Let's talk about the title first - "Transcendental Hacker" - holy shit! It's hard to understand, but it's also super tongue-in-cheek, and it has been read as "super tester" several times. Three days after it was released, there was still a lot of scolding. Uncle Pu is drawn on the poster, and half of the high-definition half-side mosaic (low pixel) begins to infer the plot based on this information. To be honest, I went with the mentality of watching a Hollywood technology blockbuster, not to mention that the film was made into 3D, and I was still prepared for all kinds of amazing stunts on the way to watching the movie. In general, this film gave me a new understanding of the commercial style of Hollywood. To sum it up, it can only be said that this is a science and technology literary love ethics film.
I haven't written a movie review for a long time, and after watching it twice, I suddenly wanted to say something about this movie with a weird ending and a niche audience. '
————The following contains spoilers, mind to be cautious————
One: If you want to understand what the movie wants to express, you have to start with the bloody title I said at the beginning. What exactly is "transcendence". The original English name is "Transcendence", the word originally means "transcendence, transcendence (zong), extraordinary". Transcendence is used in religion and theology. At the beginning of the film, when Uncle Pu gave a speech, some extremists asked him if he wanted to use transcendence to create God, your own God. Uncle Pu replied, "Haven't human beings always been doing the creation of God?" This sentence may not feel much to Chinese people who are very unfamiliar with "religious beliefs", but for many audiences who believe in God, it is undoubtedly a very big impact . This is discussed later in "Tech Panic" below. Therefore, the meaning of transcendental hacking probably means a hacker with supernatural powers like God.
Two: about artificial intelligence. This is a bad theme used by many blockbusters. After Will (Uncle Pu) was grazed by a gun, Morgan Freeman came to Will's studio. Surrounded by a large number of quantum calculators, PINN appeared for the first time. Today, thousands of big databases hold the details of everyone's daily life. They are intertwined and integrated, and everyone is naked in front of big data. So when Morgan appeared, PINN recognized it immediately, which is not surprising. The difference between artificial intelligence and big data superimposed conclusions is whether it has self-awareness. A very important scene in the film is when Morgan asked PINN: "How do you prove that you have self-awareness?" PINN asked in return: "How do you prove it?" This perfectly opened the prelude to the realization of artificial intelligence. It also provides a technological background for the subsequent plot development of the film.
Three: About the tech panic. Will is critically ill, uploading his consciousness, and discussing whether the uploaded product is "Will" himself will be discussed later. As mentioned above, he said in his speech that human beings have always created God to not only affect the technological opponents, but also those in power and even ordinary people. Tech panic is, after all, a fear of the powerful. When the transcendent Will succeeded in researching nanoparticles to make stem cells recombine and regenerate, this breakthrough solved almost all the problems that plagued human beings in the world: diseases, resource shortages, and environmental pollution. People from all over the world have turned to him for help, and he has transcended and networked everyone in therapy while reaching out. Here, it is even possible to think of all these networked ones, including Will himself, as a whole, one big, detached organism. Obviously, this caused panic. Who wouldn't be afraid when a person with technology is powerful enough to even change the way the world works? Morgan Freeman was terrified, saying that Will was building his own army. Evelyn was terrified, she doubted the authenticity of this Will and she was about to flee. So, even though Will helped rescue many people from their afflictions, the rulers couldn't wait to destroy him. Even his wife felt that Will's actions were "anti-human", and in the end, he was willing to burn with the virus. This is really a great paradox in the history of human technology development. Only the development of science and technology can promote the advancement of civilization, and the result of development is bound to be "transcendence". Once transcendence occurs, it is bound to be destroyed.
Four: Regarding whether the transcendental Will is the original Will. I have struggled with this question for a long time, and it reminds me of another problem that often entangles me. A ship sails at sea all year round, and gradually it ages and becomes damaged. In order to keep sailing, its various boards and parts are replaced. After a few years, everything on the ship has been replaced. Is this ship still the original one? My final point is - yes. Although Will is connected to data from all over the world after his transcendence, his brain capacity is extremely inflated, and it can even be said that he knows everything and knows everything, but for the definition of a person, after all, he still cannot grasp much information from him. to judge. And only when a person's most essential emotion changes, or even loses this emotion, does he change. Has Will's emotions changed? --no. When the base was built, Will placed the gramophone, which they had countless memories of, in Evelyn's room. When Evelyn behaves strangely while eating, Will makes a "tinkling" meal sound to make her feel like he's sitting right in front of her. Even in the end, even if he knew that Evelyn no longer trusted him and would die with him with the virus, he chose to respect her decision. Even at that moment, with his power, there are thousands of ways to eliminate this danger.
Five: Will wants to change the world? At the beginning, I said that this is a science and technology love literary ethics film. If Will really had ambitions to change the world, this film might not have attracted so much abuse. Let's talk about the speech at the beginning of the film. Before introducing Will, Evelyn said a lot of rhetoric that technology will change the living environment of human beings, change the planet, and change the world. Will later said, "My desire is to understand the world, but my wife has always wanted to change the world." That's true. In the final clash, Will definitely has the ability to use nanotechnology to kill the troops attacking him, but he just traps them. After the conflict, the soldier said, "He didn't kill anyone", which is a good illustration of this. From stem cell recombination in the beginning, to regeneration technology, these are the dreams of his beloved wife Evelyn. Everything he does is to help his wife fulfill her dream. Just like what MAX said when he finally persuaded Evelyn, "Is that really Will? No, the one who wants to change the world is not Will, it has always been you." But he was wrong, that is Will, from the beginning Will loves his wife to the end.
This is a movie that begins with love and ends with love. In the end they fell in a pool of blood embracing each other. Evelyn said "sorry Will I didn't believe you" because in her transcendental moment, she realized that his husband, whether he had lived in living flesh or in cold storage, was the one who Just a person who loves himself deeply and has no ill will towards this world.
However, I still love technology films more than literary films, so I put most of my attention on technology rather than love. In the end, Will's destruction led to the collapse of the global information system, and human life seemed to return to its original state. This seems to herald the self-destruction of the development of human history and the development of technology to the extreme. The scene of the second male lead is repeated at the end of the film again. He came to the house where Will and Evelyn lived. When Depp appeared, he was installing a signal isolation net in the yard (this was also used when the contractor was introduced into the tunnel and then trapped by the isolation net, because he was shot and killed because of the loss of connection, and it can be seen that it can also be shielded and exceeded). That is, it is a surviving point of global paralysis caused by Will's destruction. Rain brought nanoparticles, dripping on withered sunflowers, reblooming, and flowing into rust-ridden pools, where the water was purified. Some people say that there will be a sequel based on this inference, that MAX mastering the source code or something can help Will and Evelyn resurrect. But I don't think it fits the theme of the film, nor is it Nolan's style. The last drop of water may be to tell us that the development of science and technology may really lead to the destruction of some things, but the positive effects he has brought along with the development of human beings must be somewhere, in some form. , continue to exist.
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