【英语时差8,16】影评：终结者T4（下）

（单词翻译）

But like all technology, computer graphics¹ are dated the instant you pay for them. Take a dispassionate second look at “T2″ some time. The morphing metal man now looks quaint². Not so when he freezes and shatters, done via a model (Stan Winston again). But in terms of ideas, the series seems to be on a fatal slide. The first “Terminator” delighted in the intricacies of its time travel plot (maybe a little too much; SF writer Harlan Ellison sued, successfully proving that the film ripped off an earlier story by him). “T2″, while it layered excitement upon excitement like cheese upon bacon upon salt upon oil upon French fries, was awfully³ short on real feeling. The third “Terminator” we can skip. But you knew that. The new chapter works for a while, coasting on Christian⁴ Bale’s murderous focus. If this is your first “T” film, that performance will seem bizarre. But consider that Bale is playing John Connor, who grew up an orphan⁵, thinking his mother was psychotic, telling him Armageddon was coming in a year or two and human-looking killer⁶ robots would stalk him without end. Bale’s choice, to bring all his intensity⁷ to the surface was I supposed one way to make sense of this crazy character, but it’s overkill and a waste of Bale's energy. As much watched on YouTube, it also caused him to explode on set, revealing what a toll⁸ it takes on him for this to be his method of choice. Time to broaden out. So “T4″ works best in its opening and middle acts, when there’s very little dialog (”After all,it's better to close your mouth and be thought an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt”). If it had stayed lean to the end, maybe we would have given the film the benefit of the doubt. But in the third act, it all funnels⁹ down to a very traditional climax¹⁰ smothered¹¹ in nostalgia¹²; and when “Terminator – Salvation” opens its mouth to tell you what it’s about, its lack of ideas reveals it as so much less than the sum of its parts.