontation with the system (downplayed as "business operations"), maintaining the tension of East-West opposition to evoke emotions. The truest opponent is the one who understands you best — I like this reconciliation setup. But after "again and again, repeatedly, exhausted," it's hard to believe in the ideal three times over, and by 2026, tolerance for overly energetic storytelling will have reached its limit.
Han Han realizes the repetition and powerlessness, presenting a contradictory state: on one hand, trying to make the story more plausible by adding AI and autonomous driving concepts, extending the runtime to 126 minutes; on the other hand, consciously cutting redundant dialogue scenes, with obvious trims in Sha Yi and Yan Hong's garage conversations and rollover tests, revealing story fragmentation that can't be hidden.
The highlights are concentrated in the last 50-minute finale. Tire-changing tactics, engine hood rescue, tactical battles, and near-miss sprints are shot with great tension. Clearly inspired by last year's "F1" filming style: not just aiming for "looks very fast," but emphasizing the subjective perspective inside the car and the spatial relationship with the track environment — bumps, vibrations, scenery flow, wheel-to-wheel battles — closer to the real feeling of a race.
The story is overextended, and technology is upgrading — this is almost a commentary on current Chinese commercial films: industrial foundations are becoming more solid, but storytelling is becoming more outdated. "Flying Life 3" is not a peak but more like a critical point. Han Han is more experienced, but it's time to change tracks. Every adult needs fairy tales, but after telling the same fairy tale three times, it's time for a new story.