nan | 楠木

《太平洋战争》(The Pacific)是HBO的10集短剧，以二战太平洋战场为题材，汤姆·汉克斯与斯皮尔伯格监制，无论形神都是《拯救大兵瑞恩》以及《兄弟连》的姊妹篇。或许有《兄弟连》（以及近10年来诸多二战题材的影视作品）在前，《太平洋战争》所塑造的场面以及探讨的主题观众并不陌生，也因此这部剧集倘若有所突破，那便是在人物描写上。

或许有些意外的是，《太平洋战争》的10集里面，固然不乏类似《拯救大兵瑞恩》片头30分钟那样标志性的战争场面，但总的说来剧集的节奏是被刻意放缓的。更多的场景是在描写困于丛林消耗战的士兵如何缓慢地、一步步地走向崩溃边缘─“日本鬼子”只是这场为生存而战的搏斗中的众多敌人之一，太平洋小岛的雨季、热带疾病、物资的匮乏等等都是巨大的障碍。缓慢的节奏让《太平洋战争》与同样描写太平洋战场的《细细红线》异曲同工，只不过与后者相比，《太平洋战争》里少了许多对自然与神灵的探讨。

就人物的塑造而言，《太平洋战争》的情节主要围绕三个真实人物─因在Guadacanal战役英勇表现而获得荣誉勋章的John Basilone；和平年代是记者的一等兵Robert Leckie；以及来自上流家庭的少年Eugene Sledge。后二人所著的关于太平洋战场的回忆录是剧集的重要素材，大概也因此他们成为剧集主要人物。与《兄弟连》相比，剧集对次要人物的描写要少很多，给人印象深刻的大约还有3-5人，也都是直接与三位主人公相关联（Basilone的妻子，Sledge的几个朋友等）。

三位主人公讲述了关于战争的三个侧面。Basilone的故事是典型的爱国英雄故事，他在Guadacanal一战成名，遂被调回美国，被当作推销战争国债的宣传工具，奔走于美国各地。他的生活犹如电影明星（剧集描写他如何与好莱坞女星有染），然而精神上他极度匮乏。他渴望回到战场，回到战友身边，军方却只让他当训练营的教官。在训练营他结识了自己后来的妻子，然而婚后不久他便再次投奔太平洋战场，并在硫黄岛战役冲锋时牺牲。“出师未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟。”这是观众最熟悉的题材，其核心价值是超越自身的牺牲精神（“不要问你的国家为你做了什么，而要问你为国家做了什么。”）；虽然并无新意，但是中规中矩，剧集在执行上也足够有感染力。

与Basilone相比，我对Leckie和Sledge的故事更感兴趣。Leckie所代表的是另一类战士─他忠于国家，但身上并没有英雄主义与巨大的使命感。作为一个知识分子（记者），他对战争有着理性的思考，并有着近似消极避世的心态─在战场上他最精心的工作似乎是他所维护的一个战地图书馆。他渴望和平年代，向往着爱情与家庭生活。剧集描述了他的两段感情─部队在澳大利亚休整时他与当地女孩的热恋，那位女孩最终因为看不到他回来的希望（战死，抑或回到美国而不是澳洲）而结束了这段感情；以及战争结束后他回到家乡，与他长期相识的邻家女孩的恋情。

Sledge的故事代表的则是对人性的反思以及少年在战火中的成长（套用越战电影《生于七月四日》的广告词，”a story of innocence lost and courage found”）。Sledge家境优裕，他的父亲试图以他有心颤为由阻止他应召入伍，然而Sledge一心想与伙伴Sidney一同奔赴战场，在耽搁了一段时间后还是成为了一名海军陆战队军人。战争的极端残酷摧残了他年少的心灵，Sledge一度变得极为暴虐（枪杀手无寸铁的日本士兵）。然而当他意识到自己下达的指令将一个日本婴儿变成了孤儿后，Sledge重新找到了自己的人性。在他此后的余生里，他将一直受到关于这场战争的噩梦的折磨。

剧集在架构上，主要以Guadacanal, Peleliu和Okinawa三场战役为背景。最后一集，讲述战事过后主人公们如何向和平生活转变，是画龙点睛之笔，感人至深（Basilone的妻子去首度拜访亡夫的父母；Leckie与邻家女孩相爱；Sledge回到家乡后却不能平静，深受心灵创伤的折磨）。

7/10

I’ve been doing some catching up regarding Heroes, the new (or quite new) sci-fi series from NBC. I’ve just finished Season 1, and now I’m on Season 2. Only a few episodes left before I’m up to date.

The whole Heroes universe is basically a mash-up (to use this popular word) of some very classic ideas. In essence, Heroes could be described as X-Men meets The X-Files meets Japanese Manga. There are people among us, “ordinary people”, who have extraordinary abilities — flying, healing, fire, ice, telekinesis etc. These people find themselves in a great struggle for survival, as there are darker forces trying to manipulate their lives and also the course of history. The conspiracy string in the story decidedly feels like The X-Files, whereas the general plot to stop a great catastrophe (only through the co-operation of a group of heroes) is undoubtedly X-Men-ish.

Each of the talented individuals has his/her own story, and there are a million connections between seemingly unrelated characters. The charm of the series is not in its coolness — indeed, Heroes boosts some fancy visuals and cool stunts — but rather in the humanitarianism that it features. Ethereal themes such as the struggle against conformity (being who you really are), the strive for excellence and unconditional love are explored, and though they may appear cheesy or clichéd to some, I found the presentation to be on the whole sincere and heartfelt — Heroes is unquestionably romantic, right from its opening scene where Peter stands on the rooftop, about to explore his true inner-self.

I watched the last 3 episodes of Season 2 in one go. Not that it was that exciting; I just wanted to get it over with.

Indeed, having completed the impossible prison break in Season 1, Season 2 is comparatively a less interesting ride. The season starts with the Fox River 8 heading in various directions, most of them wanting a piece of Westmoreland’s 5 million dollars of stolen money. Meanwhile FBI agent Mahone is hot on their tracks, as he hunts them down one by one. Of course, we soon get to know he’s just another henchman for the company, following orders of Agent Kim, who’s also leading Kellerman.

The treasure hunt, and the manhunt, provides most of the thrill factor for a good part of Season 2. However, this is also the pitfall, as the plot explosively expands from one single setting (Fox River) to the whole US, and playing a game of cat and mouse at that scale it’s hard to keep things in check. I felt many times through the season that the plot had got out of hand, and that the writers had to resort to some quick plot fixes.

In Season 1, while there were greater agendas lurking behind (namely the conspiracy), the central objective was simple: break out. In Season 2, the central objective becomes much more blurry. The brothers have broke free, now what? Do they try to upset the entire conspiracy? Or do they simply make a run for it? Because there are so many things to do, the storyline seemed often to be trying to play catch-up, trying to tie up the bits and pieces that had spilled out. And by the way, since they are out, the conspiracy side of the story has to be developed further.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with all this, just that Season 2 looks and feels very different from Season 1. In Season 1, everything was carefully laid out; Scofield had a plan, or rather, the writers had a plan. The entertainment factor was in the demonstration of the wit and the suspense in the actual execution. In Season 2, it was not plausible to make everything a part of Scofield’s plan; in fact, the more they resorted to that plot device (“Michael planned it ages ago…”), the more unreasonable the entire plot feels. The original entertainment factor had been changed; it was more of an action adventure rather than a meticulously designed thriller.

And the fact that Season 2 lost a lot of the originality of the first season certainly doesn’t help. I never liked the conspiracy side of the plot, even in Season 1. It was far too generic, and not well done (much better examples are to be found in 24 and The X-Files). However it did play the role of raising the stakes. In Season 2, it became a much more important piece, and its unoriginality dragged down the entire plot. Furthermore, the hints thrown out in the season finale, “it’s in his blood” etc., felt like a straight rip-off of The X-Files. Where are we going now? Has the conspiracy became the same conspiracy featured in that great series?

However, one thing that we might look forward to in Season 3, is a return to the basic formula: breaking out of prison. One just wonders though, whether that’s going to be the core of Season 3 or just a opener.

This weekend I had some spare time, so I did some catching up with one of my favorite TV series: 24.
Having not watched the series in a long time, I found it hard to recall what happened to all the characters at the end of Season 4. However that soon ceased to pose an issue: many of the old characters end up dying on their first appearance. To the extent that I began to hope that certain likable characters, such as the lovely Kim, do not appear, in fear of them suffering gruesome deaths.
Having finished the 5th Season in 2 days (well, there really isn’t any other way to enjoy 24, is there?), I found myself in the usual after-24 mood. I was wholly satisfied, yet still hoping for more. And because of the ending, which is never “happily ever after”, I knew I could count on it that there will be more action coming.
As far as my memory can recollect (to form a comparison with previous seasons), Season 5 has to be one of the tightest seasons. The plot is well crafted, and I can’t really recall one hour where there were was a short let-down. The action just keeps rolling. And the plot stays true to the tradition of constantly providing surprising twists. Unfortunately the sheer amount of twists makes it impossible to make certain characters look and act consistent: one hour they were the protagonists, the next they turn out to be really big bad-asses. However, I’m sure most audiences can forgive this, while they’re busy devouring the action.
The music in Season 5 seems to be more fast-paced, with a slight cyberpunk (?) feel to it. It’s very fitting to the occasion and serves well in keeping the tension.
Cast-wise, this is still an one-man show, and as long as Kiefer is at the top of his game, the rest doesn’t really matter. Some previously minor characters get bigger parts, such as the loyal SS agent Aaron Pierce. Others are on and off, with no explanation where they went (or where they’re hiding, in some cases). It’s a small issue but I do get the feel that the plot is not water-tight enough in this respect.
Anyway, 24 Season 5 delivers on all fronts. If you’ve got the odd 16 hours to spare, this is definitely worth the time.