Chapter 72: Emotional to the Extreme

According to the organizer's requirements, Sarah temporarily handed over her photography and video equipment and entered the screening area with her cameraman. Perhaps due to her connection with the *Los Angeles Times*, their seats were quite good, located near a round table in the front row. Before the movie started, a server even brought over delicious food and drinks.

However, Sarah had little interest in the food and beverages. In fact, for the past few years, she had a goal and a plan: to become a professional film critic, ideally one who could reach the top tier. The income and influence of top critics were incomparable to those of entertainment reporters. Just look at Kenneth Turan, who writes for the *Los Angeles Times*. His visible income is comparable to that of an entertainment section editor, but the hidden income can even reach seven figures annually!

Unfortunately, while becoming a professional film critic is easy, breaking into the upper echelons is quite difficult, requiring significant support from major media and film groups.

Since last year, Sarah had been practicing writing film reviews, some of which had been published in local newspapers and magazines in Los Angeles, but their influence was negligible.

Taking out her pen and notebook from her handbag, Sarah waited for five minutes until *The Rock* slowly began.

Like *Speed*, after the Warner Bros and the crude Duke Rosenberg studio opening credits, the film got straight to the point, beginning with a beautiful panoramic shot.

Accompanied by the heavy, solemn background music played by French horns, Sarah could see soldiers carrying a coffin in slow motion. The camera then cut to a shot of the general smoking, followed by a series of rapid switches between scenes of the general and the soldiers, making the camera time feel extremely brief.

Generally, it's hard to derive specific information from such a seemingly chaotic montage, nor can one discern the narrative meaning.

However, under the director's concise yet glamorous production technique, combined with the deep and resonant music at the film's opening, along with some off-screen character dialogues, Sarah could fully appreciate that an extraordinary story was about to unfold.

From the very start, Sarah was objectively given a piece of information: this general must have extraordinary actions, imbued with a sense of tragedy.

Although the beginning was all slow motion, Sarah felt that the film's rhythm was rapid. The number of shots was plentiful, most of which appeared at an abnormal shooting speed, with a very brief duration of about two seconds on average, giving a sense of steadiness yet full of movement.

"From the perspective of shooting and production techniques, Duke Rosenberg has shown significant improvement."

She had watched and analyzed *Speed*, where the opening scene, although attractive, was overly ordinary. In contrast, the opening of *The Rock* was not only innovative but also straightforward and highly engaging, making viewers eager to know what would happen next.

As the screen fell under torrential rain, Sarah quickly glanced around. Apart from the sound system, the open-air cinema was eerily silent. Everyone within her line of sight was fixated on the big screen, especially her cameraman, who held a knife and fork but remained engrossed in the film's plot, frozen in his position of cutting steak.

"Your films always have this kind of magic," Sarah whispered to herself. "The pace is so intense that it takes my breath away."

The film entered its second phase as General Hammer led his men into the Navy armory to seize missiles. The scene began with a wide-angle shot of the naval base from a distance.

In the pitch-black night, with rain pouring down, the vividly colored imagery struck Sarah with great impact. Although all the action scenes were presented in slow motion, the soldiers appeared agile, moving like the wind with clean precision.

The rapid advancement of the plot and the oppressive rhythm left no room for contemplation. Through the swiftly changing images, coupled with the soaring background music, Sarah fully experienced the film's dynamism and concise beauty.

She could see from the film's rapidly changing rhythm that the pace of the shots was consistent with the plot's content. Simply put, when the pace was fast, soldiers were taking down enemies, and the audience's emotions surged; when the moment arrived where General Hammer's men died due to missile gas leaks, the rhythm suddenly slowed, unknowingly accumulating a sense of terror and dread regarding the gas in viewers' minds.

Next, the film transitioned to a bridge scene, yet it still maintained a fast pace and sense of urgency. It even cleverly inserted humor fitting for the summer blockbuster atmosphere. The dark humor was amusing but not vulgar—attempting to persuade General Hammer to surrender through dialogue; convincing FBI director Womack to release John Mason, who had successfully escaped from Devil's Island, only for Womack to end up dislocating his shoulder; sending an inexperienced chemical weapons expert, Gusbey, directly into battle, only for him to run to the bathroom to throw up…

"Using humor to alleviate the audience's tension, to prevent them from leaving due to exhaustion from the nonstop fast-paced action scenes."

After thinking for a moment, Sarah understood the purpose of the film's approach. Duke Rosenberg was indeed able to restrain his destructive impulses, not merely the type of filmmaker criticized by some reviewers for relying solely on collisions and explosions.

In Sarah's view, Duke Rosenberg had nearly perfected the rhythm control in *The Rock*. By now in the film, approximately every fifteen minutes, just when the audience's nerves had relaxed, an intense action scene would appear, tightening their nerves again.

For instance, the chase scene on the streets of San Francisco depicted on the screen now was almost overwhelming.

The intense chase between the Hummer and Ferrari was thrilling. The camera's shifting frequency was rapid, with each shot lasting under two seconds. The exhilarating chase could only be truly appreciated by those like her who had witnessed the film firsthand.

In ordinary circumstances, if a Hummer rampaged through the streets, crashing into anything in sight, Sarah would surely draw some ethical concerns, imagining the ruined stalls, the wrecked cars, the severe consequences of traffic accidents, and the potential loss of innocent lives.

However, the film's super-fast rhythm and equally quick, powerful soundtrack made such thoughts vanish. The explosive action only left one breathless and emotionally charged!

Following the film's rhythm, Sarah cast aside all consciousness outside of the movie, simply wanting to follow the development of the plot.

Car chases, collisions, and explosions are undoubtedly some of Hollywood's most cliched visuals, yet under Duke Rosenberg's direction, they showcased a fresh, alternative thrill, elevating the audience's emotions and energizing their nerves!

Especially when the tram crushed the Ferrari into a pancake, applause erupted from the audience sitting behind the ordinary fans.

"What a cliched scene…"

She heard her cameraman mutter to himself, "I was so tense I almost forgot about the food! I nearly forgot to breathe!"

Cliched? Indeed, it was very clichéd!

As someone aspiring to be a professional film critic, Sarah understood very well that 99% of the film's plot could find parallels in past Hollywood movies. Whether it was the surprise attack, the car chase, or the character setups of Mason, Gusbey, and General Hammer, nothing was novel. Yet these clichéd scenes, when interwoven by director Duke Rosenberg, felt entirely fresh and stimulating!

"This is the essence of a director! This is the significance of having an outstanding director!"

Changing her position, Sarah crossed her long legs clad in pencil pants, and the cramping sensation reminded her that, aside from her head and hands, she hadn't changed her position at all since the film began!

"If my legs go numb," Sarah mused, "I will definitely hold you accountable, Duke Rosenberg!"

In addition to reinterpreting clichéd scenes with exquisite techniques and employing emotional action scenes as seen in *Speed*, Duke Rosenberg also used scenes and dialogues to evoke emotions. These techniques were as simple, crude, and direct as the explosions he created, yet the audience was drawn to them.

When the special forces met the Marines, this emotional appeal reached its peak.

"I am General Hammer, drop your weapons!"

"I am Colonel Anderson, General. I am the captain of the special forces. We know your motives, God above, I fully agree with you. But I, too, once swore to defend our country and eliminate the enemy, whether foreign or domestic! General, we have both spilled blood on the same land…"

"We have the high ground, you are surrounded. Colonel, if you value the lives of your brothers, then put down your weapons!"

"I will never give that order! Soldiers following the General, you have all sworn allegiance to your country in the Marine Corps! We all have brothers who have bled on the battlefield, yet their spirits are regarded as filth by the Pentagon. But that is not a reason for you to betray your country…"

As if the dialogue wasn't enough, in the ensuing battle, this young director employed high-speed slow motion once again, showcasing scenes of special forces members being shot down, paired with General Hammer's high-pitched yet powerless shout of "Ceasefire," blatantly emotional.

Such simple and crude methods are often the most effective at stirring emotions.

At least for a moment, Sarah felt her nose tingle, and her ears vaguely caught the sound of quiet sobbing.

"This is a dialogue between two true soldiers! It's so full of the essence of man!" Her cameraman, a male, clearly appreciated this, saying, "Before our ashes, noble men will shed tears!"

Sarah couldn't help but roll her eyes at her colleague's words; Marx's ideas seemed ill-suited for America, didn't they?