Text / Levin
saw Paul Anderson's name on the director's column, and I was instantly happy. This is not the Michael Bay of Hollywood's "quasi-A" blockbuster! They are all eight-level mechanics in the popcorn blockbuster assembly line who have been scolded to death by film critics 100 times, but are heavily favored by Hollywood filmmakers! The commercial blockbusters of these two masters are often unremarkable stories, but the big scenes are the conscience of the Hollywood industry. When you watch a blockbuster like "The Lone Ranger" with an investment of about 200 million, you can't see enough quality. The huge scenes, when I wondered where the director spent all the money, but these two masters' blockbusters can clearly let you see the sound of every penny thrown out, "The Last Day of Pompeii" " also belongs to this kind of "special effects conscience blockbuster" with "no surprises in the story, and the scene supports the facade"!
Although Hollywood blockbusters are all marketed globally, there are actually differences in emphasis between "domestic" and "international". For example, the "Twilight" series and "The Hunger Games" series, although they also have global popularity, are actually still based on As long as the US market is the mainstay, as long as the box office potential of the US market is fully tapped, making money is a foregone conclusion, and you don’t need to care too much about the international box office. And old comrades such as Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis and other domestic and international strong comrades, as well as the "Resident Evil" series of quasi-A or B-level action films, knowing that it is difficult to return to the domestic market, they will We should think more about how to make money both domestically and internationally. Therefore, such "internationally-oriented" films often attach great importance to better meeting the needs of international audiences in terms of stories, stars, special effects, etc. To put it bluntly, the stars need more people to know, the story is not unique but clear, and the more special effects scenes, the better. And "The Last Day of Pompeii" is undoubtedly a standard "international" film. When it was released in the United States, no one was optimistic. The final domestic box office of 23 million was far from the investment of 100 million US dollars, so the film's The return on capital and making money basically depend on the international market, so the film has a very distinctive "international orientation" feature in all aspects.
First of all, the story of this film is basically equivalent to "Gladiator" + "Titanic" + "Titanic", and strive to gather the selling points of these world-renowned films to enhance the hit rate of the audience's interest points for various tastes. Since this film is about how the city of Pompeii was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, it is natural to imagine the special effects of the volcanic eruption like "Cracked Earth". As for the part like "Gladiator", it is because the historical background of this film happens to be the Roman Empire era, and the Roman Empire era has only two selling points in commercial blockbusters, one is the Roman legion, the other is a gladiator, but the original The film just chose "Gladiator" to weave the plot. The male protagonist is set to be a Celtic from the island of Great Britain. When he was a child, he witnessed the tribal people being slaughtered by the Roman legion. Later, he was trained by local slave owners as gladiator slaves. After more than ten years, he became a super-class gladiator. In order to curry favor with the Roman dignitaries, the slave owners sent the male protagonist from the island of Great Britain to Pompeii, near Rome, to perform gladiatorial fighting in the arena. On the way, he met a noble girl who returned to Pompeii from Rome. Later, he tamed the noble girl's beloved horse. His handsome face and unyielding heart moved the noble girl, and the two fell in love. But a prominent congressman came to Pompeii from Rome with only one purpose, that is, to marry the noble girl. The male protagonist recognized him as the Roman general who killed his family back then, and the councilor also saw that the noble girl was interested in the gladiator slave, so he decided to put him to death in the arena. Look, a rich girl, a poor boy, and a jealous fiancé, isn't this the setting of "Titanic"?
Although the starring actors of this film are not big names in Hollywood, they are not even in the second tier, but they are all well-known familiar faces in the world. Harrington, who plays the villain, the Roman Congressman, is Kiefer Sutherland from "24 Hours". At first, I wondered why the heroine asked Emily Browning to play. Her popularity is obviously not on the same level as the other stars in the film, and her small body is completely insulated from "sexy", and her appearance is not high. But when the uncle Kiefer Sutherland went out and chased her, I suddenly realized why I chose her. Emily Browning's most well-known film so far is Zach Snyder's "Otaku Movie" and "Beautiful Girl", in which she plays loli seduction. It turns out that "The Last Pompeii" uses Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Browning are the same "Uncle Lolita" tricks as "Beautiful Girl", are they all to win over otaku? In addition, the role of the heroine's parents, which anyone can play, also found Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss to play, what? Not familiar with these two names? You must be familiar with the face!
In addition to the above stars and familiar faces, the main selling points of the film are gladiator fights and volcanic eruption disaster scenes. The gladiator fights are quite satisfactory and have a certain degree of visibility, but there are not many advantages to be said. The real selling point of the film is the volcanic cataclysm that destroyed Pompeii. In fact, from the very beginning, the film has repeatedly used the panoramic shot of Pompeii created by special effects to create a large-scale momentum, and there is also a special effect of the subsidence before the eruption of the volcano, which can also convince people that the special effects level of the film is not a problem. When the climax of the volcanic eruption at the end comes, it is even more obvious that the film's $100 million production budget has been hit hard, and the level of special effects is no less than that of any top Hollywood blockbuster. Moreover, the layered design of the disaster scene is also very clear. First, when the volcano spewed thick smoke, the entire Pompeii began to fissure, the arena began to collapse, people rushed to escape, and many people fell into the cracks of the subsidence. Then, when the first eruption erupted, flames and stones began to spread throughout the city. People and buildings were constantly being hit. People fled to the pier to escape by boat. . Then, the crustal changes caused by the volcanic eruption triggered a tsunami, and the huge waves rushed towards the people on the pier. Countless people were engulfed by the huge waves, and the survivors ran into the inner city only to rely on the city wall to block the huge waves. At this time, the volcanic ash fell like rain, and there was a brief calm. The hero took this opportunity to save the heroine and launched a final chase and duel with the villain. In the end, after a period of calm brewing, the volcano ushered in a real eruption. It was so powerful and unstoppable that no one could escape from Pompeii wherever the smoke went. In the special effects climax scene of the volcanic eruption at the end, whether it is thick smoke, flames, flying stones, huge waves, or city destruction, wall collapse, house collapse, and ground subsidence, they are all presented in front of the audience with extremely realistic effects. It can be seen as a historical documentary about the destruction of Pompeii. In the absence of Hollywood's top disaster film this year, the disaster scenes in this film can definitely meet the viewing needs of disaster movie lovers!
For real-time reviews of movies and American dramas, please follow my Weibo http://weibo.com/dusheliewen
View more about Pompeii reviews
