72_72291In the first week of July, the suspense of the North American film market was killed early by the stunning performance of "Independence Day", which also overshadowed all other films of the week and became cannon fodder.

The most pitiful thing is Disney's misjudgment, and the film produced by Disney with an investment of 30 million dollars is "not the same book." "Phenomenon" also chose this week for its premiere, and the film starring John Travolta received a lot of attention before its release, although it was not a hit.

As a result, under the crush of "Independence Day", the film only got a pitiful box office of $9 million, like a small pebble falling into the sea, and even the small ripples were quickly drowned by the turbulent waves brought by "Independence Day".

Don't say, "It's not the same Ben." can", even the movies that achieved good results before "Tornado", "Brave Death Island", and "Mission Impossible" all suffered from the pond fish, with a drop of more than 50 percent, and blood loss. As you can see, this week's "Independence Day" is the only focus, and all other works are affected.

It is worth mentioning that "Ace Correspondent" entered the fourth week of release, but was hit by the head-on impact of "Independence Day", the box office plummeted by 65 percent, and the weekend box office with an income of less than $1.5 million, the cumulative box office was only more than 54 million, although it had crossed the cost line of 47 million, but this fiasco was inevitable, and Sony Columbia Pictures could only sigh.

They are both members of the "20 Million Club", but the tables of "Ace Commissioner" and "Independence Day" can definitely be said to be worlds apart. In other words, not everyone is eligible to enter the 20 million club, poor Jim Carrey is innocently lying on the gun.

But people don't have time to make things difficult for Jim Carrey at this time, because of the revolution set off by "Independence Day". The tide of fate has just begun. With the grand scene of thousands of empty alleys on the weekend of the first week of July, "Independence Day" has undoubtedly become the biggest hot spot in this year's summer season, and at the same time, the comments of the second batch of film critics have also emerged strongly, and the voices of the critics have spread all over the world.

The San Francisco Chronicle gave a very low rating of 50, the second after the New York Post, "Emmerich succeeded in turning Lancaster into a clown, with no room for performance in the whole movie, which made Lancaster look no more dazzling than a computer-made firework." Not to mention the incomprehensible alien war, the empty story makes the whole movie seem like a disaster - even worse than an alien invasion. Perhaps, the only thing to be thankful for is that Lucas's investment has paid off. ”

The San Francisco Chronicle criticized Independence Day for almost nothing, and even the critically acclaimed visual effects were insignificant. Of course, if it weren't for the excellent VFX, maybe they would have rated even lower.

The San Francisco Chronicle was joined by the Daily News, which "made people drowsy, the digging into humanity and emotions so weak that it was almost like a reed in the wind, and the ending that was predictable from the first minute of the film was even more empty - the second half of 'Independence Day' became the most monotonous event of the year." ”

After scoring an ultra-low rating of 50 points, the "Daily News" also said in the comments, "The story stacked up with gorgeous visual effects is like bubbles in a bathtub, extremely spectacular, but it can't withstand a gentle gust of wind." As the first man in the club of 20 million, Lancaster almost disappeared from the film, his characters were pale and weak, his acting skills were weak and empty, and of course, the last pre-war mobilization still showed his personal charm, talking about the blood of the people, but other than that, he was the same as the Fox Three who crashed into the shield: useless. ”

Filled with ridicule and criticism, the Daily News' basic views were in line with those of the San Francisco Chronicle, who apparently also saw such a simple story as a step backwards for the film industry and a complete scoff at Independence Day.

In addition, the "Houston Chronicle", which was a member of the ban alliance in the first place, obviously did not have a good impression of Hugo, and they and their "friends" seemed to have made an appointment, and also gave a 50% evaluation, mentioning in the comments, "The whole rhythm is extremely fast, exciting, and passionate, and the explosion effect is incomparable, not to mention the amazing visuals." But the story has no memory points, the simple and boring story once again returns to the cliché 'us against them' route, and the confrontation between humans and aliens does not burst out of any sparks, not to mention the countless unexplained scientific phenomena in the movie, which makes the essence of science fiction movies extremely cheap. The high investment cost seems to have turned into a bunch of explosives, and I can't find the reason why the cost of this movie is higher than the 'speed of life and death'. ”

It can be seen that the story of "Independence Day" is the root of the criticism of the major news media, starting with the "New York Post" and "USA Today", and ending with the mainstream views of the second batch of comments this time. In fact, this is also the biggest difference between the high investment and high return faction and the cost control faction.

The high-investment and high-cost faction firmly believes that computer special effects can inject more charm into the movie, and the grand scenes will attract more audiences to the cinema, and computer special effects are the most money-burning part at present, as for the opening of the 20 million club, it can only be regarded as an additional factor.

However, the control faction believes that too much investment in computer special effects will make people ignore the story itself, and the entire script will be completely unfolded based on computer special effects, so that the story simply and rudely serves exaggerated visual effects, making the movie become a boring and cliché explosion, explosion, explosion.

Therefore, the script of "Independence Day" has become the focus of controversy.

At this time, Twentieth Century Fox couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and even Roland Emmerich let out a long breath. Now this version of the script has been revised according to Hugo's intentions, making the whole story concise and compact, spending more space and pen and ink to focus on outlining the two lines of Thomas and Steve, including the part of family and love, including the part where human beings rely on each other, which is also the main part of the script that has been approved by Roger Ebert.

Originally, the main story line of commercial films is relatively simple, even if it was the well-received "speed of life and death" at the beginning, in fact, the story itself is not too complicated, so the standard that really determines the quality of commercial film scripts is the accumulation of details, the promotion of the plot, the portrayal of the characters, the accent of the theme, and so on. It was these small details that Hugo had vigorously revised—annoying little details—that made the whole "Independence Day" script full.

But even so, they were still criticized by the media, so if they insisted on their own opinions and did not revise according to Hugo's opinions, then the consequences were really unimaginable.

However, although the criticism is endless, the supporters are still not to be underestimated.

The Washington Post wrote a commentary, saying, "Aliens are still muddy, sticky, and vicious images, and there are not many breakthroughs, but the superior technology of computer special effects shows unparalleled ingenuity, making the whole viewing process extremely interesting, and the thrilling plot is enough to arouse the enthusiasm of every audience."

Lancaster's performance is delicate and humorous, and his small movements – his eyes, smiles, gestures, the corners of his mouth – inject life into the character, further excavating the film's connotations and ultimately sublimating them in the pre-war mobilization. For a commercial film, this is undoubtedly a rare delicacy. ”

Behind this incomparable praise, the "Washington Post" gave a high score of 80, adding important weight to the praise camp.

The review of "Us Weekly" was slightly playful, "This is the first disaster movie about the future in film history, and it is as cute as a little button." Among them, the computer special effects part is undoubtedly very shocking, which makes the whole alien war look extremely handsome, and even makes the audience have the urge to play. As a commercial film, this is undoubtedly perfect. ”

In addition to the super high rating of 85 points, "US Weekly" also commented on Hugo's performance, "Lancaster always has such a charm, with a simple smile to make people fall in love, in each of his roles can see the part of the love, even the most terrible murderous demons." This time was no exception, and Lancaster used his charisma to spice up a slightly simple storyline. ”

What's even more commendable is that "Variety" and "Wall Street Journal", two extremely influential media, also stood on the side of "Independence Day" and praised it.

"Variety" believes that "the alien attack, which took place in multiple cities at the same time, took almost every viewer's breath, and this thrill was always maintained until the last moment of the story." There is no doubt that Independence Day was incomparably fun and exciting. ”

According to the Wall Street Journal, "an exciting, state-of-the-art aerial battle scene became the epitome of the film, and almost every war scene was exhilarating, and the excitement injected the film with unparalleled vitality from the very beginning." As a disaster movie, 'Independence Day' set countless precedents in the history of American cinema, and the mere scene of blowing up the White House was enough to get everyone into the cinema. ”

Both of these top magazines gave them incredible 100 out of 100 ratings, expressing their views in the most direct and powerful way.

The controversy between the pros and the opposition gradually exploded into endless energy in the second week of the release of "Independence Day", and more and more media joined the discussion to express their views on "Independence Day" and the future of the film industry.