July 4: Will Smith's Holiday - TIME

July 4: Will Smith's Holiday
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1819466,00.html

Hancock is the superhero nobody likes. Oh, he can fly; his chest does repel point-blank bullets. And he saves people, averts catastrophe, stops bad guys from doing bad things. But Hancock has a personality defect: he's a horrible human being/deity. He guzzles way too much Royal Crown, which puts him in a perpetually bad mood and interferes with his self-aviation skills — the man is a drunk flyer. (And then he lands so hard on a street, he digs a ditch in the asphalt.) He wrecks everything he touches. When he's finished a mission, all of L.A. has become collateral damage. Once Hancock was summoned to the aid of a whale that had washed up on the beach. When he lifted the creature by its tail and tossed it back in the sea, it landed on a distant ship. "I don't remember that," he says to somebody, who replies, "Greenpeace does."

I just realized something. None of this matters. A critique of Hancock is an essay in irrelevance. It's Independence Day Week, and six times since 1996, that's meant a Will Smith movie — a mega-giga-gigantic hit. Independence Day; Men in Black; Wild Wild West; Men in Black II; I, Robot: He shows up, people line up. Thomas Jefferson used to own this holiday, but now the former Fresh Prince does. So why should critics even bother to review a new Will Smith movie? You'll go see it anyway.

It's my theory — and I have the stats to back me up — that Hollywood is in its first ever post-movie-star era. Big celebrity names no longer guarantee box-office hits. Casting dramatic stars like Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, etc., no longer guarantees a movie's commercial success; and the more reliable comedy stars, from Adam Sandler to Ben Stiller, lose much of their audiences when they try something a little different.

To all this, Smith would say ha, and rightly so, since he's the big exception. He actually deserves that overused epithet "the last movie star." For more than a decade, he's been immune to moviegoers' fickle fashions. His films have earned $4.5 billion worldwide. And except for his pro bono work in Ali (for which he won an Academy Award nomination) and Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance, every Will Smith movie has been a hit or smash, earning at least $100 million in North America and another $100 million or more abroad. Sometimes lots more.

Start with Independence Day: $306m at home, $511m abroad, for a worldwide $817m (back in 1996, when that was real money). The following year he did Men in Black: $251m at home, $339m abroad, for a total of $598m. Last year's I Am Legend — which earned $256m in the U.S. and Canada, $328m elsewhere, for $584m — was Smith's fifth consecutive movie to earn more than $300m worldwide, after I, Robot; Shark Tale; Hitch; and The Pursuit of Happyness. No actor can come within geshrei-ing distance of those numbers. Certainly nobody who's lured crowds to different genres. He's made action films, romances, heart-tuggers, cartoons; but to audiences, what they mainly are, is Will Smith movies. And that's enough.

A friendly fellow with what's thought to be a famously sound marriage (to Jada Pinkett Smith), Smith radiates a strong but unthreatening power. His manner suggests an actor at ease with himself and his screen stature, in a way not often seen since the days of Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart (though Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood have come close). He's utterly unconflicted about his job; he likes being watched but he doesn't preen, doesn't beg or mug for our attention. He knows he's got it. It's good to be the King of Hollywood — of the entertainment world. Smith is above and apart, leaping national borders, transcending race. Eddie Murphy or Martin Lawrence might be considered black stars, but Smith is not so much defined by his color. He's also black — the Tiger Woods, the Oprah, maybe the Barack Obama of movie actors. He's the superstar everybody likes.

The final evidence of his flop-proofness is the movies he makes. They're not that good. Tom Hanks had a great run in making challenging movies of Academy quality. Smith's pictures deliver familiar pleasures; they work with efficiency but not inspiration, honoring the time-honored movie platitudes that will neither shock nor stretch an audience. Hancock, directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom) and written by Vy Vincent Ngo and Vince Gilligan, is another of those. Its only distinction is its aim to vault from one genre to another and another while keeping viewers from straying to the popcorn stand. It's strenuous, smartly made and ordinary to an extraordinary degree.

These days, the big action fantasies mostly come in two flavors: superheroes who achieve their superiority (younger versions of Superman, Batman, etc.) and superheroes in a midlife crisis (The Incredibles, My Super Ex-Girlfriend). Hancock is the second. He's lost his purpose, his mojo and his fan base. That's where Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman), a slick but somehow decent p.r. guy, hopes to help. He wants to repackage and, even more, remake Hancock into a good guy. After all, he figures he owes Hancock. When Ray's car was stuck on railroad tracks, Hancock stopped an onrushing train by essentially standing in the way and punching its lights out, meanwhile flipping Ray's car into the air till it landed upside down on another vehicle.

So Ray takes Hancock home to meet his loving wife Mary (Charlize Theron), who's apprehensive to say the least at the prospect of this belching, snot-blowing slob doing his act in front of their young son Aaron (Jae Head). True to his word, Ray dresses Hancock up in a trendy black superhero suit, has him serve some time for laying waste to the city and writes him his own public apology: "You deserve better from me. I can be better. I will be better."

Turns out Hancock isn't quite the rehab vehicle it seems to be. It wants to be half a dozen different films — all the kinds of movies Smith has been making. It's an action film that starts as cartoon, then detours into identity crisis, since Hancock, suffering from amnesia, doesn't know who he really is. Maybe the Embreys can help. In this uncomfortable trio of Hancock, Ray and Mary, two are alike, one is different. (The question is, which two?) As the movie changes tone, it wants you to concentrate on the sweetness in Ray's protective friendship with Hancock and in Mary's virtually celestial devotion to Ray. Perhaps she could feel that way about Hancock too. I'm trying not to give away Act 2, just to hint at a triangular romance, a potential mixed marriage.

If you're a Will Smith fan, you know that romance isn't the focus of his movies (except for Hitch). Just as he is bigger than any of his co-stars, his characters are bigger too; to connect intimately with someone else would be a step down. That's why his movies are often about him alone, slogging through homelessness in The Pursuit of Happyness, foraging as the last man in Manhattan in I Am Legend. The one true romance in a Will Smith film is between the star and his audience. And that's a match that, for a dozen years, has been made in box-office heaven.

Then again, if you're a Will Smith fan, you stopped reading this long ago. You're probably watching Hancock right now and enjoying it a little more than you would if anyone but Smith were in it.

7月4日:威尔.史密斯日—《时代》

　　汉考克是个没人爱的超人。没错，他也能飞；他的铁胸能抵挡近距离射来的子弹。而且他救人于水火，逆转大灾变，制止坏人坏事。但汉考克有个人格缺陷：他是个糟糕的人神or神人。他沉溺于皇冠威士忌，这让他的情绪很糟糕，还会影响他的飞行技术——这属于醉酒飞行啊。（比如说他降落在马路上时候会把沥青路面砸个大坑。）所有东西他一碰就坏。他做完一项任务以后，所有L.A.市民都得跟着沾点“霉光”。有一回，汉考克被人召唤去解救一头搁浅的鲸鱼。他拎起鲸鱼就往海里一甩，结果鲸鱼落在了一艘远洋货轮上。当人问起这件事的时候，汉考克假装说他不记得了。可是人家说，“绿色和平组织可记着呢。”
　　忽然，我想起点什么。这些都无关紧要，关于汉考克的影评讨论的都是枝节问题。关键是，独立日假期又来啦！自从1996年起，这就意味着威尔.史密斯又要出新片啦——而且肯定是个重量级的新片。我们来数一数：《独立日》、《黑超特警组》、《飙风战警》、《黑超特警组II》、《机械公敌》——威尔.史密斯一现身，群众必然排队观影。过去这个节日是属于托马斯.杰斐逊的，但现在它属于我们的FreshPrince啦（译者注：威尔.史密斯在自己出的唱片里叫这个名字）。影评家们干嘛还费心劳力的写威尔史密斯新片的影评呐。好赖咱都得去看不是。
　　以上是我的想法——而且我这么想是有理由的——好莱坞正处在第一个“后明星时代”。大牌影星并不一定能保证票房收入了。即使有Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie等等等等演技派大牌的出演，也不能保证电影获得商业上的成功。喜剧明星更可靠一些，可即便是Adam Sandler，或是Ben Stiller，只要尝试一点点与以往不同的东西，他们就会失去大量的观众。
　　面对上述困境，史密斯可以在一旁偷着乐啦，没错，因为他是一个大大的例外。其实他才真正是“最后的大影星”。在十多年的时间里，他对影迷们口味的变化无常几乎免疫。他的电影已经总共在全球赚了45亿美元。除了在《拳王阿里》（他因此得到奥斯卡提名）和罗伯特.雷德福导演的《重铸辉煌》中的义演之外，每部威尔.史密斯的片子都是一次突破，每部都能在北美地区赚到至少1亿美元，然后在国外再赚1亿美元甚至更多，甚至多得多得多。
　　我们再来细数一番他的票房——《独立日》：国内3.06亿美元，国外5.11亿美元，全球总共8.17亿美元（在1996年那个年代，钱是实打实的钱啊）；第二年，《黑超特警组》：国内2.51亿美元，国外3.39亿美元，一共5.98亿美元。去年的《我是传奇》：美加地区2.56亿美元，其他地区3.28亿美元，总共5.84亿美元——这部电影是威尔史密斯连续第五部在全球得到超过3亿美元票房的影片，前四部是《机械公敌》、《鲨鱼大佬》、《全民情敌》、《当幸福来敲门》。这些数字令所有演员都望尘莫及。没有人能用如此多的风格吸引观众。动作片、言情片、悲情片、动画片他无所不为；而对观众来说，这都无所谓——只要它是威尔史密斯的片子就行了。
　　作为一个拥有美满婚姻的老好人(他老婆是Jada Pinkett Smith)，威尔史密斯拥有一种撼动人心的力量。他的风格体现了演员对自身和所扮演银幕形象所应有的自知之明。有这种自知之明的人鲜见于Clark Gable和Jimmy Stewart身后的年代（只有Burt Reynolds和Clint Eastwood做的还比较接近哈）。他能和他的职业身份融为一体。他喜欢被关注，但又不娇揉造作，他不会故意站到大众面前抢镜头。他知道自己有那个实力。做好莱坞乃至娱乐界之王的感觉自然是好。威尔史密斯做的很超然，他能跨越国界，他能超越种族。Eddie Murphy和Martin Lawrence可被称为黑人明星，可威尔史密斯并没有受到肤色的制约。他也是黑人明星——但他是明星中的Tiger Woods、Oprah甚至Barack Obama。他是个人见人爱的大明星。
　　威尔史密斯的本领还可以被他的电影所佐证，或者说“反证”。其实他所涉及的题材很平常。Tom Hanks拍的电影都是奥斯卡级别的，这没错。威尔史密斯的目标是“群众喜闻乐见”；他追求的是效率而不是让人眼前一亮的主题。他拍的都是历久弥新的题材，既不会雷到观众也不会让观众揪心。比如这部由Peter Berg导演（导过《胜利之光》、《染血王国》）、Vy Vincent Ngo与Vince Gilligan编剧的《全民公敌汉考克》就是一部这样的电影。区别仅在于：它要在体现题材跳跃性的同时保证能把观众拉进电影院。它的情节紧凑、妙趣横生、在平凡中卓现超群。
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　　现在的动作奇幻大片分两种：年轻有为的超级英雄（少年超人or少年蝙蝠侠之类）；陷入中年危机的超级英雄（Pixar的《超人特工队》和《我的超人女友》之类）。汉考克失去了目标、失去了魅力、失去了粉丝。这正是剧中Ray Embrey（Jason Bateman饰）——这个平庸但正儿八经的公关先生想要发挥作用的地方。他想把汉考克重新包装甚至重新打造成一个好人。毕竟，他觉得自己欠汉考克一份人情——当他的车卡在铁道上的时候，汉考克挺身而出，站在路中央，一只手杵碎了疾驰而来的火车的头灯，另一只手把Ray的车扔向空中，最后Ray的车倒着掉在另一辆车上，不过Ray的命倒是保住了。
　　因此，Ray把汉考克带回家见其妻儿（他老婆Mary由Charlize Theron饰演）。Mary是个懂事的人——虽然汉考克在她的儿子Aaron（Jae Head饰）面前满口脏话，鼻涕横流，她也没多说什么。Ray兑现了他的诺言，他让汉考克穿上时髦的黑色紧身超人服，并为其糟蹋城市的行为做社工谢罪，还替汉考克写公开信道歉：“大伙对我的期望很高。我能做的更好。我也会做的更好。”
　　可惜这部电影貌似不会成为重振好莱坞的关键。它还是一部威尔史密斯风格的片子。它是一部有着卡通片式开头的动作片，然后绕到了身份危机的情节上——汉考克得了健忘症，不记得自己是谁了。也许Embrey一家能帮他。在这个让人不舒服的三角关系中（Hancock, Ray and Mary），有两人心有灵犀，另一个属于另类（问题是哪两个？）。随着剧情发展，影片试图让你的注意力集中在Ray对汉考克的亲密呵护和Mary对Ray倾力支持的美德。也许，她对汉考克也有类似的感受。我并不是想透露第二部的剧情，只是感觉到那么点三角恋的影子。
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　　如果你是威尔史密斯的粉丝，你应该知道爱情不是他的片子的中心（不包括《全民情敌》）。由于威尔史密斯比他的片中搭档都要出名，所以他扮演的角色也就戏份更重；而与配角的紧密关系将削弱这一特点。这也是他的电影经常是他独角戏的缘故：《当幸福来敲门》中无家可归的穷人；《我是传奇》中在曼哈顿游荡的最后幸存者。威尔史密斯电影里唯一真实的恋情发生在威尔和他的粉丝之间。十几年来的票房收入说明了这一点。
　　那么，如果你是威尔史密斯的粉丝，你恐怕早已不看这些文字了，你可能已经冲向电影院或是已经陶醉在威尔史密斯给你制造的那份陶醉中。