Hancock 街頭超人

Hancock 動作喜劇是我最愛看的片種﹐雖然明知沒有什麼養份﹐但總是看得很開心過癮。《街頭超人》今年暑假的重頭戲﹐角色彷彿為黑人男星Will Smith度身訂造﹐環顧荷里活的一線男演員﹐也想不出有什麼人比他更適合演這個爛仔超人。這套電影完全顛覆超級英雄的定義﹐從著紅底褲的原祖超人﹐到蛛 蜘俠和蝙蝠俠﹐每個超級英雄總是很在意自己的英雄形像。這個流岷超人則完全相反﹐爛身爛世活像個流浪漢﹐大白天還拿著酒喝個叮銘大醉。他每次出動救人﹐不 是打爛高路便是撞毀大廈﹐總是帶來巨大破壞﹐市民真是多得他不少。

故事開場到中段很搞笑有趣﹐話說街頭超人有次救了個當形像顧問的公關。 公關為了報恩決定要改變世人對街頭超人的壞印象﹐將超人塑造成一個人見人愛的超級英雄。當世界唾棄街頭超人的時候﹐只有公關看出超人那顆渴望別人關注的 心。街頭超人自願入獄參加更新療程﹐從一個不顧他人的野蠻人﹐漸漸學習做一個值得景仰的英雄﹐是罐很典型溫暖感人的荷里活雞湯。電影反轉我們對超級英雄的 認知﹐引發不少輕鬆幽默的笑料。中段街頭超人洗心革面出獄﹐打倒打劫銀行的恐怖份子﹐贏得群眾和警隊的獎聲是全戲的高潮。可惜後半段的戲本完全脫力﹐忽然 間公關的老婆變成女超人﹐街頭超人又突然間失去超能力﹐碰巧仇家又懂在這個時候找上門報仇。編劇本想把電影結尾推上高潮﹐但完全沒有令觀眾期待的效果﹐好 像街頭超人想飛﹐但飛不起拍一聲跌在地上。最後在醫院不知所謂的混戰﹐公關大發神威變狂劈壞人﹐男女超人原本要死又齊吐便當﹐令到結局很牽強凌亂﹐白白浪 費初段構建搭好的劇情。

每個超級英雄也需要壞人的襯托﹐旗鼓相當的壞人是超級英雄一半魅力的所在。街頭超人就是欠缺了這個重要的配菜﹐看 起來總是覺得少了點什麼。若夾硬要說電影前半段的壞人﹐是流岷超人自己的壞習情﹐不顧他人感受﹐酗酒﹐沒有責任感等等。其實這也是一般人也要克服的困難﹐ 看著街頭超人努力地改過自身﹐雖然沒有刺激的動作打鬥﹐但至少可以引起觀眾的共鳴。很半部對付街頭超人的壞人也太不成氣候﹐不過是三個給街頭超人玩耍捉拿 的賊仔﹐除了普通武器外毫無危險性。最後還要給沒有超能力的公關﹐兩三下手腳砍死擺平﹐這個反高潮式結局不禁令人失望。至於公關老婆忽然變成女超人﹐更是 對劇情完全沒有關係。她與街頭超人的千年之戀原意應是感動人﹐但婆婆媽媽講得不清不楚﹐倒不如砍掉重鍊﹐想過另外一個橋段讓流岷超人失去超能力。或許這套 電影在中段完結﹐讓街頭超人贏大家的掌聲作結局﹐比夾硬拖長加入新劇情的結局更好。

Back to India

I am back in India for two weeks.  I am not very excited, but work is work.  This time I am taking dragon air and make the transfer in Hong Kong.  The new 777 from Air Canada is pretty comfortable, the seat is wider and it has power sockets.  I can keep my laptop charged and use it for the whole trip.  The wait for transfer is 4 hours, so my dad came to the airport and I went outside of the restrict area to have dinner with him.  On my flight from Hong Kong to Banagalore, I think I am the only Chinese on the plane, except the air hostress.  I can’t believe a flight flying out of HK, running by a HK airline has no Chinese passenagers.

I touch down on the new Bangalore airport.  It is much better than the old airport.  From afar, it is pretty up to world wide standard.  Although things still a bit shady when you look closer.  Like the roof is not properly sealed, the door is kinda flimsy.  There are no hawker trying carry your luggage and charge you a ridiculous fee.  The custom has more counters, compare to only 2 counters in the old airport.  No more tuck-tuck waiting outside trying to fish passengers Any how, it is still quite impressive.  The new airport is far away from the city, so there a nice highway going into town.  The highway is lit and has line on the ground.  Other than occasional speed bump in the middle of no where and stop signs that everyone ignores, it is on par with newly developed countries like Taiwan or Korea.  As I was praising the construction and though Indian has finally start getting better, the highway just ends.  Yes, the highway ends abruptly and become a grave road right before entering the city.  The airport highway is not connecting to any major road in the city, it just ends on the outer skirt of the city that goes no where.  Ok, India is still India.  It’s still not quite there yet.

The Talented Mr. Ripley 心計

Talented Mr. Ripley《心計》是一套我想看了很久的舊片﹐若果我沒有記錯﹐這片子入選IMDB最經典電影的前十名。劇情片一向不是我的那杯茶﹐我喜歡這套電影是少數的例外﹐大 慨一致公認的好戲絕非浪得虛名。我手頭上沒有資料﹐這部電影是麥迪文的成名作吧。那時的麥迪文初出道﹐是很有文藝氣質的男演員﹐與今天那個動作片巨星完全 不同。不過唯一不變的是他的招牌笑容﹐總是露出那排潔白整齊的大板牙。

這套電影發生在三十年代﹐麥迪文飾演的窮小子假扮名校學生演奏﹐富 翁誤以為他是兒子的朋友﹐聘請他去意大利帶那個離家出走的不俏子回家。這套電影的英名原名叫《天材的韋利先生》﹐除了彈得一手好琴外﹐麥迪文飾演的韋利還 有一項特別的材能﹐就是模仿別人的筆跡和說話。他到了意大利後﹐發現富翁的兒子靠著老父每月給的大筆零用錢﹐過著整天游手好閒的二世祖生活﹐於是韋利生起 冒充富翁兒子的念頭。劇情在兩人的關係上有點複雜﹐韋利疑似同性戀上富翁的兒子﹐我也看不明白是出於妒忌才起殺念﹐還是從一開始就打算幹掉他取而代之。電 影最精彩的地方在於謊言越滾越滾﹐從開始說第一個謊言﹐開始殺第一個人開始﹐便要繼續說謊殺人去掩飾真相。每次當韋利的謊言差不多被揭穿時﹐他總能憑機智 和運氣返凶化吉。這樣觀眾一直追看著﹐不禁想到底這個謊言如何收科。結局扭橋很出人意表﹐到最後也不知道韋利能否逃脫﹐不過我認為未免有點過份巧合。

麥 迪文演韋利這個角色很傳神﹐他能夠端摩角色複雜的心理。韋利本身不似是壞人﹐他若有心殺死富翁兒子﹐早已有很多次機會下手。至於韋利是不是同性戀﹐電影沒 有正面交代﹐觀眾只能憑諸絲馬跡去推敲。只是就算他是同性戀﹐也沒有理由會愛上二世祖。二世祖有固定女友﹐亦有逢場作興的女人﹐很明顯性取向正常。韋利在 意大利小鎮找到二世祖後﹐跟著他生活了一段時間﹐期明二世祖對韋利也不是特別好﹐不過是平水相交的酒肉朋友﹐很難理解韋利會愛上一個不值得愛的人。唯一的 解釋是韋利想冒充二世祖﹐把自己的心理過份代入身份﹐思想產生混亂抽離不到感情﹐所以才錯誤以為自己愛上他。說起來富翁兒子其實死有餘辜﹐他是個只懂玩樂 對社會沒有貢獻的寄生蟲﹐那種人死了對世界也沒什麼損失。其實以韋利冒充他人身份的材能﹐用來殺個二世祖冒充簽名提取少許現金﹐實在浪費了他的材能。與其 羨慕二世祖的生活﹐以韋利的充冒他人身份的天材﹐他大可以在黑道混個不錯的生活﹐犯不著冒這麼大險去扮二世祖騙零用錢。在電影中韋利說他原本是藉藉無聞的 窮小子﹐冒充二世祖可以給他一個高貴的身份。不過他看來選錯了冒充對像﹐二世祖也同樣是藉藉無聞的路人﹐只不過每月多點零用錢罷了。

第一誡

First Rule 不計與大陸合資拍攝的古裝武打片﹐我很久沒有看過正宗港產片。其實我完全沒有聽過《第一誡》這套電影﹐不過看見余文樂加鄭伊健﹐海報上「第一誡﹕世 界上沒有鬼」的標題很吸引﹐便破例下載回來看看。港產商業電影雖然沒有什麼深度﹐沒有什麼藝術性﹐不過這套電影娛樂性很豐富﹐驚嚇懸疑俱備完全合乎我的期望。

故事有點像香港版的X檔案﹐警員余文樂在追捕變態殺手時受傷﹐傷瘉後被調往專門處理靈異時件的雜務科。鄭伊健是雜務科的頭目﹐在余文樂轉職的 第一天﹐就告訴他雜務科的第一誡﹕世界上沒有鬼。說穿了雜務科的工作就是用看似合理的解釋謊言﹐去掩飾異靈現像的真相﹐以免做成公眾恐慌。以鬼片來說﹐ 《第一誡》的氣氛處理做得十分出色﹐有幾場戲我也幾乎被嚇到。不過整體上有很大的違和感﹐中段調查幾個枉死的善良幽靈令人希噓﹐尾段劇情忽然來個急轉彎﹐ 突然變成追捕變態殺手化身的厲鬼。這套戲的結局很公式﹐當鄭伊健說自己還有兩日便退休時﹐其實編劇已宣告了他的死刑﹐觀眾知道他最後一定會領便當。原本以 為會像《驅魔人》的結局﹐變態鬼殺手殺掉劇中所有主要角色後﹐余文樂讓他上身與他同歸於盡。現在的開於式結局很模凌兩可﹐最後也不知道到底是誰幹掉誰。

這套戲的鬼魂設計原本有很大發揮空間﹐可惜為追求戲劇效果﹐失去合埋的平衡性。一個隨意出現的變態殺手﹐竟然在追捕過程中可以殺死無數路人﹐連主角兩個人最 後還一死一傷﹐鬼怪的力量未免太過厲害。若果鬼怪是這話厲害的話﹐雜務科也不用掩飾真相﹐香港早就淪變成鬼域了。開場時受害人少女變鬼救了余文樂﹐這條伏 線在結局時沒用白白浪費掉。在中段出場那些善良的鬼魂﹐會軟弱求助也會留戀世界﹐讓觀眾感到鬼和人其實沒有分別。可是後來的變態殺手變成厲鬼後魔力大增﹐ 與他在生時的窩囊相完全不乎。若果壞人死後會變害人的厲鬼﹐怎麼鄭伊健死後又不會變成保護市民的正義鬼。鄭伊健有場戲對余文樂說﹐鬼怪不容於這個 信奉科學理性的世界﹐所以雜務科才要為公界掩飾真相。很明顯編劇完全誤解了科學的意義﹐科學世界絕對可以容納未知的事物。只是我們要研究分析這些未知事件 ﹐理解背後的規律和定理﹐將未知的東西變為已知的事實。若果這個世界出現害人的鬼怪﹐科學精神不是對鬼怪乍看不見﹐而是要找出鬼怪的成因和解決鬼怪的方 法。隨便派兩個雜差去掩飾鬼怪出現﹐絕對不是科學理性應有的態度。

Election debate

On my way home tonight, I listened to the election debate on CBC radio.  This is my first time listen to any election debate live.  My first impression is we have too many political parties in Canada.  The debate is too crowed with all five leaders trying to talk or yell at the same time.  I don’t think debate help the voters at all.  The candidate simply restating their policy in the debate, voters already know those information from newspaper.  It seems the candidates of all the opposite parties only know how to attack the party in control of the government.  Occasionally they present some bits and pieces of their own policy, but somehow you sense their math do not add up and some of the policies are even contradicting with each other.  The current prime minister is not much better.  He never response to those attack directly, just restating what the government had done in that area.

Each party claim they have a platform, but the platforms are just some empty slogans.  Voters don’t get much information how things will turn out.  All we know is when they are elected, they promise to spend how much money on this or on that, tax cut or tax raise here and there.  Never mind those are just election promises that never intended to keep.  Even if the elected keep their promise, no one knows whether the maths adds up, whether or not those promises feasible at all?  No wonder the public don’t feel much interest in politics, no one is addressing any real issues.  They are not even debating, there is no communication, they are just talking their own stuff.  Maybe we should change the format of the debate.  Instead of having a round table debate, we should have a series of round robin debate, putting the leaders head to head with each other.  Allow them to focus their attack and give them enough time to unmask the bullshit of the other party.

Elizabeth May of the Green Party and Layton of NDP seems to be the best talker in the debate.  It is much easier to irresponsible policy that appeals to everyone than a sound policy that actually works.  Harper of the Conservative may not be the best speaker in the debate, but he is the only one quote real statistic to back up his policy.  Other candidates rely on stories or anecdote to sell their ideas.  I think using number alone worth giving Harper some credits over the other candidates.