經典美劇《24小時》迴歸能否再創輝煌
Jack Bauer leapt back into action after a four-year hiatus for '24: Live Another Day,' a revamped version of the original series that ran for eight seasons on Fox.
“打不死的小強”傑克•鮑爾(Jack Bauer)回來了！近日，反恐美劇《24小時：再活一天》(24: Live Another Day)正式開播，這部在福克斯電視臺(Fox)播出了八季收官的王牌劇集在時隔四年之後以新劇形式重磅迴歸。Back when it debuted in 2001, '24' was a groundbreaking series, with its almost real-time storytelling, multiple threads and split screens. It even became part of the argument that watching television makes us smarter in the book 'Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.'
《24小時》最早在2001年開播，以接近實時敘事、多條主線同時推進、頻繁使用分隔畫面的手法掀起了一場電視劇的革命。它甚至出現在了《壞事變好事：大衆文化如何讓我們變得更聰明》(Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture)一書中討論看電視是否讓人更聰明的相關章節。Other shows debuting that year included 'Alias,' 'Scrubs' and 'Six Feet Under'-all of which ended years ago.
當年開播的其他美劇《雙面女間諜》(Alias)、《實習醫生風雲》(Scrubs)和《六尺之下》(Six Feet Under)都已在多年前收官。
Kiefer Sutherland has lost none of his gruff charm reprising the role of Jack Bauer-there's almost a nostalgic comfort seeing him take on multiple foes with ease, even strangling a guy with his hands literally tied behind his back. And the show's action-packed formula remains essentially the same, across a condensed, 12-episode arc.
新劇中扮演特工傑克•鮑爾一角的依然是基弗•薩瑟蘭(Kiefer Sutherland)，他仍然酷勁十足，輕輕鬆鬆就以一敵多，甚至在雙手被綁身後的情況下都能勒死一個敵人。新劇情節也基本保持了以前的緊湊風格，只是每季集數縮減到了12集。Yet what has changed is the television landscape. One can argue-and many have-that we are in yet another golden age of television. New York magazine's Matt Zoller Seitz recently wrote about the rise of the bespoke TV series.
不過，如今的電視行業已經與過去大不同。可以說，我們正處在一個全新的電視黃金時代，也的確已經有許多人表達了這樣的看法。紐約雜誌的影評人賽茨(Matt Zoller Seitz)最近就寫到了定製劇的興起。The bar for great television is simply higher now, in part thanks to shows like '24' that helped push beyond traditional TV narratives. '24' producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa went on to work on 'Homeland,' which in its first season offered up a more nuanced, complex take on terrorism and the U.S.
只不過如今優秀電視劇的標準更高了，從一定程度上是因爲《24小時》這樣的劇集幫助突破了傳統的電視敘事風格。《24小時》的製片人霍華德•戈登(Howard Gordon)和亞歷克斯•甘薩(Alex Gansa)之後又參與了《國土安全》(Homeland)的製作。《國土安全》的第一季展示了對恐怖主義和美國的一種更爲微妙而複雜的看法。Since '24' went off the air in 2010, shows including 'True Detective,' 'The Americans,' 'House of Cards' (U.S.), 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Returned' and 'American Horror Story' have hit the airwaves-not to mention shows that started earlier, like 'Breaking Bad' and 'Mad Men.'
自2010年《24小時》最終季播完以來，包括《真探》(True Detective)、《美國諜夢》(The Americans)、《紙牌屋》(House of Cards)、《權力的遊戲》(Game of Thrones)、《亡者歸來》(The Returned)和《美國恐怖故事》(American Horror Story)在內的電視劇陸續播出，更不用說在那之前開播的電視劇，比如《絕命毒師》(Breaking Bad)和《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)。In its first season of the anthology series, HBO's 'True Detective' showed what a cohesive writing-directing team can accomplish-with the help of Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, fresh off an Oscar win for 'Dallas Buyers Club.' Writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Fukunaga turned the traditional detective series into a character-driven story with an eerie, Southern backdrop that HBO has mastered over the years ('Treme,' 'True Blood').
HBO的《真探》在第一季中顯示出一個具有凝聚力的編導團隊在伍迪•哈勒爾森(Woody Harrelson)和馬修•麥康納(Matthew McConaughey)的幫助下，能夠實現怎樣的成就。麥康納剛剛憑藉《達拉斯買傢俱樂部》(Dallas Buyers Club)獲得了奧斯卡獎。編劇尼克•皮佐拉託(Nic Pizzolatto)和導演卡里•福永(Cary Fukunaga)將這部傳統偵探劇變成了一個由人物推動、以南方爲背景的故事，HBO這些年對此已深諳其道――曾播出了《劫後餘生》(Treme)和《真愛如血》(True Blood)。Netflix's 'House of Cards' made Emmy history by becoming the first online video distributor to win an award in a major category last year. And Sundance Channel's 'The Returned,' a French supernatural drama based on a 2004 film, upended the traditional zombie category with its meditative pacing and focus on human connections over bloodthirsty monsters.
Netflix的《紙牌屋》創造了艾美獎的歷史，去年成爲首個贏得艾美獎主要獎項的網絡視頻發行商。Sundance Channel的《亡者歸來》是一部改編自2004年電影的法國超自然劇集，憑藉其引人深思的劇情推進速度和專注於人類關係而非嗜血怪物的主題顛覆了傳統殭屍片。Against this caliber of shows, '24' feels strangely outdated-even next to the '80s backdrop of 'The Americans.' Stilted dialogue that mostly serves to push the action forward, the clock's countdown-which after eight seasons and other copycats, no longer seems so pressing-and the familiar 'trust no one' concept don't stack up to current television (consider scheming Littlefinger of 'Game of Thrones' as an example of complex plotting and motives).
與這一系列劇集相比，《24小時》莫名其妙地讓人感覺有些過時，即便是與以上世紀80年代爲背景的《美國諜夢》相比也是如此。主要爲動作戲做鋪墊的僵硬對白、倒計時畫面（在用了八季並被其他電視劇跟風效仿後，不再令人心跳加快），而且觀衆熟悉的“誰都不相信”的橋段與當下的電視劇相比也是小巫見大巫（看看《權力的遊戲》中詭計多端的“小手指”(Littlefinger)的複雜陰謀和動機）。Although entertaining, the new '24' leaves me wishing producer Howard Gordon had stuck to his statement back in 2010: 'Kiefer and I have loved every minute of making '24,' but we all believe that now is the right time to call it a day.'
儘管很精彩，但《24小時：再活一天》讓我覺得製片人戈登還不如堅守他2010年說的話：“基弗和我喜歡製作《24小時》的每一分鐘，但我們都認爲現在是結束的時候了。”Fox was until recently part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal.
直到最近，福克斯和《華爾街日報》同屬一家公司。Readers, what do you think? Are you still hanging on to every minute of the new '24'?
讀者們，您有什麼看法？您仍會不錯過《24小時：再活一天》的每一分鐘嗎？
