《霍比特人 五軍之戰》 比例怪異失調

“You are only quite a little fellow in a wide world, after all,” Gandalf reminds his companion at the end of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” The avuncular line has a cozy feel that evokes the bedtime-storytelling of J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 children’s classic — now better known as the trilogized prequel to a 21st-century fantasy phenomenon. Gandalf’s sentiment is also all too apt for Peter Jackson’s vexing conclusion to his oddly apportioned adaptation: Bilbo Baggins is indeed quite a little fellow in Mr. Jackson’s wide world here — less a central hero on a quest than a supporting player in a film bookended by destruction and war in gray, grim lands.

“在這廣大的世界上，你畢竟只是個小傢伙，”在《霍比特人：五軍之戰》(The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)結尾處，甘道夫(Gandalf)這樣提醒他的夥伴。這句長輩般慈愛的臺詞帶給人一種舒適安心的感覺，感覺就像J·R·R·托爾金(J. R. R. Tolkien)在牀邊講起這部1937年的童書經典。如今這個故事已經被改編爲21世紀奇幻電影現象級大作的三部曲前傳。而甘道夫的情緒也適用於彼得·傑克遜(Peter Jackson)這部改編作品令人惱火的結局，它的比例有些怪異地失調——在傑克遜宏偉的世界裏，比爾博·巴金斯(Bilbo Baggins)的確是一個小傢伙，在這部發生在陰鬱冷酷國土之中，以破壞開始，以戰爭終結的電影裏，他不像是一個探險的英雄，更像是裏面的一個小配角。

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” follows hot on the heels of last year’s film, with the dragon Smaug giving Lake-town its promised end by fiery devastation. It’s a rip-roaring opening spectacle of burning buildings and refugee villagers, with Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch with baroque cruelty) thundering over streets like a runaway bomber, until he is felled by Bard the bargeman. Bilbo (Martin Freeman) watches from a distance beside the dwarfs he traveled with to Erebor.

《霍比特人：五軍之戰》的情節緊跟去年的前作，巨龍史矛革給長湖鎮帶來了命中註定的大破壞。影片開頭是喧鬧的大場面，建築被燒燬，村民成爲難民，史矛革（本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇[Benedict Cumberbatch]配音，帶着奇異的殘忍）像失去控制的轟炸機一樣咆哮着飛過街道，最後被船伕巴德射殺。比爾博（馬丁·弗里曼[Martin Freeman]飾演）身在孤山，和矮人們在一起，他從遠處目睹了這一幕。

There, the headstrong leader Thorin Oakenshield will install himself in hoarding splendor, a slave to “that terrible need” for treasure. And so on, and so forth. Mr. Jackson returns to the variably hirsute action figures of Middle-earth for the latest, and presumably last, adventure. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) makes his way back to center stage from imprisonment, with Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee swooping in to lend supporting gravitas. The Elves and the Orcs converge on Erebor, as seemingly everyone — though especially Thorin — feels the pull of the dragon’s riches, which seem to attract all possible conflicting parties to the Lonely Mountain and neighboring Dale in dire preparation for the film’s title.

在孤山，剛愎自用的領袖索林·橡木盾置身財寶之中，成了對財富“狂熱渴求”的奴隸。之後發生了諸如此類的情節。在這部最新，或許也是最後的中土故事中，傑克遜再次回到頭髮鬍鬚蓬亂的角色大打出手的場面。甘道夫（伊恩·麥克凱倫[Ian McKellen]飾演）從囚困中脫身，返回舞臺中央，凱特·布倫切特(Cate Blanchett)和克里斯托弗·李(Christopher Lee)也加入進來，爲影片增色。精靈與半獸人匯聚孤山，似乎所有人——特別是索林——都感受到巨龍財富的誘惑，它吸引着一切有可能產生衝突的各種勢力來到孤山和附近的河谷鎮，以便湊齊影片標題中的“五軍之戰”。

Part of the problem with Mr. Jackson’s accordion-expanded “Hobbit” is just that gravitational pull: At the film’s core is not really the engaging Mr. Freeman as Bilbo, ever twitchingly alive, as you might expect. Instead, the story insists upon the hoary sentiment of filthy lucre’s overriding all reason and friendship, like an opera without song. Erebor is an imposing castlelike (or cathedral-like) stronghold, containing Thorin like a crazed Macbeth in the labyrinth of his desire, but outside, the gathering of armies feels like a hurry-up-and-wait stage setting by another cast of computer-generated thousands.

《霍比特人》被傑克遜大大加長了，它的問題可能有一部分是來自於其重心：影片的核心並不是集中在弗里曼飾演的比爾博身上，儘管如你所料，這個角色更加生動鮮明瞭。相反，這個故事建立在一種古老的情感之上：不義之財戰勝了所有理性與友誼，就像一首沒有歌詠的歌劇。威嚴的孤山像是一座城堡（或教堂）般的要塞，把索林拘禁在裏面，就像麥克白被拘禁在自己慾望的迷宮之中；但在外面，由電腦創造出來的成千上萬名“演員”匯聚爲一支支軍隊，形成迫不及待、躍躍欲試的場景。

When the Dwarfs, Elves and Orcs — those dumpy, evil forces that appear constantly to need the direction from their rabble-rousing leaders to go forth and “slay them all” — finally engage, Mr. Jackson’s massed set pieces shift between stirring visual salvos and general panoramic swarming. It’s only as individual good guys peel off for death-defying face-offs with Orcs on ledges that the routine violence crackles again with genuine danger and deft showmanship.

半獸人是一股身材矮小的邪惡勢力，通常需要在蠱惑人心的領導指引之下，才能集結起來“殺掉所有人”，如今，它們終於同矮人和精靈們開戰了。傑克遜的大場面景象在紛亂的視覺場面與擁擠的全景之間切換。只有當個別的正面角色挺身而出，蔑視死亡，與半獸人在礦脈中對峙的時刻，例行公事的暴力中才會再度閃現出真正的危險與精湛的演技。

What this adaptation of “The Hobbit” can’t avoid by its final installment is its predictability and hollow foundations. It’s been said before, but Mr. Jackson himself is still haunted by the past: For all the craft, there’s nothing here like the unity and force of “The Lord of the Rings,” which is positively steeped in mythology and features (wonder of wonders) rounder characterization than the scheduled revelations on display here. At times Mr. Jackson expects too much audience investment, whether in a perfunctory forbidden love between the elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and the dwarf Kili (Aidan Turner), or in the weak comic relief of a grabby Lake-town deputy who illustrates further venality.

改編版《霍比特人》的最後一部無法避免可預見性與空洞的基礎。這一點以前也曾被指出過，但傑克遜仍然沉浸在過去之中：雖然影片有着種種精湛的技巧，但不像《指環王》(The Lord of the Rings)那樣鮮明地浸淫在神話學之中，有着性格豐滿的人物（這堪稱奇蹟中的奇蹟），《五軍之戰》只是在堆砌按照計劃展示的東西，因此也就沒有《指環王》的統一性與力量。有時傑克遜對觀衆投入感情的程度期待過高，不管是精靈陶瑞爾（Tauriel，伊萬傑琳·莉莉[Evangeline Lilly]飾演）和矮人基利（艾丹·特納[Aidan Turner]飾）之間膚淺的禁忌之戀，抑或貪婪的長湖鎮副鎮長薄弱的喜劇穿插（他在這部影片中展示出更多的腐敗）。

It’s especially a shame since Mr. Jackson’s original knack for world building (not to mention the sense of humor in his early films) is often missing in the ever-proliferating superhero-franchise worlds that his own vastly successful endeavors no doubt helped encourage. Bilbo may fully learn a sense of friendship and duty, and have quite a story to tell, but somewhere along the way, Mr. Jackson loses much of the magic.

特別遺憾的是，傑克遜原本具有構建世界的技巧（更不必說他早期電影中的幽默感），卻往往迷失在不斷繁衍的超級英雄大片世界裏，而他自身的巨大成功對這個商業大片世界的形成又不無助益。比爾博或許學到了友誼與責任的意義，有了一個好故事可以講述，但在這個過程之中，傑克遜卻損失了很多原有的魔力。

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, per the title.

《霍比特人：五軍之戰》被標記爲PG-13級（強烈建議家長注意），如片名所言，有大量強烈的奇幻暴力場面。