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2002 6 Month 14 Day.

The current World Cup is in full swing, and it will inevitably occupy the entertainment time of many young people on weekend nights.

But the summer season in North America has just begun. Hollywood filmmakers are not afraid of the impact of the World Cup. This year they have a series of blockbuster film plans that have already been scheduled for release, such as "Scooby-Doo" adapted from the popular cartoon series in the 60s. , the action war movie "Windtalker" produced by MGM, and the criminal action movie "The Trap 2" jointly produced by Universal Pictures and Tianji Pictures.

Among them, "Scooby-Doo" is aimed at the younger children's family market, while "Wind Talker" and "The Trap 2", which also starred Hollywood stars, have become the trump cards of this weekend's upcoming confrontation.

As an epic war film with an investment of nearly 1.15 million US dollars, and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage joined in, "Wind Talker" didn't pay attention to anyone at the beginning. En" is such a famous masterpiece in film history.

It's just that due to the bad impact of 911, "Windtalker" had to be postponed twice, but even so, this war blockbuster is still one of the huge ships that people can't avoid in the summer, which is most obviously reflected in this premiere. On other films that Yingri has avoided.

——If it wasn't for the sudden appearance of "The Trap of Stealing the Sky 2".

Regarding the formation of blockbuster movies, Hollywood will maintain a basic tacit understanding, and try not to have two blockbuster movies released at the same time, and the movie that Universal Pictures originally filled this junk schedule is a spy movie with an investment of 6000 million US dollars. "The Bourne", because of various subsequent changes, "The Trap 2", which also invested hundreds of millions and also has Hollywood superstars, finally faced "Wind Talker".

From the point of view of the main creators, the starring positions of the two films seem to be almost the same. Josie Horton of "The Trap 2" may be slightly better in popularity, but Nicolas Cage has been in the industry for many years, and the accumulated works and fans The numbers are quite considerable, and there is no tragedy of being hit by the former dimensionality reduction at this point.

As for directors, Catherine Bigelow and John Wu are both very successful directors of action films, both "Madden Point" and "Face Changing" are very good.

"The Trap of Stealing the Sky 2" has handsome men and beautiful women, scenery of various countries, and the bonuses of the previous work, but there are also many viewers who want to watch the big war scenes of "Wind Talker". After all, war movies belong to the romance of men, and young men It's the workhorse of watching movies again.

Who wins and who loses?

No one can be sure right now.

The only thing that is certain is that this will be an eye-catching battle. Whether it is the Hollywood industry, the entertainment media, or fans of both parties, they are all waiting for the box office to be born in the first week.

Outside the screening room of the midnight show.

The data survey agency hired by the film company is conducting random interviews with the audience who are about to enter the screening hall. It takes 5 minutes to get a small gift, and the same questionnaire will also be conducted after the film screening.

Investigators repeatedly asked topics like "Which movie do you want to watch tonight?" The sex work makes it almost impossible for them to keep a smile on their faces, let alone seriously interact with the audience walking into the movie theater.

So much so that when a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap and a slightly familiar face dropped the sentence ""Windtalker" is the best" and hurriedly dragged his companions into the screening hall, the investigators who hadn't had time to distribute small gifts at all Did not recognize who this person was.

"Nick, why can't we watch it at home?" His companion is a Jewish girl wearing black-rimmed glasses, with a handsome diamond-shaped face and an elegant temperament.

"Hush, keep your voice down, you have to call me 'Ben' outside!" The middle-aged man called "Nick" subconsciously pressed the brim of his hat, "Because I need to know the real opinion of ordinary movie audiences, not Sitting at home waiting to read the columns of film critics who have been publicized by the studios."

The girl shrugged her shoulders, took a sip of the Coke in her hand, and said, "But why don't we go next door and watch "Windtalker" starring you, but sit here and watch "The Trap 2", Ben?"

"We'll watch it, it's the next one." Nicolas Cage had already seen "Windtalker" starring himself at the Washington premiere on the 4th, but he didn't mind watching it again, "Also, Sophia, Why do you have so many questions?"

His cousin Sofia Coppola smirked and asked, "You pulled me out of the editing room of "Lost in Translation" like a savage, and didn't even let me finish the cut at hand. Why do I?"

Nicolas Cage frowned and said, "Oh, come on, Sophia, don't you think you've been in the editing room for too long? And editing doesn't require you, the director, to be there all the time. It's good for you to come out and watch the movie and relax. mental and physical health.”

"Thank you for your concern, Nick, although I don't really need it." Sofia Coppola threw a few popcorns into her mouth, "By the way, I don't want to watch any damn "Windtalker" at all, And, I think you're doomed."

"Sophia?!" Nicolas Cage exclaimed in disbelief. He never thought that he would get such an evaluation from his cousin.

Sofia Coppola said: "Are you surprised? But the fact is that 'women' are not interested in war, and the 'romance belonging to men' you advertise makes people even less interested in this film, so why don't we directly Go see the thrilling and beautiful Josie's "The Trap 2"?"

"Well, I'm sure who you are targeting today." Nicolas Cage said.

"Yeah." Sofia Coppola smiled indifferently, "I chatted with Diane and Winona a few days ago, and we agreed that Josie deserves another Oscar because she is so cool, She's doing things no one else dares to do."

"For God's sake, that's Oscar..." Nicolas Cage began to cover his face, feeling that his cousin's words were outrageous.

"Well, that's just the Oscars." Sofia Coppola's tone was somewhat contemptuous, "As a member of the Coppola family and an Oscar winner, don't you understand Oscar's tricks?"

Nicolas Cage choked for a moment, and said instead: "Don't forget, the majority of the academy's judges are male."

Sofia Coppola still smiled, and replied: "Don't forget, the best performance award is chosen for the best in the eyes of the actors, not the best in the hearts of those old white men in the academy."

"Is there a difference?" Nicolas Cage asked.

"Of course." Sofia Coppola ate a few popcorns before saying, "The difference is that the ratio of male to female nominees for acting awards is 1:1 every year. This is the fairest voting item in the academy, my dear." Cousin, instead of like Best Director, maybe wait until I'm gray to see a female nominee."

"Stop stop! Even if it's my fault, I beg you to watch the movie, please, Sophia."

"Okay, for your sake."

While talking, the movie started.

This is a popcorn blockbuster that fully complies with Hollywood industry standards. Director Catherine Bigelow has successfully set up suspense, scene scheduling, and action control. The immersive viewing experience fully embodies the violent aesthetics of Catherine Bigelow, which is not inferior to any male director.

Different from the more romantic and elegant style of the previous work, violence and wildness run through this sequel movie. Exaggerated firepower settings, fighting and chasing in a small space, extreme sports in aerial photography, etc., all make "The Trap 2" present Deliver blood-thrilling thrills and immerse yourself in the adventure career of the protagonist.

Hack into NASA's global positioning system to find a bird, the silent hacker battle, the free sky, the flying bird and the childish happiness on the heroine's face collide with each other under the montage;

During the TV tower battle, the Steadicam camera and exterior lighting set up a gorgeous but hidden crisis feeling in advance, which is already creating momentum for the transformation of the relationship between the hero and heroine;

As for the last fight scene in the vault, it can be called art. Clay, who is full of power, full of masculinity and chilling atmosphere, and Virginia, who is flexible and good at using all tools and terrain, the movements of both sides The design styles are completely different, but they fit together appropriately, presenting a visual feast.

The popularity of "The Trap of Stealing the Sky 2" is almost predictable, but on the contrary, most of the film critics this time are singing against the audience.

Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Chicago Reader, for example, wrote:

"Every effect in this movie is calculated, flat and humorless."

"It's the worst kind of convoluted crime movie that can never solve a mystery satisfactorily because the director is so obsessed with reversal and imagery that it's just more confusion."

"It can only be said that this is an overly pure popcorn movie. Josie Horton's personal charm greatly dilutes the boringness of the movie itself."

"But it's not hard to change the fact that it's kind of bad."

At the same time, the film critic gave "The Trap 2" a "50" score on the website, which is not very bad, but definitely not good.

Jonathan Rosenbaum's colleague, The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, said: "I don't see a single scene in this film that matches the performance of the Oscar winner, Josie Horton's professionalism. The standards seem to have gone backwards since she won the Oscar, and The Trap 2 was the worst part."

"She is beautiful, but only beautiful."

"Catherine Bigelow made Josie Horton pretend to be cool and handsome in various angles, but forgot that there was no attraction between the male lead and his female lead in the second episode, so that the whole story became funny ridiculous."

"As for the movie itself, I think it's not too bad. The biggest problem is that it keeps people from getting into the movie, but the scenes are entertaining."

"I'm just very disappointed in Josie Horton, an actress who could have done a lot better."

If you only read this part of the film reviews, people may think that this is a movie that is not worth watching.

Fortunately, this type of negative reviews did not occupy an overwhelming force, and some film critics still insisted on giving very warm praise, which directly led to the polarization of the MTC score of "The Trap 2".