James Cameron's Avatar takes place on a planet called Pandora, where American corporations and their military mercenaries have set up bases to mine a surpassingly precious mineral called unobtanium. The vein of awe mined by the movie is nothing short of unbelievium. This is a new way of coming to your senses -- put those 3-D glasses on your face and you come to a sense of delight that quickly gives way to a sense of astonishment. The planetary high doesn't last. The closer the story comes to a lumbering parable of colonialist aggression in the jungles of an extragalactic Vietnam, the more the enchantment fizzles. Much of the time, though, you're transfixed by the beauty of a spectacle that seems all of a piece. Special effects have been abolished, in effect, since the whole thing is so special.
詹姆斯·卡梅隆導演的影片《阿凡達》講述的故事發生在一個名叫“潘多拉”的星球上，美國企業及其雇傭兵在那里建造基地，開采一種名為unobtanium的珍貴礦物元素。影片中令人驚嘆以至難以置信的特效比比皆是。這是一種全新的感官體驗──戴上3D眼鏡，逼真的場景一開始讓你覺得心曠神怡，但很快就被驚訝之情取代。波瀾壯闊的宇宙場景并沒有讓觀眾陶醉很長時間，隨著故事情節的深入，你越來越覺得這是發生在銀河系外的一場越南戰爭，沉重的寓意讓起初的激動心情逐漸消退。不過，在大多數時間里，你會沉浸在逼真得無懈可擊的壯觀場景之中。可以這么說，這部影片沒有特技效果，因為整部片子就是個大特效。
The word "avatar" wasn't invented by Mr. Cameron, though everything else in the production seems to have been. (With the help, that is, of a few thousand colleagues around our own planet.) In Hindu myth, an avatar is a deity descended to earth in human form. In computer parlance it's an icon that represents a person in virtual reality or cyberspace. In the movie it's a manufactured body that's remotely controlled -- not by some hand-held clicker but through brain waves generated by a human being who functions as the body's driver.
雖然影片中的一切似乎都出自卡梅隆的想象力（當然，還要加上我們這個星球上幾千名電影工作者的共同努力），但“阿凡達”這個詞并非他自創出來的。在印度神話中，阿凡達是一位以人形降臨地球的神祗；阿凡達也是個電腦術語，指在虛擬實境中互動地呈現一個人。在這部影片中，阿凡達指的是一具能被遠程控制的合成身體──不是通過某種手動控制器，而是通過人的腦電波進行，這個人的所思所想驅動身體的活動。
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If this sounds technobabbly in the description, it's dazzling in the execution. The main driver-to-be -- or, rather, animating spirit-to-be -- is an ex-Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) whose combat injuries have left him confined to a wheelchair. He's part of a scientific program run by a tough cookie named Grace Augustine; she's played by Sigourney Weaver. The program has begun to explore Pandora, whose atmosphere is toxic to earthlings, using avatars with recombinant DNA -- part human, part alien -- constructed along the lines of the planet's dominant species; they're very tall, very blue, Giacometti-slender and Superman-agile. The movie offers several lyrical passages, but one of the best belongs to Jake. It's when he inhabits his avatar for the first time and discovers that his new legs can take his lithe new body through some of the most sublime scenery on not-Earth.
這聽上去感覺是枯燥的技術，但體現在銀幕上則讓人目眩神迷。那具身體的駕駛員──或者說那具身體的靈魂──是一個退役海軍陸戰隊員杰克?薩利（Jake Sully，薩姆?沃辛頓Sam Worthington飾演）。他在以前的戰斗中負傷，只能被困在輪椅上。杰克參加了一個科研項目，負責人是一個名叫格雷絲?奧古斯汀（Grace Augustine，西格妮?韋弗Sigourney Weaver飾演）的女強人。該項目開始了對潘多拉星的探索，但這個星球的空氣對人類有毒，因此只能使用以人類DNA與外星生物DNA合成的阿凡達。阿凡達的身體克隆了潘多拉星的主流種族，一種身材高大的藍色類人生物，擁有瑞士超現實主義雕塑家賈柯梅蒂(Giacomett)作品中的那種優美線條，還有如同超人一般的敏捷身手。影片中有幾段如歌如泣般的動人場景，其中最美的一段當屬杰克。當他第一次控制阿凡達時，發現自己新的雙腿可以帶著這具輕快的新身體穿越潘多拉這個外星星球最壯麗的大好河山。
No description of that scenery will spoil the experience of the 3-D process (which dispenses with the usual eye-catching tricks) or the seamless integration of live action, motion-capture, animation, computer-generated images and whatever other techniques went into the mix -- maybe witchcraft or black magic. (I haven't seen the IMAX version; that's for my next viewing.) Some of the flora suggest an anhydrous Great Barrier Reef (airborne jellyfish, coral-colored conical plants that spiral down to almost-nothingness when touched) or, in the case of Pandora's floating mountains, represent an homage to the Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki. As for the fauna, they're not only prodigiously varied -- flamboyant dragons, six-legged steeds, elephantine chargers with heads like battering rams, nature-blue in tooth and claw -- but creatures with convincing lives of their own, unlike the cheerfully bizarre creations that filled the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars.
再怎么用文字形容，都無法比擬3D影像所呈現出來的絢麗恢宏，3D影像根本無須通常那些吸引觀眾眼球的視覺小把戲。將種種特效天衣無縫地融為一體──擬真感、動作捕捉、動畫效果、虛擬人物制作以及各種各樣的技術元素──這簡直就是巫術或黑魔法。（我還沒看過IMAX的版本，這是我接下來的觀影計劃。）影片中的一些植物景觀就像是沒有水的大堡礁（在空中飛翔的水母，用手一碰就會旋轉并幾乎化為虛無的珊瑚色圓錐型植物），潘多拉星那些漂浮的山脈，彷佛是在向日本動畫大師宮崎駿致敬。潘多拉星的動物種群異常豐富，耀眼的龍，六條腿的馬，有著藍色牙齒和爪子、頭像個大槌的笨重動物等等，而且這些動物擁有各自的生活習性，彷佛真的存在一樣，不像電影《星球大戰》里的那個莫斯?艾斯雷 (Mos Eisley)酒吧，里頭都是一些奇形怪狀的搞笑外星生物。
Then there are the indigenes, the French term for natives being appropriate because Pandora evokes the Indochina that existed before France's doomed war against an indigenous insurgency, as well as the Vietnam that became a battleground for American troops. They're called the Na'vi, and to describe them as humanoid may be to defame them, inasmuch as they, unlike most of the film's Americans, revere their planet and live in harmony with their surroundings. The most beautiful of the Na'vis -- at least the one with the most obvious star quality -- is a female warrior named Neytiri. As most of our planet already knows from the publicity, Jake falls for her in a big but complicated way.
還有潘多拉星的土著(indigene)，indigene這個詞出自法語，用在這里很合適，因為潘多拉星就像是民族獨立運動遭到法國武裝鎮壓前的印度支那半島，或是成為美國士兵戰場的越南。這里的土著叫做Na'vi，說他們是類人生物也許是對其的一種貶低，因為和影片中的絕大多數美國人不一樣，他們保護自己的星球，與大自然和諧共處。Na'vi人中最美的、至少最具明星潛質的是一個名叫內提莉(Neytiri)的女戰士，正如地球人通過各種宣傳所知道的那樣，杰克對她一見鐘情難以自拔，而又復雜莫名。
Big because Neytiri, as played by Zoe Saldana, is so alluring -- cerulean-skinned, lemon-eyed, wasp-waisted, long-tailed, anvil-nosed, wiggly-eared (trust me, it's all seductive) and given to feral snarls in the heat of battle. But complicated because Jake is secretly working both sides of the jungle. He's in love with Neytiri, and soon embraces her people's values. (Yes, there's circumstantial evidence that Mr. Cameron knows about "Dances With Wolves," along with "Tarzan," "Green Mansions," "Frankenstein," "Princess Mononoke," "South Pacific," "Spartacus" and "Top Gun.") At the same time, Jake is spying for a gimlet-eyed military commander, Col. Miles Quaritch. (Stephen Lang proves that broad, cartoony acting can also be good acting.) The evil colonel has promised the ex-Marine a procedure that will restore the use of his paralyzed legs in exchange for information that will help chase the Na'vi from their sacred land, which happens to be the only place where unobtainium can be obtained.
難以自拔是因為佐伊?薩爾達娜(Zoe Saldana)飾演的內提莉風情萬種──天藍色的肌膚、檸檬般的眼睛、黃蜂一樣的細腰、長長的尾巴、鐵鉆般的鼻梁、會扭動的耳朵（相信我，這些都很迷人），還有戰斗時發出的那種兇猛吼叫。復雜莫名是因為杰克是一個行走于無間道的地下工作者。他和內提莉相愛，很快就接受了她族人的價值觀。（沒錯，有間接證據表明，導演卡梅隆看過《與狼共舞》、《人猿泰山》、《綠廈》、《科學怪人》、《幽靈公主》、《南太平洋》、《斯巴達克斯》和《壯志凌云》等影片。）與此同時，杰克在為一個目光銳利的指揮官米爾斯?夸里奇(Miles Quaritch)上校刺探情報。（飾演該角色的斯蒂芬?郎(Stephen Lang)證明，廣義的卡通式表演也能展示優秀的演技。）邪惡的上校答應杰克，只要找到能將Na'vi人趕出其圣地的情報，就可以替杰克治好癱瘓的雙腿。Na'vi人的圣地正好是唯一出產珍稀礦物元素unobtainium的地方。
It's no reflection on Mr. Worthington or Ms. Saldana, both of whom are impressive -- though how, exactly, do you judge such high-tech hybrid performances? -- that their interspecies love story lacks the heat of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet clinging to each other on the storm-swept decks of "Titanic." Teenage girls will not return to see this film half a dozen times or more unless they possess a rogue gene for wigglable ears. But then "Avatar" revises the relationship between everyone in the audience and the characters on screen. Actors have always been avatars; they've always represented our hopes and fears in the virtual reality of motion pictures. In much of this film, however, they've been transformed by technology into a new and ambiguous breed of entertainment icon -- not the quasihuman denizens of "The Wizard of Oz," or the overgrown glove puppets of "The Polar Express," but nearly palpable fantasy figures that inhabit a world just beyond our reach.
我不想評論沃辛頓和薩爾達娜的演技，他們都給人留下深刻印象，但你如何去評判融合各種高科技的演技呢？兩人之間的異族愛情故事缺乏萊昂納多?迪卡普里奧和凱特?溫絲萊特在《泰坦尼克號》甲板前端迎風依偎的激情，十幾歲的女孩子不會一遍遍地去重溫這部電影，除非她們自己也是耳朵會扭來扭去的Na'vi人。不過，《阿凡達》改變了觀眾和銀幕角色之間的互動關系。演員一直就是某種形式上的阿凡達，在電影的虛幻世界里替我們感受希望和恐懼。然而，在這部影片中，演員被高科技轉變成一群全新而又模糊不清的娛樂符號，既不是《綠野仙蹤》里的擬人角色，也不是《極地特快》中的放大版手套娃娃，而是存在于一個虛擬世界但逼真得幾乎觸手可及的幻想人物。
The fantasy quotient of "Avatar" takes its first major hit when the Na'vi take their first hit from the American military. Mr. Cameron has devoted a significant chunk of his movie to a dark, didactic and altogether horrific evocation of Vietnam, complete with napalm, Agent Orange and helicopter gunships (one of which is named Valkyrie in a tip of the helmet to "Apocalypse Now.") Whatever one may think of the politics of this antiwar section, two things can be said with certainty: it provokes an adrenaline rush (what that says of our species is another matter), and it feels a lot better when it's over.
《阿凡達》的迷幻特質給觀眾帶來的首次視覺沖擊始于美國士兵向Na'vi人打響的第一槍。導演卡梅隆在影片中用很大篇幅表現了黑暗、恐怖而富有寓意的戰爭場景，讓人想起越戰。片中既有凝固汽油彈和橙劑(Agent Orange)化學品，又有武裝直升機的肆虐掃射（其中一架直升機名為女武神(Valkyri)，靈感來自《現代啟示錄》(Apocalypse Now)中主角在瓦格納的“Valkyries”曲下，將彈藥源源不斷地向越南人的陣地上掃射與轟炸的經典鏡頭）。不管觀眾對這段反戰思想濃厚的部分怎么想，有兩件事情是肯定的：一是場面讓人熱血沸騰（至于這反映出我們這個種族存在什么問題，我就不在這里討論了），二是場景結束后給人一種如釋重負的感覺。
Other narrative problems intrude. For all its political correctness about the goodness of the Na'vis, "Avatar" lapses into lurid savage rituals, complete with jungle drums, that would not have seemed out of place in the first "King Kong." While Ms. Weaver's performance is a strong one, it isn't clear what her character is doing as an avatar, or how the Na'vi perceive her. What couldn't be clearer, though, is that Mr. Cameron's singular vision has upped the ante for filmed entertainment, and given us a travelogue unlike any other. I wouldn't want to live on Pandora, mainly because of the bad air, but I'm glad to have paid it a visit.
在故事闡述上，影片也存在一些問題。雖然《阿凡達》正面塑造了Na'vi人的正義和高尚，卻讓他們沉迷于蠻荒的祭祀儀式，叢林鼓樂貫穿始終，這種場景放在第一部《金剛》電影里似乎更合適。韋弗在片中飾演一個阿凡達，雖然她的演技是個亮點，但搞不懂這個角色到底有什么意義，以及Na'vi人如何看待她。然而，有一點毋庸置疑，卡梅隆的獨特視角為這部影片增添了更多的娛樂價值，給觀眾帶來一種無與倫比的有如旅行一般的感受。我不想住在潘多拉星上，主要是因為那里的空氣不好，但通過電影我彷佛身臨其境，這種感受還是很不錯的。
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（來源：新東方英語論壇 編輯：Julie）
