On how the emotional line broke Cameron this pot of soup?
I didn't catch up with the premiere on the first day, so I hurried to the cinema early the next day to finish watching this 19-year-old sci-fi cross-era masterpiece called Cameron's Sharpening Knife. The final picture was frozen in the scene where Alita swung her sword towards the sky, and Dua Lipa's voice sounded. Is this gone? It is estimated that people who have seen this film are more or less emotional. After watching the whole film, they actually think that the ending song Swan Song is the most exciting.
So who is to blame for this movie? The almost impeccable production team, the epic original comics, Cameron even wrote a 186-page script and more than 1,000 pages of notes, from the world view to the biography of each character, in every detail. It's hard to imagine any chance of this film failing.
I carefully looked through the comments of netizens on Rotten Tomatoes (external network), and one of the comments almost told the truth, "Attending the movies should not come with homework assignments, and if a film only works if you study its backstory in advance, there is something terribly wrong." (There shouldn't be any homework to watch a movie, and it would be terribly bad if a movie could only be understood by the audience if its context was studied in advance.)
It has been 28 years since the serialization of the original comic "Gun Dream", and it has not yet been completed, which shows that the comic itself already has a fairly complete macro background and a full spiritual core. If the director expects to make the audience understand and accept this setting in just 2 hours, it is extremely necessary to work hard on the content script. Obviously, Robert Rodrigo has not been very successful at this, or even failed. Among them, the most prominent adaptation slot, I personally think it is the emotional line with a lot of ink in the movie.
The emotional development of Alita and Hugo can be seen as an important clue in the progress of the whole film, and two important climaxes in the film come from this. The first was an expedition with Hugo, where Alita found her armor before the Fall (Doomsday), and she began to have a preliminary understanding of the philosophical question of who am I. The powerful heart in her body awakened the Berserker's armor. When her hand touched the cold metal, she suddenly heard her own voice in the previous life, You're born to fight! Fighting is your destiny and the last Redemption (Unfortunately, this effect was not filmed in the movie, the above is purely my brain supplement==); the second important turning point is the death of Hugo, Hugo became a victim of the powerful class, and the heroine decided to pay for Hugo to Salem go to war.
There is nothing wrong with the logic of these plots at first glance, but if you think about it, you can feel that this emotional scene is simply too redundant. In the case of limited space, the existence value is very low.
First of all, the proportion of male and female main emotional dramas is too large, which affects the overall tone. Gally does have a first love in the original "Dream of Fire", but it is not long and the scene is not very important. Generally, it is to pave the way for Gally to find her life and self-awakening; but after the adaptation in the movie, the love plot is really overwhelming. When Alita took out her heart without hesitation in order to raise money for Hugo's dream, and expressed her willingness to wash her hands and make soup for him and live in seclusion in Luoyang City, I was speechless and tearful. What is this painful love story of a rebellious adolescent girl who bullied her father and sold her kidneys to raise her little boyfriend with a weak moral sense? Are you sure it happened in the 26th century? I almost couldn't help raising my arms at the cinema to petition the two of them to participate in "Love Defense", which greatly affected the look and feel!
Secondly, we need to make it clear that in a good movie, the plot serves for the shaping of the characters. How to make the characters three-dimensional while echoing the theme is a very important point. On the other hand, in "Alita", there are obvious flaws in the character creation, and the existence of some plots is not reasonable enough. For example, why did Alita choose to be a bounty hunter? What do you want? Maybe it's to make money for Hugo's journey, maybe it's to convince Ide to wake up his own body, or maybe it's just because of his combative and bloodthirsty nature, but the narrative in the film is always chaotic, leaving the audience only one Alita who rebelled and tough back;
In terms of character building, it is a pity that we have not seen how much love has contributed to the growth of Alita's character. As a dystopian comic with typical Japanese aesthetics, the essence of "Gun Dream" lies in the "self-discovery" and "personal growth" of the characters. I believe it can touch and influence Cameron's nearly 20 years of experience. things, and that's all there is to it.
Gally, the prototype of Alita, was originally just a "face sore", and it was preserved because she had her own independent consciousness overnight and was given a human body. This is very much like a spiritual stone from the beginning of Pangu's creation of the world, the origin of Hongmeng, and everything is chaotic. I saw the ups and downs between heaven and earth, and it is always a mystery where it came from and where to convert. This kind of question and answer about the origin of human beings with a strong philosophical color runs through Gally's life. She neither understands why she exists nor why she fights. This kind of confusion and anger is actually what Japanese aesthetics wants to convey. a part of.
Returning to the movie itself, why I think "A" can do better in content is because it doesn't focus on Alita's self-conscious growth, and pays too much attention to external things and ignores the important. You must know that in the absence of the popularity of backstory, it is difficult for the audience to understand Alita's inner changes through one-time viewing, unless there are more reasonable renderings and laying out.
To give another example, the development of the emotional relationship between Alita and Dr. Ido is not very good to be honest. In the movie, Dr. Ide actually had complicated feelings for Alita. He picked up Alita's body from the ruins in the garbage dump and resurrected Alita with the body of his deceased daughter. He is also one of the few people who understands Alita's life experience. It can be said that Alita is not only a continuation of his daughter's life, but also the only trace of his connection with "heaven". At the same time, it can also be regarded as a faint light in a steel city full of darkness, violence and filth. The old drama bone Christopher Waltz's acting skills are remarkable. Although the script itself has certain flaws, this "father-daughter love" still earned enough tears from the audience.
Especially in the scene where the father and daughter confront each other, the doctor's emotional change is very dramatic. Originally, he wanted to protect Alita, and he didn't want her to put on the armor of a Berserker again. He hoped that he could give her a new life, and he didn't want her to get involved in the never-ending violent conflict. It's totally understandable, it's the father's instinct. But then, in the merciless attack of the enemy, Alita was killed. At this time, he began to realize the incompetence of fate. Alita was born this way, she was born to fight, and fighting was the outlet of her life. So he stopped obstructing and took the initiative to help Alita put on the armor and give her life again.
Of course, it is a pity that the characters' dialogue is not good enough, and the lack of explosive power is also a big pity. Many film critics have mentioned that the "father-daughter conflict" in the movie is like the rebellion of an adolescent daughter from beginning to end. Superficial, can not help but embarrassing.
Having said so much, what role should the emotional line play in the movie? And how do you manage the size so that it doesn't fall into the usual "Hollywood Trap"? I think there are two points:
First, look at the overall situation and know the advance and retreat. A good emotional line should not contradict the development tone of the art work, be reasonable, and conform to the trend. If it seems abrupt and out of place, the audience will never resonate. For example, "Love in a Fallen City" written by Eileen Chang, I think it is a good example.
The love between Fan Liuyuan and Bai Liusu is definitely a product of the era. There is no sky-defying setting of the prevailing domineering president, but it makes the audience feel that it is real and unplayable. The crampedness in life is nothing in the face of war, and love is also a bonus of war. "...One day, our civilization is completely destroyed, and everything is over—burned, bombed, collapsed, and maybe this wall is left. Tassel, if we met under this wall at that time... ... Tassel, maybe you will have a little sincerity with me, maybe I will have a little sincerity with you." True love is inseparable from the trend of the times, and existence is reasonable. Even though emotional scenes in film and television need to be artistically processed and dramatized, it remains the same, and you can never talk about feelings with your feet off the ground.
Second, shape the characters and deepen the theme. Almost all works with high artistic value focus on the development of "people" themselves. They must not be talked about for the sake of emotion. They must reflect the changes and growth of the characters. "Wonder Woman" cannot be regarded as a first-class film and television work due to the limitation of the subject matter, but I think the shaping of the role of Diana is still worth discussing.
As a rare female hero comic book movie in DC, how to shape the inner change and growth of the protagonist is the top priority, and the emotional scenes of the hero and heroine in "Wonder Woman" have become the heroine Diana's mature world outlook important factor. Diana has lived in an isolated paradise island for many years, and she has a sense of perfection, innocence and justice that is different from human beings. During her divine awakening, Diana's worldview has undergone a total of three shifts.
The first time was when she came to the UK with the male protagonist. She first came into contact with modern industrial civilization. She was confused, puzzled, and even contradicted. She didn't understand the use of the rumbling machines outside, and she also didn't understand why human beings The leader of the CCP will ignore human life and just sit in the office discussing some non-existent peace agreements;
The second time was when she disregarded the male protagonist's dissuasion and stubbornly believed that all human wars provoked by Ares, the god of war, turned humans into demons. But after she killed the so-called god of war, the war did not end, and Diana's mind was shaken violently. The male protagonist rushed to the top of the tower and told her that human nature is inherently evil, and that war is everyone's fault, so Diana began to doubt human nature;
The third time was because of the death of the male protagonist. He used his flesh and blood to tell Diana that humans may be weak and prone to mistakes, but the power of human nature must not be underestimated. Diana sees human nature clearly, but she believes in human nature more in her love with the male protagonist. Compared with the extreme doubt, hatred and destruction represented by Ares, she is more willing to believe in the power of love, because this power is broader and more powerful. "It's not about deserve, it's about what you believe." The value of the film is thus sublimated.
The last thing I want to say is that it is estimated that Mr. Cameron himself did not expect that the movie that is regarded as a treasure would eventually lose in the plot. Half-ninety for a hundred miles, Robert is more than ten steps away from the master level of "cross-era", but it is a pity that so much capital and manpower invested in the early stage. I often hear people ask, in this era, how can commercial films achieve both word-of-mouth and box office success? I think it's better to honestly start by telling a good story.
View more about Alita: Battle Angel reviews
