"Transcendental Hackers" is about a super hacker who combines consciousness and machine, and becomes a "monster" in the eyes of human beings. The source of inspiration for this trite story is actually quite high-end: Kant's transcendental (transcendental)ism. From the title (Transcendence), details to the theme, the film faithfully lives up to the original inspiration. The rain and water droplets at the beginning and end can be said to be a visual display of Emerson's "world reducing itself to a drop of dew" on behalf of Transcendentalism. Dr. Will Custer, played by Johnny Depp, believes that God is nothing more than a human effort to create, and then the super hacker born by him becomes the new creator. In the second half, the focal issues mainly become ethical and emotional conflicts.
Different from the story concept of opening high and walking low, the narrative method of the movie is to open low and walk low, and it has been in a stable state with little fluctuations. I don't know if director Wally Pfister is too confident or not good at using dramatic conflict, but directing a commercial blockbuster makes the plot progress almost as calm as backwater. Visual spectacles, action scenes, and character conflicts are all deliberately weakened. What’s worse is that, after avoiding the conventional strategies of sci-fi films, there is no striking new feature, and the film eventually becomes a mediocre romantic romance.
The core turning point of the plot is the power of love, but romance is romance, and when romantic love becomes the main color, and commercial production becomes as literary and fresh as Spike Jones' "Her", some viewers will inevitably be upset: I have popcorn. If you buy it, will you show me this? Christopher Nolan's "Inception" is also a love story after all, and Nolan has honestly tinkered with a bunch of visual spectacles, fierce fights, and complicated plots for the audience to entertain and chew on. The romantic sci-fi style of "Transcendence" basically wastes every point of the hacker movie that is easy to please the audience. The anti-scientific organization led by Kate Mara, the violent attack at the beginning, and the ambiguous identity later, could have spawned violent contradictions and promoted action scenes, but all gave way to the love between the heroine and the hero, even in the super hacker. The period of growth and growth inexplicably disappeared.
Wally Pfister, Nolan's official photographer, did not play with swaying and colorful shots, and implemented it steadily to the point of the old school. The original concept was proposed by Nolan, and the supporting characters led by Morgan Freeman are also some of Nolan's usual actors. The film is like a Nolan movie lacking Nolan's fancy skills, a Nolan in a listless state. filmed. Depp's performance is lazy. He doesn't paint all kinds of colors, don't wear fancy clothes, and doesn't have funny expressions. He acts like a walker. In fact, he rarely moves. For nearly an hour, he only appeared in the film with his face, and the audience who walked into the theater at Depp would find that it was like a video chat with Depp.
No matter the genre, the genre, or the audience of Johnny Depp, it's likely to be disappointed that this is a flawed commercial film. What is even more tragic is that mainland audiences still need to bear the burden of 3D, and use 3D glasses to watch a movie without 3D effect. As for the love story that remained after all the packaging was ripped off, it did not meet the type standard of wonderful and touching love, and the sub-type of love could not be used to save the entire film as a sci-fi movie. 【Sohu Entertainment】
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