《最后的絕地武士》：擁抱魔力與神秘

Evil is ascendant. The Resistance — an intrepid, multi-everything group whose leaders include a battle-tested woman warrior — has been fighting the good fight for years but is outnumbered and occasionally outmaneuvered. Yes, the latest “Star Wars” installment is here, and, lo, it is a satisfying, at times transporting entertainment. Remarkably, it has visual wit and a human touch, no small achievement for a seemingly indestructible machine that revved up 40 years ago and shows no signs of sputtering out (ever).

邪惡勢(shì)力在抬頭。抵抗軍——一個(gè)由各種人物組成的英勇組織，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人中有一位久經(jīng)沙場(chǎng)的女戰(zhàn)士——多年來(lái)一直在為正義而戰(zhàn)，但是敵眾我寡，有時(shí)在謀略上也稍遜一籌。是的，《星球大戰(zhàn)》(Star Wars)的最新一集來(lái)了，哎呀，它還挺讓人滿意的，有時(shí)還很娛樂(lè)。特別是，它既有精彩的視覺(jué)效果，也不失人情味，這可以說(shuō)是很高的成就了，要知道，這個(gè)系列如同一臺(tái)堅(jiān)不可摧的機(jī)器，已經(jīng)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)了40年，而且(永遠(yuǎn))沒(méi)有停止的跡象。

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” picks up where the story left off two years ago in “The Force Awakens,” the leadoff of the series’ newest trilogy. Keeping track of where each “Star Wars” title fits into the overall scheme of things can be brain-numbing (the movies weren’t made in story-chronological order), but the strongest ones work as stand-alones and let you just go with the onscreen flow. The writer-director of “The Last Jedi,” Rian Johnson, frontloads the critical back story intel — who’s fighting who and the like — in the opening crawl. And then he gets down to the difficult business of putting his fingerprints on a franchise that deliberately resists individual authorship.

兩年前的《星球大戰(zhàn)7：原力覺(jué)醒》(The Force Awakens)是這個(gè)系列最新三部曲中的第一部，《星球大戰(zhàn)8：最后的絕地武士》(Star Wars: The Last Jedi)就從它結(jié)束的地方開(kāi)始。理清《星球大戰(zhàn)》每一部在整體情節(jié)中處于什么位置會(huì)讓人頭暈(電影并不是按照故事的時(shí)間順序排列的)，但是系列中最精彩的幾部影片可以獨(dú)立成章，你只要跟著銀幕上的情節(jié)走就是了。在開(kāi)片滾動(dòng)字幕中，《最后的絕地武士》的編劇兼導(dǎo)演萊恩·約翰遜(Rian Johnson)預(yù)先透露了一些關(guān)鍵的背景信息——影片是關(guān)于誰(shuí)和誰(shuí)的戰(zhàn)斗等等。然后，他就下定決心開(kāi)展這項(xiàng)艱辛的任務(wù)——在這樣一部刻意抵制個(gè)人作者色彩的系列影片中留下自己特有的印記。

Mr. Johnson largely succeeds despite having inherited an elaborate ecosystem with a Manichaean worldview divided between heroes (a.k.a. the Resistance) and villains (the First Order). That’s about all you need to know to follow this movie, which charts the franchise’s future while continuing to pass the baton from its first holy trinity — Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill — to a new trio, introduced in “The Force Awakens.” Mr. Ford’s character, Han Solo, exited the series in that movie. As Leia, Ms. Fisher plays a critical role in this new one, but her death last December (after production ended) imparts real melancholy to a series that from its start has been defined — if not always comfortably — by loss.

約翰遜在很大程度上做到了，盡管他接手的是一個(gè)精密復(fù)雜的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，有著摩尼教式的世界觀，分為英雄(即抵抗軍)和惡人(即第一秩序)兩大陣營(yíng)。要欣賞這部影片，知道這些背景就夠了。它為這個(gè)系列的未來(lái)繪制了藍(lán)圖，同時(shí)繼續(xù)將第一代神圣三位一體——凱麗·費(fèi)雪(Carrie Fisher)、哈里森·福特(Harrison Ford)和馬克·哈米爾(Mark Hamill)——的接力棒傳遞給新的三人組，在《原力覺(jué)醒》中，福特飾演的角色韓·索羅(Han Solo)退出了這部系列。飾演蕾婭的費(fèi)雪在新片中扮演著重要的角色，但是她已于去年12月去世(在拍攝結(jié)束之后)，這個(gè)系列本來(lái)從一開(kāi)始就奠定了——盡管有些別扭——憂郁的基調(diào)，失去她更是為之蒙上一層真正的哀傷色彩。

And so, once upon a time yet again, peace remains elusive and weapons are locked, loaded and often firing. Here, the fight continues with Leia searching for her absent brother, Luke Skywalker (Mr. Hamill), while leading the Resistance against the First Order, the dark-side successor to the dictatorial Empire (Darth Vader’s cohort). The old Imperial evildoers have been replaced by the suitably cartoonish-sounding Snoke (created by the hard-working Andy Serkis and digital effects), a wormy, towering ghoul with vivid scars and an insinuating sneer. He commands the usual stormtroopers along with the impetuous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), a charismatic villain who has closely fashioned himself after Vader.

于是，很久很久以前的故事再一次展開(kāi)，和平仍然難以實(shí)現(xiàn)，子彈上膛、拉槍栓、頻頻開(kāi)火。在這部影片里，戰(zhàn)斗繼續(xù)的同時(shí)，蕾婭依然在尋找她失蹤的哥哥天行者盧克(哈米爾飾)，同時(shí)率領(lǐng)抵抗軍反抗獨(dú)裁帝國(guó)(達(dá)斯·維達(dá)[Darth Vader]那伙人)的黑暗繼承者——第一秩序。古老帝國(guó)的邪惡分子已經(jīng)恰如其分地被有卡通式聲音的斯努克取代，這個(gè)角色由辛勤的安迪·瑟金斯(Andy Serkis)飾演，結(jié)合了數(shù)字效果，是一個(gè)高大的、蠕蟲(chóng)一般的怪物，有著栩栩如生的傷疤，面帶意味深長(zhǎng)的冷笑。他和魯莽的凱洛·倫(亞當(dāng)·德賴弗[Adam Driver]飾)一起指揮著熟悉的風(fēng)暴兵，后者是一個(gè)頗有領(lǐng)袖魅力的反派，總在模仿維德的作風(fēng)。

The story is a tangle, but its complications are mitigated by Mr. Johnson’s quick pace and the appealing performers. Like most contemporary action flicks, this one more or less plays out as a succession of fights, chases and time outs (for chatting, scheming or lonely musing) across two or more plot lines. Having joined together in “The Force Awakens,” the story’s latest dream team — Rey (Daisy Ridley), a scavenger turned warrior; Finn (John Boyega), a First Order deserter turned resister; and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a Resistance fighter pilot — now often spends time apart. Poe spins in Leia’s orbit while Rey pesters Luke, and Finn finds a winning ally (Kelly Marie Tran).

這是一個(gè)混亂的故事，但約翰遜的快節(jié)奏和迷人的演員們緩解了它的復(fù)雜性。和大多數(shù)當(dāng)代動(dòng)作大片一樣，該片多少會(huì)有一連串的戰(zhàn)斗、追逐和中間的緩解時(shí)段(聊天、密謀或孤獨(dú)的沉思)，在兩條或兩條以上的情節(jié)線中進(jìn)行。蕾伊(黛西·雷德利[Daisy Ridley]飾)原本是拾荒者，后來(lái)成了戰(zhàn)士;芬恩(約翰·博耶加[John Boyega]飾)，是第一秩序的逃兵，后來(lái)成了抵抗者;波·達(dá)摩龍(奧斯卡·艾薩克[Oscar Isaac]飾)則是抵抗軍的戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)飛行員，他們是《原力覺(jué)醒》中加入這個(gè)故事的最新夢(mèng)之隊(duì)，在本片中，他們經(jīng)常分開(kāi)行動(dòng)。波活躍在蕾婭那條線之中，蕾伊纏著盧克，芬恩則找到了一個(gè)迷人的盟友(凱莉·瑪麗·陳[Kelly Marie Tran]飾)。

An early heroic death sets the sober mood and stakes while gently re-establishing the franchise’s new commitment to diversifying the overall picture. As in “The Force Awakens,” this inclusion feels natural, a vision of the future you can recognize. About the only time it feels as if Mr. Johnson is checking “Star Wars” boxes is in some of the fights, especially during an impasse that turns into a slow-moving game of space chess. He may be checking off some of those boxes in an ode to George Lucas; whatever the case, Mr. Johnson only infrequently comes across as dutiful or as overtly brand-expanding (as with a troika of calculatingly cute tykes who unnervingly suggest this series really will go on forever).

影片開(kāi)始不久就有一場(chǎng)英勇?tīng)奚膽颍瑸橛捌於索龅臍夥找约澳繕?biāo)，同時(shí)漸漸為整個(gè)系列重新確立讓畫(huà)面整體更多樣化的新追求。就像在《原力覺(jué)醒》中一樣，這種融合感覺(jué)很自然，描繪了一個(gè)讓人可以感同身受的未來(lái)。約翰遜只是在一些戰(zhàn)斗中，才顯得像是在《星球大戰(zhàn)》的存貨中尋找靈感，特別是在一場(chǎng)僵局演化為慢動(dòng)作太空國(guó)際象棋游戲的時(shí)候。他使用這些舊手段可能是在向喬治·盧卡斯(George Lucas)獻(xiàn)上一曲頌歌;不管怎樣，約翰遜只是偶爾才會(huì)忠于前作，或者帶上明顯的擴(kuò)展品牌目的(比如片中那個(gè)詭計(jì)多端的淘氣鬼三人組，他們令人不安地暗示著這個(gè)系列真的會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)延續(xù)下去)。

One of the truisms of the “Star Wars” series is that its battle between good and bad has always uneasily and sometimes openly mirrored the attendant struggle between good and bad filmmaking. Mr. Lucas’s 1977 foundational movie mostly transcends its flaws with slick looks, hooky effects, old-school heroics and loads of marketable material that helped turn fan love into an ecumenical cult. The second trilogy, entirely directed by Mr. Lucas, began in 1999 with “The Phantom Menace” (infamous for the minor scandal called Jar Jar Binks) and is pretty much a drag outside of some fleet light-saber duels and the arresting black-and-red patterning that distinguishes one villain.

《星球大戰(zhàn)》系列中的善惡之爭(zhēng)始終充滿動(dòng)蕩，有時(shí)明顯反映出隨電影拍攝好壞而來(lái)的斗爭(zhēng)，這是該系列中不證自明的真理之一。盧卡斯1977年奠定基礎(chǔ)的首部影片在很大程度上超越了自身的缺陷，有著華麗的外觀、迷人的特效、老派的英雄氣概和大量適合營(yíng)銷(xiāo)的素材，令影迷的愛(ài)變成一種宗教式的崇拜。其后的續(xù)作——第二個(gè)三部曲——完全由盧卡斯執(zhí)導(dǎo)，以1999年上映的《幽靈的威脅》(The Phantom Menace)為開(kāi)端(該片以小丑角加·加·賓克斯[Jar Jar Binks]著稱)。除了一些光劍對(duì)決，以及一個(gè)反派迷人的黑紅臉譜，這部影片非常乏味。

Part of what has already made the new trilogy more successful is that its directors, J.J. Abrams (“The Force Awakens”) and Mr. Johnson, are technically adept, commercially savvy “Star Wars” true believers who came of age in the post-Lucas blockbuster era. Each has had to navigate the intricacies of Mr. Lucas’s sprawling fiction while handling the deep imprint created by Darth Vader’s heavy-breathing menace, R2-D2’s amusing beeps, Mr. Ford’s insouciance, Mr. Hamill’s earnestness, and Ms. Fisher’s smarts and latter-day screwball charm. Unlike Mr. Lucas, though, Mr. Abrams and Mr. Johnson don’t feel burdened by that legacy; they’re into it, charged up, despite the pressures of such an industrial enterprise. They’re resolving their cinematic father issues with a sense of fun.

這個(gè)新三部曲更成功的一個(gè)原因在于，《原力覺(jué)醒》的導(dǎo)演J·J·艾布拉姆斯(J.J. Abrams)和約翰遜是在后盧卡斯的商業(yè)大片時(shí)代成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)的《星球大戰(zhàn)》忠實(shí)信徒，都是技術(shù)高手，而且有商業(yè)頭腦。在理清盧卡斯龐大虛構(gòu)故事復(fù)雜情節(jié)的同時(shí)，他們還需要處理角色和演員為影片留下的深刻印記，比如達(dá)斯·維達(dá)低沉的威脅聲、R2-D2搞笑的嗶嗶聲、福特的無(wú)憂無(wú)慮、哈米爾的熱情，還有費(fèi)雪的聰明，以及她后來(lái)怪里怪氣的魅力。不過(guò)，與盧卡斯不同的是，艾布拉姆斯和約翰遜似乎并沒(méi)有受到這些遺產(chǎn)的束縛，盡管承受著這樣一部業(yè)界大片的壓力，他們還是充滿活力地投入進(jìn)去。他們帶著玩樂(lè)的心態(tài)解決在電影方面的戀父情結(jié)問(wèn)題。

Mr. Johnson can make you forget about those issues as well as the franchise’s insistent obligations; it also seems like he had a good time at work. He brings lightness to his banter, visual flair (not simply bleeding-edge special effects) to the design, and narrative savvy to Rey and Kylo Ren’s relationship. Mr. Johnson’s use of deep red is characteristic of how he turns ideas into images, most vividly with a set that looks like something Vincente Minnelli might have dreamed up for a Flash Gordon musical with Gene Kelly. When that set becomes the backdrop to a viscerally exciting fight, all the red abruptly evokes the spilled blood that this otherwise squeaky clean series insistently elides.

約翰遜可以讓你忘記那些情結(jié)，以及這個(gè)系列一直以來(lái)的義務(wù)感，而且他似乎工作得很開(kāi)心。他讓自己的戲謔充滿輕松感，讓設(shè)計(jì)充滿視覺(jué)魅力(不只是最前沿的特效)，用嫻熟的敘事手段講述蕾伊和凱洛·倫的戀情。約翰遜對(duì)深紅色的使用是他將想法轉(zhuǎn)變成形象的典型方式，這尤為鮮明地體現(xiàn)在一個(gè)布景中，如果文森特·明奈利(Vincente Minnelli)夢(mèng)想過(guò)由金·凱利(Gene Kelly)主演音樂(lè)劇《飛俠哥頓》(Flash Gordon)，那么他可能就會(huì)使用這樣的布景。而當(dāng)它為一場(chǎng)激動(dòng)人心的打斗充當(dāng)背景時(shí)，那些紅色便會(huì)突然讓人聯(lián)想到飛濺的鮮血——這個(gè)干凈得有些怪異的系列一直避免呈現(xiàn)鮮血。

Like “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi” engages with the first “Star Wars” movie less as a fetish than as a necessary point of departure. And, like Alec Guinness’s Obi-Wan Kenobi once did, Luke comes off as a brooding monastic loner. With a hooded robe, beard and inexplicable moodiness, he has retreated to an eerily lovely, isolated island where imaginatively designed critters roam and trill. The cutest (right in time for Christmas tie-ins) are Porgs, saucer-eyed mewling creatures with plump, puffin-like bodies that are mainly on hand for easy laughs. The creature design throughout is so inventive — there are less-fuzzy whatsits on the island, too — that you wish more had been added.

和《原力覺(jué)醒》一樣，《最后的絕地武士》不是一味癡迷第一部《星球大戰(zhàn)》，而是有一些必要的偏離。與亞歷克·吉尼斯(Alec Guinness)飾演的歐比旺·克諾比(Obi-Wan Kenobi)一樣，盧克變成了一個(gè)陰郁沉靜的孤獨(dú)修行者。他穿著帶兜帽的長(zhǎng)袍，留著胡須，陰郁莫名，隱居在一個(gè)怪異可愛(ài)、與世隔絕的小島上，那里有虛構(gòu)設(shè)計(jì)的動(dòng)物四處漫步、歌唱。最可愛(ài)的當(dāng)屬Porg(它們跟圣誕節(jié)很搭)，長(zhǎng)著圓圓的眼睛，喜歡嚶嚶叫，身體胖乎乎的，有點(diǎn)像海雀，很容易惹人大笑。整部電影中的生物設(shè)計(jì)都很有創(chuàng)意——島上也有一些不那么毛茸茸的東西——真希望能有更多這樣的生物。

You feel Mr. Johnson periodically reining himself in, yet the movie cuts loose when he does, as when he embraces the galaxy’s strangeness, its non-humanoid beings as well as its magic and mystery. There’s a trippy scene in which a character floats into a resurrection, an ethereal drift that borders on the surreal. It’s a fleeting bliss-out in a series that knows how to bring the weird but has too often neglected to do so amid its blaster zapping, machinations and Oedipal stressing and storming. This is, after all, a franchise in which the most indelible character remains Yoda, the wee, far-out philosophizer with the tufted pate and syntactically distinct truth telling: “Wars not make one great.”

你能感覺(jué)到約翰遜時(shí)不時(shí)地會(huì)放慢速度，他這樣做的時(shí)候，影片就跟著松弛了下來(lái)，比如當(dāng)他感嘆銀河系的奇異、它的各種非人類(lèi)生物以及它的神奇與神秘之時(shí)。在一個(gè)迷幻的場(chǎng)景中，一個(gè)角色飄浮起來(lái)復(fù)活了，優(yōu)雅脫俗到近乎怪異。這個(gè)瞬間令人陶醉;要知道，這個(gè)系列雖然知道如何創(chuàng)造奇異的人物和場(chǎng)景，但卻往往被淹沒(méi)在爆炸、陰謀以及弒父情節(jié)之中。畢竟，《星球大戰(zhàn)》系列中最不可磨滅的角色依然非尤達(dá)大師莫屬，這位身材矮小、目光遠(yuǎn)大的哲人頭上長(zhǎng)著絨毛，經(jīng)常用獨(dú)特的句法說(shuō)出真理：“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)不會(huì)讓人偉大。”

Wars do, however, make warehouses of money as this franchise has been affirming for decades. It’s instructive how normalized its permanent war has become, with its high body count, bloodlessness and fascist chic (the black uniforms evoking the Nazi SS). Given this, it’s notable, too, that while Mr. Johnson manages the big-canvas battles well enough, he’s better with smaller-scaled fights, in which the sweat, vulnerabilities and personal costs of violence are foregrounded. With Mr. Driver — who delivers a startlingly raw performance — Mr. Johnson delivers a potent portrait of villainy that suggests evil isn’t hard-wired, an inheritance or even enigmatic. Here, it is a choice — an act of self-creation in the service of annihilation.

不過(guò)，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的確能賺很多錢(qián)，正如這個(gè)系列幾十年來(lái)一直在證明的那樣。值得深思的是，片中持續(xù)不斷的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)已經(jīng)變成了常態(tài)，傷亡巨大，不見(jiàn)血光，帶有法西斯主義的意味(黑色制服讓人聯(lián)想到納粹黨衛(wèi)軍)。因此，同樣值得注意的是，雖然約翰遜的大場(chǎng)面戰(zhàn)斗拍得也足夠好，但他的小規(guī)模戰(zhàn)斗拍得更好，后者突顯了汗水、脆弱以及暴力令個(gè)體付出的代價(jià)。約翰遜通過(guò)德賴弗(他的表演非常粗獷自然)對(duì)邪惡行為進(jìn)行了生動(dòng)的描繪，說(shuō)明邪惡并非與生俱來(lái)，它不是遺傳，甚至并不神秘。在本片中，它是一種選擇，是一種旨在毀滅的自我創(chuàng)造行為。

Mr. Johnson has picked up the baton — notably the myth of a female Jedi — that was handed to Mr. Abrams when he signed on to revive the series with “The Force Awakens.” Mr. Johnson doesn’t have to make the important introductions; for the most part, the principals were in place, as was an overarching mythology that during some arid periods has seemed more sustained by fan faith than anything else. Even so, he has to convince you that these searching, burgeoning heroes and villains fit together emotionally, not simply on a Lucasfilm whiteboard, and that they have the requisite lightness and heaviness, the ineffable spirit and grandeur to reinvigorate a pop-cultural juggernaut. That he’s made a good movie in doing so isn’t icing; it’s the whole cake.

當(dāng)艾布拉姆斯同意通過(guò)《原力覺(jué)醒》恢復(fù)這個(gè)系列之時(shí)，他便接過(guò)了《星球大戰(zhàn)》的接力棒，如今又輪到約翰遜接下它——尤其是關(guān)于一名女絕地武士的神話更顯示了傳承。約翰遜不必再做重要的介紹，在大多數(shù)情況下，主要角色都已就位，影片的核心神話體系也已就位(在該系列某些特別乏味的階段，這個(gè)體系似乎主要是依靠影迷的信念才得以延續(xù)下去)。即便如此，他還必須讓你相信，這些不斷探索、不斷變強(qiáng)的英雄與反派們?cè)谇楦猩鲜锹?lián)系在一起的，而不只是存在于盧卡斯影業(yè)公司(Lucasfilm)的白板上;他還必須讓你相信，這些英雄和反派擁有必要的輕松和沉重，以及難以形容的精神和莊嚴(yán)，足以重振一個(gè)流行文化龐然大物。他在這樣做的過(guò)程中拍了一部好電影，它不是錦上添花，它就是錦緞本身。