James Cameron's Avatar takes place on a planet called Pandora, where American corporations and their military mercenaries have set up bases to mine a surpassingly precious mineral called unobtanium. The vein of awe mined by the movie is nothing short of unbelievium. This is a new way of coming to your senses -- put those 3-D glasses on your face and you come to a sense of delight that quickly gives way to a sense of astonishment. The planetary high doesn't last. The closer the story comes to a lumbering parable of colonialist aggression in the jungles of an extragalactic Vietnam, the more the enchantment fizzles. Much of the time, though, you're transfixed by the beauty of a spectacle that seems all of a piece. Special effects have been abolished, in effect, since the whole thing is so special.
詹姆斯·卡梅隆導(dǎo)演的影片《阿凡達(dá)》講述的故事發(fā)生在一個(gè)名叫“潘多拉”的星球上，美國企業(yè)及其雇傭兵在那里建造基地，開采一種名為unobtanium的珍貴礦物元素。影片中令人驚嘆以至難以置信的特效比比皆是。這是一種全新的感官體驗(yàn)──戴上3D眼鏡，逼真的場(chǎng)景一開始讓你覺得心曠神怡，但很快就被驚訝之情取代。波瀾壯闊的宇宙場(chǎng)景并沒有讓觀眾陶醉很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，隨著故事情節(jié)的深入，你越來越覺得這是發(fā)生在銀河系外的一場(chǎng)越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，沉重的寓意讓起初的激動(dòng)心情逐漸消退。不過，在大多數(shù)時(shí)間里，你會(huì)沉浸在逼真得無懈可擊的壯觀場(chǎng)景之中。可以這么說，這部影片沒有特技效果，因?yàn)檎科泳褪莻€(gè)大特效。
The word "avatar" wasn't invented by Mr. Cameron, though everything else in the production seems to have been. (With the help, that is, of a few thousand colleagues around our own planet.) In Hindu myth, an avatar is a deity descended to earth in human form. In computer parlance it's an icon that represents a person in virtual reality or cyberspace. In the movie it's a manufactured body that's remotely controlled -- not by some hand-held clicker but through brain waves generated by a human being who functions as the body's driver.
雖然影片中的一切似乎都出自卡梅隆的想象力（當(dāng)然，還要加上我們這個(gè)星球上幾千名電影工作者的共同努力），但“阿凡達(dá)”這個(gè)詞并非他自創(chuàng)出來的。在印度神話中，阿凡達(dá)是一位以人形降臨地球的神祗；阿凡達(dá)也是個(gè)電腦術(shù)語，指在虛擬實(shí)境中互動(dòng)地呈現(xiàn)一個(gè)人。在這部影片中，阿凡達(dá)指的是一具能被遠(yuǎn)程控制的合成身體──不是通過某種手動(dòng)控制器，而是通過人的腦電波進(jìn)行，這個(gè)人的所思所想驅(qū)動(dòng)身體的活動(dòng)。
" style="WIDTH: 500px; HEIGHT: 280px" title="">
If this sounds technobabbly in the description, it's dazzling in the execution. The main driver-to-be -- or, rather, animating spirit-to-be -- is an ex-Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) whose combat injuries have left him confined to a wheelchair. He's part of a scientific program run by a tough cookie named Grace Augustine; she's played by Sigourney Weaver. The program has begun to explore Pandora, whose atmosphere is toxic to earthlings, using avatars with recombinant DNA -- part human, part alien -- constructed along the lines of the planet's dominant species; they're very tall, very blue, Giacometti-slender and Superman-agile. The movie offers several lyrical passages, but one of the best belongs to Jake. It's when he inhabits his avatar for the first time and discovers that his new legs can take his lithe new body through some of the most sublime scenery on not-Earth.
這聽上去感覺是枯燥的技術(shù)，但體現(xiàn)在銀幕上則讓人目眩神迷。那具身體的駕駛員──或者說那具身體的靈魂──是一個(gè)退役海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)員杰克?薩利（Jake Sully，薩姆?沃辛頓Sam Worthington飾演）。他在以前的戰(zhàn)斗中負(fù)傷，只能被困在輪椅上。杰克參加了一個(gè)科研項(xiàng)目，負(fù)責(zé)人是一個(gè)名叫格雷絲?奧古斯汀（Grace Augustine，西格妮?韋弗Sigourney Weaver飾演）的女強(qiáng)人。該項(xiàng)目開始了對(duì)潘多拉星的探索，但這個(gè)星球的空氣對(duì)人類有毒，因此只能使用以人類DNA與外星生物DNA合成的阿凡達(dá)。阿凡達(dá)的身體克隆了潘多拉星的主流種族，一種身材高大的藍(lán)色類人生物，擁有瑞士超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義雕塑家賈柯梅蒂(Giacomett)作品中的那種優(yōu)美線條，還有如同超人一般的敏捷身手。影片中有幾段如歌如泣般的動(dòng)人場(chǎng)景，其中最美的一段當(dāng)屬杰克。當(dāng)他第一次控制阿凡達(dá)時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己新的雙腿可以帶著這具輕快的新身體穿越潘多拉這個(gè)外星星球最壯麗的大好河山。
No description of that scenery will spoil the experience of the 3-D process (which dispenses with the usual eye-catching tricks) or the seamless integration of live action, motion-capture, animation, computer-generated images and whatever other techniques went into the mix -- maybe witchcraft or black magic. (I haven't seen the IMAX version; that's for my next viewing.) Some of the flora suggest an anhydrous Great Barrier Reef (airborne jellyfish, coral-colored conical plants that spiral down to almost-nothingness when touched) or, in the case of Pandora's floating mountains, represent an homage to the Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki. As for the fauna, they're not only prodigiously varied -- flamboyant dragons, six-legged steeds, elephantine chargers with heads like battering rams, nature-blue in tooth and claw -- but creatures with convincing lives of their own, unlike the cheerfully bizarre creations that filled the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars.
再怎么用文字形容，都無法比擬3D影像所呈現(xiàn)出來的絢麗恢宏，3D影像根本無須通常那些吸引觀眾眼球的視覺小把戲。將種種特效天衣無縫地融為一體──擬真感、動(dòng)作捕捉、動(dòng)畫效果、虛擬人物制作以及各種各樣的技術(shù)元素──這簡(jiǎn)直就是巫術(shù)或黑魔法。（我還沒看過IMAX的版本，這是我接下來的觀影計(jì)劃。）影片中的一些植物景觀就像是沒有水的大堡礁（在空中飛翔的水母，用手一碰就會(huì)旋轉(zhuǎn)并幾乎化為虛無的珊瑚色圓錐型植物），潘多拉星那些漂浮的山脈，彷佛是在向日本動(dòng)畫大師宮崎駿致敬。潘多拉星的動(dòng)物種群異常豐富，耀眼的龍，六條腿的馬，有著藍(lán)色牙齒和爪子、頭像個(gè)大槌的笨重動(dòng)物等等，而且這些動(dòng)物擁有各自的生活習(xí)性，彷佛真的存在一樣，不像電影《星球大戰(zhàn)》里的那個(gè)莫斯?艾斯雷 (Mos Eisley)酒吧，里頭都是一些奇形怪狀的搞笑外星生物。
Then there are the indigenes, the French term for natives being appropriate because Pandora evokes the Indochina that existed before France's doomed war against an indigenous insurgency, as well as the Vietnam that became a battleground for American troops. They're called the Na'vi, and to describe them as humanoid may be to defame them, inasmuch as they, unlike most of the film's Americans, revere their planet and live in harmony with their surroundings. The most beautiful of the Na'vis -- at least the one with the most obvious star quality -- is a female warrior named Neytiri. As most of our planet already knows from the publicity, Jake falls for her in a big but complicated way.
還有潘多拉星的土著(indigene)，indigene這個(gè)詞出自法語，用在這里很合適，因?yàn)榕硕嗬蔷拖袷敲褡濯?dú)立運(yùn)動(dòng)遭到法國武裝鎮(zhèn)壓前的印度支那半島，或是成為美國士兵戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)的越南。這里的土著叫做Na'vi，說他們是類人生物也許是對(duì)其的一種貶低，因?yàn)楹陀捌械慕^大多數(shù)美國人不一樣，他們保護(hù)自己的星球，與大自然和諧共處。Na'vi人中最美的、至少最具明星潛質(zhì)的是一個(gè)名叫內(nèi)提莉(Neytiri)的女戰(zhàn)士，正如地球人通過各種宣傳所知道的那樣，杰克對(duì)她一見鐘情難以自拔，而又復(fù)雜莫名。
Big because Neytiri, as played by Zoe Saldana, is so alluring -- cerulean-skinned, lemon-eyed, wasp-waisted, long-tailed, anvil-nosed, wiggly-eared (trust me, it's all seductive) and given to feral snarls in the heat of battle. But complicated because Jake is secretly working both sides of the jungle. He's in love with Neytiri, and soon embraces her people's values. (Yes, there's circumstantial evidence that Mr. Cameron knows about "Dances With Wolves," along with "Tarzan," "Green Mansions," "Frankenstein," "Princess Mononoke," "South Pacific," "Spartacus" and "Top Gun.") At the same time, Jake is spying for a gimlet-eyed military commander, Col. Miles Quaritch. (Stephen Lang proves that broad, cartoony acting can also be good acting.) The evil colonel has promised the ex-Marine a procedure that will restore the use of his paralyzed legs in exchange for information that will help chase the Na'vi from their sacred land, which happens to be the only place where unobtainium can be obtained.
難以自拔是因?yàn)樽粢?薩爾達(dá)娜(Zoe Saldana)飾演的內(nèi)提莉風(fēng)情萬種──天藍(lán)色的肌膚、檸檬般的眼睛、黃蜂一樣的細(xì)腰、長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的尾巴、鐵鉆般的鼻梁、會(huì)扭動(dòng)的耳朵（相信我，這些都很迷人），還有戰(zhàn)斗時(shí)發(fā)出的那種兇猛吼叫。復(fù)雜莫名是因?yàn)榻芸耸且粋€(gè)行走于無間道的地下工作者。他和內(nèi)提莉相愛，很快就接受了她族人的價(jià)值觀。（沒錯(cuò)，有間接證據(jù)表明，導(dǎo)演卡梅隆看過《與狼共舞》、《人猿泰山》、《綠廈》、《科學(xué)怪人》、《幽靈公主》、《南太平洋》、《斯巴達(dá)克斯》和《壯志凌云》等影片。）與此同時(shí)，杰克在為一個(gè)目光銳利的指揮官米爾斯?夸里奇(Miles Quaritch)上校刺探情報(bào)。（飾演該角色的斯蒂芬?郎(Stephen Lang)證明，廣義的卡通式表演也能展示優(yōu)秀的演技。）邪惡的上校答應(yīng)杰克，只要找到能將Na'vi人趕出其圣地的情報(bào)，就可以替杰克治好癱瘓的雙腿。Na'vi人的圣地正好是唯一出產(chǎn)珍稀礦物元素unobtainium的地方。
It's no reflection on Mr. Worthington or Ms. Saldana, both of whom are impressive -- though how, exactly, do you judge such high-tech hybrid performances? -- that their interspecies love story lacks the heat of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet clinging to each other on the storm-swept decks of "Titanic." Teenage girls will not return to see this film half a dozen times or more unless they possess a rogue gene for wigglable ears. But then "Avatar" revises the relationship between everyone in the audience and the characters on screen. Actors have always been avatars; they've always represented our hopes and fears in the virtual reality of motion pictures. In much of this film, however, they've been transformed by technology into a new and ambiguous breed of entertainment icon -- not the quasihuman denizens of "The Wizard of Oz," or the overgrown glove puppets of "The Polar Express," but nearly palpable fantasy figures that inhabit a world just beyond our reach.
我不想評(píng)論沃辛頓和薩爾達(dá)娜的演技，他們都給人留下深刻印象，但你如何去評(píng)判融合各種高科技的演技呢？?jī)扇酥g的異族愛情故事缺乏萊昂納多?迪卡普里奧和凱特?溫絲萊特在《泰坦尼克號(hào)》甲板前端迎風(fēng)依偎的激情，十幾歲的女孩子不會(huì)一遍遍地去重溫這部電影，除非她們自己也是耳朵會(huì)扭來扭去的Na'vi人。不過，《阿凡達(dá)》改變了觀眾和銀幕角色之間的互動(dòng)關(guān)系。演員一直就是某種形式上的阿凡達(dá)，在電影的虛幻世界里替我們感受希望和恐懼。然而，在這部影片中，演員被高科技轉(zhuǎn)變成一群全新而又模糊不清的娛樂符號(hào)，既不是《綠野仙蹤》里的擬人角色，也不是《極地特快》中的放大版手套娃娃，而是存在于一個(gè)虛擬世界但逼真得幾乎觸手可及的幻想人物。
The fantasy quotient of "Avatar" takes its first major hit when the Na'vi take their first hit from the American military. Mr. Cameron has devoted a significant chunk of his movie to a dark, didactic and altogether horrific evocation of Vietnam, complete with napalm, Agent Orange and helicopter gunships (one of which is named Valkyrie in a tip of the helmet to "Apocalypse Now.") Whatever one may think of the politics of this antiwar section, two things can be said with certainty: it provokes an adrenaline rush (what that says of our species is another matter), and it feels a lot better when it's over.
《阿凡達(dá)》的迷幻特質(zhì)給觀眾帶來的首次視覺沖擊始于美國士兵向Na'vi人打響的第一槍。導(dǎo)演卡梅隆在影片中用很大篇幅表現(xiàn)了黑暗、恐怖而富有寓意的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)場(chǎng)景，讓人想起越戰(zhàn)。片中既有凝固汽油彈和橙劑(Agent Orange)化學(xué)品，又有武裝直升機(jī)的肆虐掃射（其中一架直升機(jī)名為女武神(Valkyri)，靈感來自《現(xiàn)代啟示錄》(Apocalypse Now)中主角在瓦格納的“Valkyries”曲下，將彈藥源源不斷地向越南人的陣地上掃射與轟炸的經(jīng)典鏡頭）。不管觀眾對(duì)這段反戰(zhàn)思想濃厚的部分怎么想，有兩件事情是肯定的：一是場(chǎng)面讓人熱血沸騰（至于這反映出我們這個(gè)種族存在什么問題，我就不在這里討論了），二是場(chǎng)景結(jié)束后給人一種如釋重負(fù)的感覺。
Other narrative problems intrude. For all its political correctness about the goodness of the Na'vis, "Avatar" lapses into lurid savage rituals, complete with jungle drums, that would not have seemed out of place in the first "King Kong." While Ms. Weaver's performance is a strong one, it isn't clear what her character is doing as an avatar, or how the Na'vi perceive her. What couldn't be clearer, though, is that Mr. Cameron's singular vision has upped the ante for filmed entertainment, and given us a travelogue unlike any other. I wouldn't want to live on Pandora, mainly because of the bad air, but I'm glad to have paid it a visit.
在故事闡述上，影片也存在一些問題。雖然《阿凡達(dá)》正面塑造了Na'vi人的正義和高尚，卻讓他們沉迷于蠻荒的祭祀儀式，叢林鼓樂貫穿始終，這種場(chǎng)景放在第一部《金剛》電影里似乎更合適。韋弗在片中飾演一個(gè)阿凡達(dá)，雖然她的演技是個(gè)亮點(diǎn)，但搞不懂這個(gè)角色到底有什么意義，以及Na'vi人如何看待她。然而，有一點(diǎn)毋庸置疑，卡梅隆的獨(dú)特視角為這部影片增添了更多的娛樂價(jià)值，給觀眾帶來一種無與倫比的有如旅行一般的感受。我不想住在潘多拉星上，主要是因?yàn)槟抢锏目諝獠缓茫ㄟ^電影我彷佛身臨其境，這種感受還是很不錯(cuò)的。
相關(guān)閱讀：
金球獎(jiǎng)提名揭曉 《懸而未決》領(lǐng)跑
卡梅隆宣傳《阿凡達(dá)》 哈里路亞山原型來自黃山
“電影分級(jí)”怎么說
（來源：新東方英語論壇 編輯：Julie）
