After reading the first novel of the original work, "The Lost South: Annihilation", I had so much expectations that it raised the film to the level of "Ex Machina" early on. I was very anxious when selling the US foreign rights to netflex, because I couldn't see it in the first place.
It is precisely because of such excessive expectations that the gap between the viewing and viewing of the film is particularly large. In general, it is a relatively novel sci-fi film, which is mysterious and scary, and even the director's understanding of consciousness in "Ex Machina" Self, the discussion of the soul is also seen from time to time. However, compared with the original work (only the first original work is discussed here, because the quality of the latter two is far worse than the first one), there is a regression in horror and mystery, and I think the most shocking scene in the original work, explaining The "annihilation" part was completely deleted, and I have to say that it is very regrettable. Fortunately, the movie used a limited amount of time to justify the story of an alien invasion by deleting and modifying the original content. The ending is a bit old-fashioned, but the process is different Lots of highlights.
1. A man who lost his soul
First of all, I will break away from the shackles of the original book and analyze only this movie.
The whole movie promotes the plot with a linear narrative, interspersed with the memories of the heroine Lena and the censorship of Lena No. 2 after returning to the Southland Management Office. The plot is not complicated (at least not in editing), so I don’t think it exists. The foreign media mentioned it before. too obscure.
Half an hour before the opening, it is described that lena's husband kane came back from a mysterious place, his expression was indifferent and unusual, and then he suddenly fell ill and was sent to a mysterious place. It turned out that a seaside area was shrouded by a strange force. Kane and a group of team members were ordered to enter the investigation, but only one person was able to escape but his life was hanging by a thread. In order to know why her husband was like this, Lena decided to follow a team of scientists who were all women. Enter the mysterious area to find out.
The episode of the husband's return was handled more interestingly. Although the two held both hands in the later conversation, the two hands were mapped in the glass (the mapping will be mentioned later), which clearly shows that the two There is a gap between them.
The husband's indifference is in stark contrast to the joy of the heroine's reunion after seeing him after a long absence. You can pay attention to the arrangement of the light at this time. Lena's facial expressions have always been very clear, but the husband is mostly in the shadows ( And there is a light source above his head), and kane's eye sockets are deeply sunken, making it difficult for us to see his eyes, this design allows us to realize that something is wrong at once, and the husband's reticence is less The words made the atmosphere freeze, until the blood he spat out made everything go downhill.
2. "Lena is a liar"
I totally agree with this statement, even though josie doesn't really need to get angry about it, because Lena's lies are far more than that.
Not long after the beginning, when she still didn't know anything about the mysterious area, she used a lie to get away and wash herself out. Afterwards, in order not to make her companions feel resentment, she even hid the fact that her husband was a member of the previous issue.
I think a character like Lena is actually very interesting, because this kind of lie is actually a way to protect herself. She has always used this method to avoid unnecessary disputes, but she always seeks her own interests. For example, because she is too lonely, she Unbeknownst to her husband about her adultery with a black scientist.
So does Lena love her husband? She is in love, does she have feelings for her teammates? Naturally, there are, so Lena's lies are more not for the purpose of deception, but for the necessary efforts to maintain a relatively stable relationship.
3. The Prism of Genes
Next is the highlight of the film, all the magical things formed by the constant mutation of genes.
This is the theory of one of the top students from Cambridge (although it doesn't look very smart and the theory comes out of thin air), that the mysterious area is a prism that reflects all the genes in it, and the cell seems to join that when it replicates itself. The raw materials of colorful psychedelics are the same, constantly mutating, such as the changing shape of the teeth in the mouth of the crocodile, the flowers of various shapes growing from a root system, two deer with similar postures, and even another self.
However, if you want to be serious, this movie is really lacking in this aspect. For example, except for the scenes it deliberately shows, most of the mysterious areas are actually overgrown places, such as this screenshot. , the little flowers on the left are not as colorful as before, and this does not conform to the argument that "the deeper you go into the central area, the more severe the mutation will be".
But of course, this setting is still interesting, and because of the addition of extraterrestrial elements, the "gene mutation" in it has far exceeded the meaning of the word, otherwise there will be no changes in palm prints and bugs. Peristaltic bowels too.
Of course, not only that, this prism is not only refracting the DNA of each species itself, but also constantly mixing the DNA of different species with each other. The big bear is a good example. Eat, just kill), Kathy's last cry of despair is still preserved.
And the most beautiful scene in the whole article is that after the psychologist blew himself up in a weird pose, the beautiful light group recreates another scene of Lena, which is really an unknown beyond cognition, and Whether it is mystery or horror, using the unknown as a carrier is undoubtedly the best choice.
4. The reunion of two lost souls
I don't know why the scene between Lena and the replicant always felt a little less tension in the plot. In my imagination, it should be that the replicator is gradually approaching Lena's form every second. It was only before the phosphorescent bomb was fired that the replica revealed Lena's appearance, which had only been imitating her. In addition, if two people dance together, it is beautiful, but once they fight, it is not vulgar.
As for the last scene of the movie, the two copied aliens meet each other. In fact, there is a hint at the beginning of the film. Even though the copied person has enough memory, appearance and posture, he is asked a lot of questions. When they do, they will answer "I don't know", and this cold attitude is their commonality.
And everyone will ask, didn't the heroine burn the replicator before? That lighthouse has indeed fallen. If this is a clone, where is the real heroine?
This is very similar to the previous "City of Extreme Cold". All the stories are actually told in the first person by the heroine, so the ending and development of the story, what is hidden, the listener is actually Unknown.
Another interesting point is that there is a memory of Lena and Kane in the first half of the movie. The heroine is saying that if her cells are free of defects and will not age, then she can stay young forever, and both of them can To achieve immortality, and at the end of the film, the two actually have some kind of mutated DNA, so does their new DNA eliminate the defects of aging? We don't know either.
5. But it's not just the soul that annihilates
The overall analysis of the film has come to an end, let's talk about the gap between the film and the original.
One of the most shocking scenes in the first part of the original work was about "annihilation". The annihilation in the movie is explained very concisely, that is, the constantly mutated cells in the body will make people ashes, but the word "annihilation" actually has other meanings in the original work.
This is to mention a setting deleted from the movie: hypnosis.
Yes, it was actually mentioned in the movie that a few members of the team lost their memory of the first few days, but this foreshadowing was never picked up again. In the original work, all the team members knew and willingly were hypnotized by the psychologist. It is said that it can "pacify the mind and reduce the tension of crossing the border", and the psychologist has actually been using her hypnosis to stop accidents and even let the team members enter dangerous places.
And the heroine in the novel gradually became immune to hypnosis because she accidentally came into contact with a substance in the mysterious area, so she could see the team control performed by psychologists through this method, and she herself was afraid of psychologists Let everyone attack him together, so he pretended to be hypnotized.
In the later part of the story, the differences between the people became bigger and bigger, and it was almost a state of hostility. Under the lighthouse, when the psychologist was dying, he saw the arrival of the heroine and said the word "annihilation".
And "annihilation" is the phrase in her hypnosis to control people's suicide.
Not only the soul is destroyed, but the body as well.
6. Human fears and the unknown
It can be seen that what is deliberately exaggerated in the original work is not how terrifying the mutant monsters are, but the intrigue between people's hearts. Under such semi-closed conditions, people's hearts change day by day.
The movie also omitted a very important scene in the original book: the underground tower.
It is a tower that continues to go underground, echoing the lighthouse. If the lighthouse represents the traces left by the predecessors and is a heritage, the underground tower is a completely mysterious existence.
Similarly, everyone in the original book has no names, only code names such as "psychologist", "linguist", and "psychologist". This simplified title makes the entire team functional and weird.
And the original work is through these mysterious and unknown things to render the terrifying atmosphere, which is still one step higher than the mutated big bear.
In any case, if you don’t talk about the adaptation and only talk about the quality of this film, this is still a relatively good sci-fi film, but the result of abandoning the usual popcorn blockbuster scenes will inevitably be that the audience will be greatly limited (Blade Runner 2049 and the same reason). There is no way to do this. I can only hope that the audience's viewing taste will improve, but I still hope that there will be more such a relatively pure sci-fi without so many explosions and fights every year. Some works take us to the unknown beyond cognition.
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