在今年的贺岁档中,被誉为中国首部硬科幻的《流浪地球》口碑炸裂,在2月7日实现票房逆袭,首次拿下单日票房冠军。
世界末日是灾难科幻片中常刻画的主题,在许多好莱坞大片里,人类通常放弃地球,探索移居其他星球。
而刘慈欣却给出了一个充满家园情怀的中国式解决方案:带着地球去流浪。
剧情简介
The story takes place in an apocalyptic future where, as the sun dies, the world government decides to physically move Earth away from destruction and embark on a centuries-long voyage to a new solar system. But humanity is threatened with annihilation almost immediately, when scientists discover that Earth is on an apparent collision course with Jupiter.
故事发生在末日未来,太阳即将毁灭,地球联合政府决定将地球物理地移离毁灭之地,从而开启了一个延续数世纪的移民新太阳系的征程。然而计划开始不久,地球就将撞上木星,人类面临灭顶之灾。
宏大的故事设定、突破天际的想象和荡气回肠的叙事,这部影片引发了不少外媒的关注和热议。
中国科幻片的曙光
许多外媒都特别报道了《流浪地球》的重大意义,这是中国在科幻片领域的一个突破。
《纽约时报》:中国电影业终于加入太空竞赛
《纽约时报》称,中国在太空探索领域是后来者(a latecomer),在电影业中,中国也是科幻片领域的后来者。
不过,“这种局面就要改变了(That is about to change)”。
The country’s first blockbuster set in space, “The Wandering Earth,” opens Tuesday amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese filmmaking.
中国的第一部以太空为背景的超级大片《流浪地球》于5日上映,外界对此寄予厚望,认为此片代表着中国电影制作新时代的到来。
It is one in a series of ambitious, big-budget films tackling a genre that, until now, has been beyond the reach of most filmmakers here — technically and financially.
这是中国即将推出的一系列雄心勃勃、耗资巨大的科幻电影中的一部。迄今为止,这类电影无论从技术上还是投资上,都是国内大多数制作人难以企及的。
《南华早报》也认为,《流浪地球》可能成为激发中国科幻电影创作的开山之作。
该片由《战狼》吴京主演,是一部史诗级科幻电影,堪比《星际穿越》和《地心引力》等好莱坞大片。
据《南华早报》报道,未来事务管理局合伙人李兆欣曾在2016年预测,国产科幻片要想取得好莱坞科幻大片在国内票房的成绩,或许要花10年时间。
“The process might last up to a decade. We believe in local science fiction productions and we are willing to wait.”
这一过程或许最多要耗费10年时间,但我们相信本土科幻制作,我们愿意等待。
现在看来,也许不用等这么久了。
The long wait might be over prematurely with the release of The Wandering Earth.
随着《流浪地球》的上映,这一漫长等待,也许会提前结束。
《金融时报》则评论道,中国电影人开始有信心挑战被好莱坞垄断多年的科幻片了。
The leap into sci-fi reflects Chinese filmmakers’ growing budgets and confidence to tackle topics previously monopolized by Hollywood.
中国凭此片一举跃入科幻片领域,展现出该国电影人日益雄厚的制作预算和信心,他们已有能力挑战这一曾经由好莱坞垄断的题材。
刘慈欣原著提供扎实剧情
《流浪地球》中把地球推出太阳系的设定超乎许多人的想象,外媒更是惊呼,“前所未见”!
印度媒体News18称:
The Wandering Earth have a never-seen-before element in its storyline. The Earth, as we know it, is being lifted into another solar system. Whoa!
《流浪地球》的故事中有一个前所未见的元素:地球整个儿被抬走放进另一个太阳系。哇!
The film looks highly stylized, at par with Hollywood standards, even beyond, at times.
这部电影看起来相当独具一格,完全可媲美好莱坞,有些地方甚至超越了好莱坞。
如此大胆新奇的设想,同时又具备说服力,刘慈欣扎实的原著功不可没。
《纽约时报》称,刘慈欣的小说叙事庞大、研究入微。
Both “The Wandering Earth” and “Crazy Alien” are adapted from works by Liu Cixin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2017.
《流浪地球》和《疯狂的外星人》均改编自中国科幻作家刘慈欣的作品,刘慈欣是一位引领中国科幻小说复兴的作家。2017年,他成为首位获得雨果奖的中国人。
His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity’s encounters with a dangerous universe.
他的小说叙事宏大,同时研究深入细致。因此,这些作品在讲述人类在危险宇宙中的境遇时,天马行空的幻想也变得实际可行。
来看看刘慈欣原著中设想的这个延续两千五百年、一百代人的“流浪地球”计划。
人类的逃亡分为五步:
Humanity’s escape was a five-step process.
第一步,用地球发动机使地球停止转动,使发动机喷口固定在地球运行的反方向;
First, the Earth Engines would generate thrust in the opposite direction of Earth’s movement, halting its rotation.
第二步,全功率开动地球发动机,使地球加速到逃逸速度,飞出太阳系;
Second, operating at full capacity, the engines would accelerate Earth until it reached escape velocity, flinging it from the solar system.
第三步,在外太空继续加速,飞向比邻星;
Third, Earth would continue to accelerate as it flew through outer space toward Proxima Centauri.
第四步,在中途使地球重新自转,掉转发动机方向,开始减速;
Fourth, the engines would reverse direction, restarting Earth’s rotation and decelerating gradually.
第五步,地球泊入比邻星轨道,成为这颗恒星的卫星。
Fifth, Earth would enter into orbit around Proxima Centauri, becoming its satellite.
人们把这五步分别称为刹车时代、逃逸时代、流浪时代Ⅰ(加速)、流浪时代Ⅱ(减速)、新太阳时代。
People called these five steps the “Braking Era”, the “Deserting Era”, the “First Wandering Era” (during acceleration), the “Second Wandering Era” (during deceleration), and the “Neosolar Era”.
整个移民过程将延续两千五百年时间,一百代人。
The entire migration process was projected to last 2,500 years, over one hundred generations.
翻译:Elizabeth Hanlon
英文版来源:中国教育图书进出口有限公司
中国人的价值观
人们都在把《流浪地球》的特效与好莱坞相比,但与好莱坞科幻大片不同的是,拯救地球不只是美国一家的事了,这次是中国人在危急关头带领全世界参与救援行动。
许多外媒注意到这一有趣的角色变化。
《南华早报》写道:
Like Hollywood space movies where Americans are portrayed as the only ones capable of saving humanity, here Chinese astronauts are the sole adventurers among the global space community determined to complete the arduous task of fending off the apocalypse.
正如许多好莱坞太空大片里,美国人被塑造为唯一有能力拯救人类的救星,在这部电影中,中国宇航员成了全球太空探险者中的主角,来完成挽救人类于末日之灾的艰巨任务。
不过《纽约时报》也提到,虽然中国人处于C位,但影片也表现出地球能幸免于难是全人类共同努力的结果。
...it also has a vision of the international collaboration necessary to cope with the threats facing the planet, a theme that runs deeply through Liu’s fiction.
影片也展现出全球合作来共同抵御星球危机的愿景,这一主题也贯穿于刘慈欣的小说中。
澳大利亚电影网站Flicks.com的影评特别点出了电影中体现的中国人不同于西方人的价值观念。
Flicks:中国大片《流浪地球》或许是2019最棒的科幻片
这篇影评称,电影在惊险刺激的情节中融入了中国传统道德观念中对家庭和社会的责任、谦卑、自我牺牲和忠诚等美德(Chinese cultural virtues of duty, humility, self-sacrifice, and loyalty, both to family and society as a whole)。
无私、无畏,为伟大事业奉献自我,这是崇尚个人英雄主义的西方大片里难得一见的价值观:
The Wandering Earth’s heroes are just the kind of gung-ho go-getters who can go off plan and do what needs to be done when the chips are down – but they’re explicitly doing it out of selfless service to the greater good, which is often a by-product rather than an aim of American heroes’ actions.
《流浪地球》中的主人公们是一群同心协力志在必得的人,他们可以在形势危急之时打破计划、雷厉风行做该做的事,而且他们做这些事的目的只有一个:为了伟大事业无私奉献。而在美国英雄这边,这通常只是他们完成任务的一个副产品,而非主要目的。
除了外媒,不少外国网友看了这部电影也非常兴奋,写长篇影评发布在网上。
网友Dave Taylor认为,电影虽然有些部分演技台词略显浮夸,但瑕不掩瑜,仍然值得激赏:
There’s a lot to like about this fast-moving adventure sci-fi epic, from the sheer audacity of the core storyline to the gorgeous sets and external shots, to the gritty realism of the underground cities.
这部节奏紧凑的科幻探险片有很多值得喜爱的地方,从胆识过人的故事内核,到壮丽的布景和外景镜头,再到对地下城真实残酷的写实描绘,都令人赞叹。
Like all good science fiction, it asks the viewer to ponder some fundamental questions about who should be saved, what cost we’re willing to pay to survive, and what plans we might create if we’re really heading to heck in a handbasket, however big or small. The visual effects are stunning and rival the best of Hollywood’s sci-fi epics.
正如所有优秀的科幻小说一样,影片能够让观众思考一些本质问题,如应该拯救谁;为了生存我们愿意付出多大代价;如果真的大难临头了,我们能想出怎样的计划,无论大小。视觉效果真的超惊艳,绝对可以媲美好莱坞最棒的史诗科幻大片。
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