《倫敦陷落》

宋云峰

一、作為工業產品和意識形態載體的《倫敦陷落》

《倫敦陷落》（London Has Fallen）是由千年影業公司（Millenium Films）2016年出品，由巴巴克·納加非（Babak Najafi）執導，杰拉德·巴特勒（Gerard Butler）、艾倫·艾克哈特（Aaron Eckhart）、摩根·弗里曼（Morgan Freeman）、安吉拉·貝塞特（Angela Bassett）聯袂主演的動作驚悚片。影片背景設置在《奧林匹斯陷落》（Olympus Has Fallen， 2013）結束幾年后，講述了美國總統參加英國首相葬禮時，再次遭遇恐怖襲擊威脅的故事。

英國首相神秘逝世，美國特勤局特工班寧（杰拉德·巴特勒飾）接到命令，配合特勤局局長琳·雅各布（安吉拉·貝塞特飾）做好準備，陪同本杰明·阿瑟總統（艾倫·艾克哈特飾）前往倫敦圣保羅大教堂參加英國首相的國葬儀式。由于所有西方大國首腦都必然要出席，這場葬禮的安全保衛工作理應是全世界最周密的。然而，各國首腦剛剛抵達英國不久便先后遭遇暗殺，倫敦地標建筑紛紛遭到襲擊。阿瑟、班寧和雅各布也遭到伏擊，在連天的炮火和爆炸中撤退。滿目瘡痍的英國首都進入封鎖狀態。奉雅各布之命保護阿瑟總統的班寧必須躲開敵人的視線，搶在對手的前頭先下手為強，不惜一切代價保護阿瑟總統安全回國。

《倫敦陷落》延續了《奧林匹斯陷落》的敘事和風格，是后者的續集。2013年上映的《奧林匹斯陷落》講述的是，朝鮮激進分子駕駛大型AC130軍用飛機和白宮叛國者內外勾結，攻陷白宮，俘虜總統，企圖控制核按鈕毀滅美國。但是勇敢的男主角力挽狂瀾，在危難關頭不僅拯救了總統，而且破壞了恐怖分子的陰謀，最后成為拯救了美國的英雄。這種敘事完全反映了美國文明沖突和反恐的意識形態，而風格上則以動作、槍戰、爆炸和驚悚為主。影片投資七千萬美元，獲得了超過1.7億美元的票房收入。鑒于該片的票房成功，作為續集的《倫敦陷落》的拍攝則延續了《奧林匹斯陷落》的套路，只不過這次恐怖分子來自美國甚為頭痛的中東地區，故事的發生地也改在了倫敦。影片上映后取得了更好的票房成績—— 投資六千萬美元，票房則超過了兩億美元。所以，千年影業公司正在籌備拍攝下一部續集《天使陷落》（The Angel Has Fallen），構成“陷落”三部曲，計劃于2018年上映。

盡管這兩部電影在票房上取得了良好成績，但是專業和大眾影評成績卻普遍不高，叫座不叫好。究其原因，主要是電影的三重屬性不太一致。首先，電影是一種大眾的娛樂形式或工業產品（以技術作為主要支撐），特定的類型片擁有特定的觀眾群。從動作驚悚片的角度出發，這個系列確實以觀眾耳熟能詳的美國和英國地標式建筑的轟然倒下和男主人公令人目不暇接的系列動作吸引了廣大觀眾，使觀眾享受了視覺與聽覺的“盛宴”。影片中最令人感到震撼的場面是倫敦標志性建筑如大本鐘、議會大廈、圣保羅大教堂同一時間頃刻盡毀，極具視覺沖擊力。片中無論是實拍場景，還是經過后期細致打磨的特效場景，通過大銀幕的呈現更是震撼無比，堪稱極致。其次，任何電影敘事都是有直接或間接寓意的，反映了制作者的思想和價值觀。從電影作為意識形態載體的角度看，該片展現的是善惡對立、歐美中心論和個人英雄主義的歐美視角，強化恐怖分子的邪惡以及遏制他們的必要性。這樣的二元對立、黑白分明、凸顯沖突的主題很容易為西方觀眾和大部分全球觀眾所接受。

另外，美國的電影產業向來在各個時期都在尋找票房成功的公式并利用其賺錢，類型電影、續集、三部曲、系列電影等就是好萊塢類型電影成功的法寶。《倫敦陷落》既是類型電影，又利用了續集和三部曲的范式。自20世紀后半葉以來，英美的電影公司興起了拍攝續集（sequel）和系列電影（film series）的熱潮。這些成功的電影作品不但給電影公司帶來了可觀的票房利潤，還塑造了迥異而突出的人物形象，在意識形態和價值觀方面更是影響著全球的觀眾，凸顯出英美電影的軟實力。續集和系列電影在概念上既有重合又有區別。續集是在前一部電影作品成功的基礎上繼續拍攝下一部影片，發展該故事。在許多情況下，續集沿用第一部故事的元素，例如同一人物和同一或類似的故事背景。續集之所以對電影公司具有很大吸引力，是因為沿用廣受歡迎的電影故事繼續拍攝續集比起創造新的未經觀眾檢驗的人物和故事風險更少，更易獲得成功。另一方面，觀眾對廣受歡迎的銀幕人物和故事的熱愛以及期待其進一步的發展也使得觀眾群得到保證，并吸引電影公司對這類影片進行投資。如果續集拍多了，這些續集就自然形成了三部曲或系列電影，其主題、人物和敘事等主要因素被一次次重復使用。所以三部曲或系列電影取得較好的票房成績是很自然的。

二、《倫敦陷落》在藝術上的平庸和缺陷

電影批評的第三個維度是其藝術上的表現水準，即在主題、劇情、表演和風格上是否突破以往的類似影片，實現一定的創新。

對《倫敦陷落》的批評主要是其在藝術上缺乏新意。主題是老套的美國反恐意識形態，風格是典型的動作、驚悚加特效的類型片，而在敘事和人物塑造方面則停留在表面，缺乏深度和創新。例如，關于主人公美國總統貼身保鏢班寧的兩條線敘事很老套——妻子懷孕，正期待孩子的出生，打算辭職，但卻接到陪同總統去倫敦的任務，所以很糾結。影片對于反派人物軍火商巴卡維的塑造更是臉譜化和缺乏邏輯——他參加妹妹婚禮時，妹妹被美國政府的無人機襲擊身亡。這一事件改變了他，也改變了整個家庭。他不想再僅作為軍火商居于幕后，而是要實際參與行動，親手報仇，率領一群恐怖分子精心籌劃了這次大型襲擊，以圖抓獲美國總統，并實時在網絡上直播將其殺死。其他人物——美國總統、副總統、特勤局局長——性格與形象也大都停留在表面。

《爛番茄》網站對該片的評分僅為3.9/10分，認為影片的老套主題和風格限制了一幫優秀演員的表演才能：“London Has Fallen traps a talented cast—and all who dare to see it—in a mid-1990s basic-cable nightmare of a film（有線電視噩夢電影）loaded with xenophobia（仇外心理）and threadbare（老一套的）action-thriller clichés（俗套）.”Metacritic網站的綜合評分更是低至28/100。

視聽俱樂部（The A.V. Club）影評人威士涅維茨基（Ignatiy Vishnevetsky）對《倫敦陷落》評價也很低，幾乎是乏善可陳：“A murky（陰暗的）， braindead（弱智的）stab-a-thon（刺殺某人）packed with so many inane（愚蠢的，無意義的）chases， laughable special effects， and mismatched stock footage shots that it begs to be made into a drinking game（飲酒的游戲，劃拳）， London Has Fallen is one of those rare films that is good at absolutely nothing.”該俱樂部甚至將此片列為年度最差電影“worst movie of the year”。

羅杰易·伯特電影網站（Rogerebert.com）影評人索布岑斯基（Peter Sobczynski）認為，《倫敦陷落》比《奧林匹斯陷落》還要差，充斥著無謂的爆頭槍戰、爆炸追逐以及邏輯上的腦殘錯誤。例如恐怖分子本可以輕易將美國總統炸死或打死，但其頭目卻腦子進水，改用B計劃，即活捉美國總統以便通過因特網向全世界直播對他的行刑和殺害；用美國副總統的原話來說，恐怖分子頭子“殺死的人比死于瘟疫的都多”（“killed more people than the plague”），但在美國全球通緝的恐怖分子名單上卻僅名列第六。所以，他認為，《倫敦陷落》和《奧林匹斯陷落》遠不如2013年上映的類似影片《白宮陷落》（The White House Is Down），可謂2016年度最差電影：“a horrible and wildly unnecessary follow-up（續集）that might actually be worse than its predecessor”，“Unless you have some insane（瘋狂的，愚蠢的）desire to see what will surely go down as one of the very worst films of 2016， you would be far better served staying at home and finally giving White House Is Down a look.”

《滾石》網站（rollingstone.com）影評人彼得·特拉維斯（Peter Travers）認為該片簡直就是電腦合成的小兒科電子游戲，他甚至號召觀眾抵制該片：

This movie is a toxic stew（有毒物質）of rampant（四處蔓延的）xenophobia that truly believes audiences will line up to watch a computer-generated（電腦合成的）London， from Parliament to Chelsea Bridge（切爾西橋，在倫敦西部）， go down in a storm of bloody shootouts（槍戰，交火）and muddy megapixels（模糊的百萬像素）. Prove me wrong， people. Make American movies great again. You can start by boycotting（抵制）this one.

三、《倫敦陷落》故事情節

Western intelligence services of the G8 track down Pakistani arms dealer（軍火商）Aamir Barkawi as the mastermind（策劃者）behind several terrorist attacks， and authorize an American drone（無人機）strike on Barkawis compound（大院）. Barkawi survived the attack but his daughter and many others were killed.

Two years later， UK Prime Minister James Wilson suddenly dies， and arrangements are made for the Western world leaders to attend his funeral in London. Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs assigns agent Mike Banning， a close friend of U.S. President Benjamin Asher， to lead Ashers security detail while overseas， even though Bannings wife Leah is due to give birth to their child in a few weeks. The entourage（隨行人員）arrives via Air Force One（空軍一號，美國總統專機）at Stansted Airport， and Banning pushes their arrival at the Somerset House in London via Marine One（海軍陸戰隊一號，美國總統專用直升機）earlier. As Ashers Presidential State Car arrives at St Pauls Cathedral（圣保羅大教堂）， a series of coordinated attacks by terrorists disguised（假扮）as London Metropolitan Police（倫敦市政警察）， the Queens Guardsmen（女王護衛隊）， and other first responders（救護者）erupts， killing the other Western leaders， damaging or destroying major landmarks（地標建筑）and generating mass panic. Ashers early arrival has thrown the attack on him at St. Pauls off-guard（措手不及）， and Banning is able to rescue Asher and Jacobs and rushes them back to Marine One. As the helicopter and its escorts（護衛機）takes off， terrorists fire Stinger missiles（毒刺式導彈）at them， destroying the escorts and forcing the damaged helicopter to crash-land（墜毀）in Hyde Park（海德公園）. Banning and Asher suffer only minor wounds， but Jacobs is fatally injured， and she makes Banning promise to get back at（對……實施報復）whomever did this. Banning quickly escorts Asher into the London Underground（倫敦地鐵）as the citys power is lost and people take shelter in their homes.

In Washington， D.C.， U.S. Vice President Allan Trumbull works with the British authorities to investigate the incident while trying to track down the President. Trumbull receives a call from Barkawi， still alive after all. The man takes responsibility for the attacks， coordinated by his son Kamran. Barkawi purposely had Wilson poisoned to lure the Western leaders to London to attack them. Barkawi knows Asher is still alive， and promises that if Kamran captures him， he will broadcast the execution of the President on the Internet. Trumbull orders his intelligence staff to locate Barkawis known operatives（特工人員）to find any connection to the attack， while British authorities have all first responders stand down（撤下來）， so that any left in the open can be identified as terrorists.

After leaving a sign to be picked up by satellite tracking， Banning leads Asher to an MI6（英國軍情六處）safe-house， where Jacqueline “Jax” Marshall briefs（向……匯報）them on what their intelligence has learned. Marshall receives a voice message from Trumbull that confirms they saw Bannings sign and that an extraction team（救援隊）is en route. Security monitors show the approach of a Delta Force（美國三角洲特種部隊）team， but Banning suspects they have arrived far too soon and may be more terrorists. She covers and fights off the terrorists before Asher and Banning drive away but their car is struck by a truck driven by terrorists， allowing them to capture Asher. Banning is rescued by the extraction team， a combined Delta Force/S. A. S.（英國第22特別空勤團）squad.

Trumbulls staff have identified a building in London owned by one of Barkawis companies， which still appears to be drawing power（消耗電力）， and suspect it is Kamrans headquarters. Banning joins the extraction team to infiltrate（滲透）the building and stop Kamran before he can kill Asher. Banning and Asher escape just before the building is destroyed by the Delta Force/SAS squad， killing Kamran and the remaining terrorists. Marshall has worked with British authorities to restore Londons security system and， discovering that MI5（英國軍情五處）Intelligence Chief John Lancaster aided in Barkawis attack， she kills him. Meanwhile， Trumbull contacts Barkawi to tell him that his plan failed， and then to look outside， moments before the building is destroyed by another drone strike， killing him.

Two weeks after the attack on London， Banning is home spending time with Leah and their newborn child， named Lynne after his deceased（死去的）boss. He sits in front of his laptop and contemplates sending his letter of resignation. On TV， Trumbull speaks regarding the recent events， leaving an inspiring message that the U.S. will prevail（獲勝）. This convinces Banning to delete the letter.

四、《倫敦陷落》精彩臺詞

Vice President Trumbulls Television Speech at the Victory

“Our hearts go out to the people of London， and to our friends around the world. Far more people died for no good reason. There are those who would have said， it would not have happened if we had minded our own business. That wouldnt have been farther from the truth（沒有比這一說法更遠離真相的了）. Frankly， we live in a dangerous world， and we have few good options. The worst option is to do nothing. Finally， we owe it to our children， and to their children， to engage in the world. God bless you all. And God bless the United States of America.”