nan | 楠木

    又是一部全球同步上映的影片。下面请允许我一段英文、一段中文地谈谈这部电影。

    好吧，既然是同步上映，而且又是近期的影片，想必大家都有所了解，剧情就从简了（下面还会简单提一提的）。演员阵容并不能算强大，至少绝不是那种单单几个名字就可以吸引票房的阵容。Dennis Quaid，演了不少电影的家伙，Meg Ryan的前夫，除此之外大抵也没什么了似乎；Jake Gyllenhaal，虽然是挺受一些人追捧的年轻演员，但是名下的作品实在少了点；Emmy Rossum，86年出生的美女，在影片中她要做的就是摆出美丽的笑容或是楚楚动人的造型。配角里倒是有Ian Holm，呵呵看过指环王的应该都认出他了，Bilbo Baggins是也。

    Okay, enough with the cast, because the cast is the supporting role; the effects do the driving of this film. The plot is simple– earth is about to go into another ice-age, and go into it real fast– it’s only a matter of days and weeks! The climate changes so rapidly that all across the U.S. there’s chaos and havoc, and Jake and Emmy’s characters (Sam and Laura) are trapped in frozen manhattan. Sam’s father, Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), a noted scientist thus goes on a perilous snow-trek to save his son. There are several sideline issues accompanying this main line, but all of the story serves only one purpose– to put nature’s full fury on the screen and let the audience have a good time.

    情节和演员一样都是配角。《后天》里的不少情节设计，都偏于老套，如苏格兰的那几位科学家，静静地守完最后一班而从容地面对生死，像这样的安排恐怕每个灾难片都会有。还有雪地长征那段，为了不连累他人那个老者毅然牺牲了自己，这个设置单是在《垂直极限》一部电影里便出现过两次了（首尾呼应）。演员也没有多少发挥的空间，因为给他们的剧情实在是太刻板了。Emmy Rossum的角色就是花瓶；Jake Gyllenhaal和Dennis Quaid二人所必须营造出的父子的相互信任，以及一个父亲在关键时刻会信守诺言"I’ll be there"的安排，也已经是类似影片的保留曲目了。但是有赖于出色的剪辑，整部影片始终按照一个快节奏稳稳地推进，灾难的视觉效果配上这种快节奏给观众的压迫感足以弥补剧本的平庸了。这部影片，特效是主角，而且发挥的不错（毕竟单单是冰冻纽约已经值回票价了，还可以顺带看看龙卷风袭击L.A.），因此作为一部彻头彻尾的娱乐电影，《后天》显然是成功的。影片还有一些段子讥讽时事，如美国副总统在灾难开始前对京都议定书的轻蔑态度，还有后来美国难民大量涌入墨西哥这个辛辣的情节安排，不过这样的内容总体来说都只能算是“花絮”，影片的娱乐性显然是首位的。又或者，电影确然有教育世人的意思，但我想这又是我的自做多情了，大概任何一个编剧都懂得给影片主题来点升华。

    But I’m not criticizing the film. I had a great two hours in the theatre, and this is big screen entertainment (pure visual entertainment) at its luxurious extreme. Okay maybe I’m exaggerating but the film is a must-see, and you’ve got to see it in a good theatre, otherwise just checking out the dvd is not going to make you appreciate how entertaining this film can be. A nice summer blockbuster, which is especially cool and refreshing when you consider the heat outside… (Then again, this is still probably one of those films that everyone remembers in seconds, go see it, talk about it, then forget it just as fast… Remember Independence Day? How ironic, they are from the same director…)