Affleck had previously invited Zhang Zhong to attend the premiere in New York, but Zhang Zhong was too lazy to run away and ended up directly finding a movie theater in Chicago.
Zhang Zhong originally didn't want his parents and Peng Peng to come over because the movies shown here were all in English and they couldn't understand them, but his parents said it didn't matter, they could just come and join in the fun, and they could also contribute to the box office of the new movie.
Pengpeng held a small bucket of popcorn and said with some resentment, "This bucket is so small. Their buckets are bigger than mine."
Indeed, her barrel is very small.
This small bucket was also specially requested by Zhang Zhong. The waiter also smiled and reminded that this kind of small bucket is not cost-effective, and generally people who come to the cinema will not choose this kind of small bucket.
Wenner's staff member told them before that they could appreciate American culture in Beverly Hills, but Zhang Zhong felt that places like movie theaters and stores were better places to appreciate American culture.
At least I can appreciate American food culture.
It’s very simple. American food culture can be summed up in one word—big.
Everything is big.
Chinese people now also pursue bigness in everything, but compared with Americans, they pale in comparison.
Americans' pursuit of "bigness" seems to be deeply rooted in their bones.
Take a look at the popcorn buckets placed at the ticket counter. The largest ones are estimated to be more than one hundred ounces. Of course, the size in the United States is much smaller now. In the past, the scale was even more terrifying.
Pengpeng held the popcorn and couldn't help but take a bite, but frowned, "Ah, it's salty."
"Is it salty?" Hu Huifang also took one and tasted it, with a rich expression on her face, "It's really salty."
Zhang Xingjun had no interest in popcorn at first. He heard that it was salty, so he took one and tasted it. "It is indeed salty. This is strange. It's not that people here don't eat salty food. Why is it so popcorn?"
The rice krispies are salty, but the taste is okay.”
Zhang Chong said with a smile, "Their popcorn is indeed salty. It is said to be related to World War II. And when they eat popcorn, they also pour butter on it, so let's not pour it on."
Pengpeng was holding popcorn, her little face wrinkled.
Originally, the bucket was smaller than others, but she didn't expect that the popcorn was still salty and she couldn't get used to it.
Zhang Zhong touched her head and said, "Do you want me to change it to a big bucket for you?"
…
The movie has changed a bit.
I had to change it because there is too much content in the book. Even if the movie is more than two hours long, it is impossible to cram all the content in the book into it.
If it were shot according to the book, a certain amount of time would have to be cut out from the beginning when the Starfish astronauts prepare to go to an alien planet.
Then comes the coming of the Overlord.
After the coming of the Overlord, a large government wanted to destroy the Overlord's spaceship, but failed and was overthrown by the people.
Superlord threatens South Africa to ban animal cruelty...
In the middle period, there is still this line of the protagonist.
The protagonist went to great lengths to sneak to the Super Lord's hometown and stayed there for a while.
It is impossible to express all the plots in the book, so it needs to be adapted.
I have to say that Affleck is a good screenwriter, and he also knows what the audience likes to watch. So from the beginning, he told the story from the perspective of Yang, the last starfish, and used flashbacks. At the beginning of the movie
It’s the scene of Yang returning to Haixing from the Super Lord’s hometown.
Looking at the unrecognizable starfish, Yang began to recall.
Since the name of this movie is "The Last Starfish Man", we don't have to worry about spoilers in advance if we use flashbacks to tell the story.
When discussing copyright before, Affleck asked if the protagonist could be changed to an American.
The reason why he wanted to change the protagonist to an American was also because of box office considerations.
When you read a book, it may not matter to you which country the protagonist is from. But it is different when you watch a movie, because what the protagonist looks like is directly seen by the audience.
Movies with Caucasian protagonists always have higher box office, this is a fact.
However, Zhang Zhong did not give in at that time.
In the end, Affleck had no choice but to find a Chinese actor who was one-eighth white.
Although the movie has changed a lot, the main plot remains the same.
The book talks about a lot of things, but the main content can be easily summarized.
The coming of the super lord - deterrence by force - taking over the starfish - peaceful development - the emergence of star children - the destruction of human civilization.
The story in the movie also develops along this line.
At the end, when the protagonist Yang talks to the Overlord in the Overlord base and tells them everything that happened to Starfish, Affleck tried his best to recreate those conversations and scenes on the screen.
"The river is gone, but the sky is unchanged. I can hardly breathe. The moon is still shining there, which is strange. I'm glad they didn't take it away, but now it's lonely -"
"Light! From beneath me—from within the starfish—shines upward, through the rocks, through the earth, through everything, brighter, brighter, blindingly bright—"
The end of the movie may be the moment with the best special effects in the entire movie. In the silent collision of light, the earth's core releases its stored energy. For a short period of time, gravitational waves pass through the solar system again and again, slightly shaking the planets.
track.
Then, the remaining children of the sun continued to move along the ancient orbit, just like stones falling into a quiet lake, causing the small wooden piles on the lake to flutter gently with the ripples.
The audience in the cinema watched the annihilation of starfish through the third brother's glasses, and the children raised by the starfish sucked away the last atom from the starfish.
At the end of the movie, it was fixed at six billion kilometers beyond the orbit of Pluto. The screen in front of Super Lord Karen was darkened. He looked out the window, his eyes deep into the dark space. As for what he was thinking about
, no one knows.
Just like that, the final movement of Starfish was played.
When the movie ended, many viewers sat in their seats and sighed deeply. This movie was too pessimistic and difficult to accept.
What is the future of mankind, the mission of mankind, and the meaning of human existence?
They have been led into the unknown and vast universe by countless excellent space movies, but now it seems as if they have been hit back in the head by this movie in an instant.
Starfish, no hope.
It's so depressing.
When many people came out of the cinema, they didn't even dare to look up at the sky because they didn't know what was waiting for them there.
This is also the first time Zhang Zhong has seen the complete "The Last Starfish" movie. The tension of the movie has exceeded his expectations, and Affleck is more talented than he expected.
Just look at the reactions of the audiences in the cinema and you will know that even if this "The Last Starfish" cannot be called a hit, it will definitely not fail.
"Dad, are those monsters bad guys?"
After watching the movie, Pengpeng was still asking.
In fact, apart from Zhang Zhong and Xu Yuhan, Pengpeng and the others also had a lot of fun watching it. After all, this movie has the original sound without subtitles.
Zhang Zhong smiled and said, "They are aliens, not monsters."