紐時賞析／「不可能的任務：最終清算」：阿湯哥再戰不可能

‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Review: Tom Cruise Defies All

新「不可能的任務」：阿湯哥再戰不可能

For nearly three decades, Tom Cruise has been running, soaring, slugging and white-knuckling it through the “Mission: Impossible” series. It’s been fun, on and off, but it’s no wonder he looks so beaten up on the poster for the latest edition, “The Final Reckoning.” Cruise — who turns 63 this year — long seemed impervious to ordinary time, with a boyishness that lasted well into middle age. His early stardom had already granted him a kind of immortality. Yet as the lines on his face discreetly deepened, and he kept pushing himself to lunatic extremes in this series, it seemed as if he were challenging physical death itself.

近30年來，湯姆克魯斯在「不可能的任務」系列中奔跑、飛躍、肉搏、死命攀爬，驚險刺激時有時無，他在最新一集「最終清算」的海報上看起來如此疲憊，也就不難理解其中代價。今年將滿63歲的阿湯哥堪稱不老男神，長期彷彿不受歲月摧殘，那份少年氣盛延續至壯年。早期的明星光環替他鍍上了一層不朽的光輝。然而，隨著他臉上的皺紋悄悄加深，他在這系列中不斷把自己推向瘋狂的極限，彷彿在向死亡本身發起挑戰。

Logic isn’t the reason movies like this exist or why we go to them, and one of the sustaining pleasures of the “Mission: Impossible” series has been its commitment to its own outrageousness. Cruise’s stunts have always been among the most outlandish and most memorable attractions in the series, which was spun off from the 1960s television show of the same title.

這類電影不是為了合乎邏輯，而是提供一種純粹視覺上的瘋狂享受—這正是「不可能的任務」系列的一大特色。阿湯哥的特技表現向來是最不可思議、最讓人印象深刻的亮點。系列改編自1960年代的同名電視劇。

He stepped into the role by escaping a wall of water and descending spiderlike into a luminously white, high-security vault, hanging by an unnervingly thin rope. The entire thing popped with cool stunts, striking locations, exotic doings and the sheer spectacle of Cruise’s intense physical performance.

他登場就讓觀眾看到如何從水牆中脫逃，或像蜘蛛般倒掛著潛入一個閃亮無比的高安全性保險庫，僅靠著一條細得讓人膽戰心驚的繩索支撐。他的演出充滿了炫酷的特技、令人驚嘆的場景、異國情調的行動，以及他驚人且極具張力的身體表現。

There’s vanity in Cruise’s commitment to extremes, and perhaps mania — who knows? Whatever makes him tick and inspires him to keep pushing and testing his limits is an open question, if presumably less relevant to viewers than whether the movies are actually worth seeing.

阿湯哥對極限的執著，裡面肯定有點虛榮，說不定還有點瘋狂—誰知道呢？他是被什麼驅使著，逼自己不斷突破極限？這問題或許對觀眾來說沒那麼重要，重點是：這電影到底值不值得看？

Male-driven action movies often have a savior complex, with heroes who are beaten and brutalized only at last to rise vengefully triumphant. “Final Reckoning” leans hard into that familiar theme — the team faces betrayal, the fate of everyone on Earth is in Ethan’s hands — which gives the movie a quasi-religious dimension.

男性主導的動作電影往往都有某種救世主情結，英雄們歷經摧殘、殘忍對待，最終才能大仇得報凱旋歸來。「最終清算」在這個熟悉的主題上更加用力—團隊遭遇背叛，全人類的命運都落在伊森的手上—電影甚至染上一種半宗教式的氛圍。

That’s weird, no doubt, but there’s something plaintive about Ethan’s fight this time because it echoes the urgent struggles of workers in the entertainment industry (and everywhere else) to prevent their replacement by artificial intelligence. For years, Cruise has put on a very good show pretending to nearly die for our pleasure; now, though, his body really does seem on the line.

這確實有點怪異，但同時也帶著一絲哀傷，因為伊森的奮戰竟然與現今娛樂產業（甚至各行各業）試圖抵抗人工智慧取代自身的鬥爭產生共鳴。多年來，阿湯哥一直為了娛樂觀眾，上演一場場「死裡逃生」的精采戲碼；如今，身體似乎真的催到極限了。

文／Manohla Dargis 譯／國際中心

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【張佑生】

湯姆克魯斯1996年將電視影集「虎膽妙算」搬上大銀幕，一晃眼，28年過去，電影拍到第8集，金童也變成花甲男孩。紐時影評指出，阿湯哥這次對抗的大反派AI，很能引起各界共鳴，小從擔心飯碗不保，大到生活受到主宰。

Plaintive形容這種悲涼、如泣如訴的感覺。這個字用來形容聲音plaintive cry/voice/sound etc.首段最後一句「彷彿他在向肉體死亡本身發起挑戰」，不僅對抗壞人，也對抗年齡與死亡，表現一種存在主義式的勇氣、反抗命運的姿態。

Impervious是無法穿透、不受影響的：impervious to criticism/pain.伍爾芙小說《Night and Day》：Hilbery was impervious to their discomfort, or chose to ignore it…無動於衷。

影評的首尾相互呼應，玩命特技不再只是戲劇效果，而是現實風險與歲月代價的體現，身體承受極限挑戰，這次來真的。阿湯哥不正面回應是否還有續集，情有可原。