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Michael Bay and the Transformers are inseparable. The 160 minutes of metal-crushing action and visual spectacle in the new Transformers: Age of Extinction is the latest evidence.
邁克爾·貝與《變形金剛》已經密不可分：《變形金剛4：絕跡重生》——這部160分鐘充滿金屬碰撞的視覺盛宴再次證明了這一點。
The fourth installment of the franchise — also said to be the start of a new trilogy — picks up several years after 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which ended with the Autobots’ victory in a battle against the evil Decepticons in Chicago, and Optimus Prime promising to always protect Earth and the humans. This time, the human-friendly Autobots are being targeted for elimination by a second generation of human-designed transformers.
作為《變形金剛》系列的第四部，據說是另一個《變形金剛》三部曲的新開始，《變4》銜接 2011年《變形金剛3：黑月降臨》的情節展開。在第三部中，汽車人贏得了與邪惡霸天虎的芝加哥之戰，擎天柱承諾將一直保護地球和人類。而這一次，人類的好朋友汽車人成為目標，遭到人類自行研發的第二代變形金剛的驅逐。
Throughout the movie, you can sense that director Bay is determined to add something new to the franchise. To begin with, he has changed to a whole new human cast. Shia LaBeouf is gone as Sam Witwicky, the Autobots’ teen friend, and in his place is Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, a Texas mechanic who buys an old truck that turns out to be Optimus Prime. Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley are gone, too, but there’s Nicola Peltz as Tessa, Yeager’s 17-year-old daughter, who wears high heels and denim shorts, even when she’s on the run, so Bay’s camera can slobber all over her — some things never change.
在《變4》中，你可以感受到貝導演為《變形金剛》加入新元素的決心。首先，《變4》中人類角色進行了全新調整：汽車人的昔日好友——希安?拉博夫飾演的青少年山姆?維特維奇，被馬克?沃爾伯格飾演的凱德?耶格爾所代替。凱德?耶格爾是一名德州的機械發明家，他無意買回的一輛舊卡車其實就是擎天柱。梅根?福克斯與羅茜?漢丁頓-惠特莉也不再出現，而是被妮可拉?佩爾茨飾演的泰莎一角所替代。她是伊格19歲的女兒，即使在逃命時也身著牛仔短褲，腳穿高跟鞋，讓觀眾通過貝導演的鏡頭而一飽眼福——看來有些東西還是不會變。
The movie also introduces two new things: “transformium”, a rare metal that humans use to build Autobot clones; and Dinobots, a new species of robot that was created during the Jurassic era. These ideas may make the movie go awry and seem weird to some viewers, but four movies into the series you can’t blame Bay for trying to keep the story going.
其次，《變4》中還加入了新名詞，其一是transformium——一種元金屬，人類可以用它克隆汽車人；其二是恐龍金剛——制造于侏羅紀時代的新型機器人。這些新想法也許讓影片變得難以自圓其說，在很多觀眾看來不倫不類，但是《變形金剛》已經拍了4部，貝導演不得不為推進劇情發展而做出努力嘗試。
The movie’s climax is set in China and Hong Kong, with the Chinese government and military playing helpful roles in the story. This international angle, plus the fact that the US military isn’t the world’s police, are a sharp change from past Transformers movies. Add several Chinese cast members and it’s easy to explain the 600 million yuan box office over the opening weekend in China alone.
《變4》的高潮部分發生在中國內地與香港。而相較與前幾部，《變4》的另一個重大轉變則是采取了國際視角：美國軍隊不再是國際警察，中國政府與軍隊在片中發揮了關鍵作用。再加上中國演員的參演，這也就不難解釋上映第一周，《變4》僅在中國的票房就高達6億元人民幣。
Of course, fans of the older Transformers movies will find many familiar themes, such as the exciting robot-to-robot fight scenes, the stunning 3-D effects, and the relentless devotion to product placement.
當然，《變形金剛》的老粉絲們也能在這一部中看到許多熟悉的元素，例如激動人心的機器人大戰，令人瞠目的3D效果，以及“矢志不渝”的廣告植入。
But ultimately, analyzing the movie’s hits and flaws doesn’t matter much, since Transformers has a massive fan base both among younger fans who love the movies, and older fans who still love the cartoons and toys from their childhood. This is a series that’s performed consistently well for several years, and there’s no reason to doubt it will continue that trend.
話說回來，分析這一部的優勢與缺陷也是無關緊要，因為《變形金剛》擁有龐大的粉絲群。其中有喜愛電影的年輕粉絲，也有從小就喜愛《變形金剛》玩具和漫畫的忠實擁護者。在他們的支持下，《變形金剛》系列連續數年都表現良好，因此，這一次也不用擔心，它一定會繼續大紅大紫的。
