'Constellation' episodes 1-3 review: A well-made thriller that may be revealing its cards too soon

《群星》1-3集影评：一部制作精良的惊悚片，可能过早暴露剧情底牌

It's not every week that we receive a new, big-budget sci-fi show from Apple, so that alone is worth celebrating after watching "Constellation"'s three-episode premiere. Thankfully, Peter Harness' (BBC's "The War of the Worlds") new series is also a pretty enjoyable ride so far.

苹果公司推出大预算科幻剧并非易事，所以单单《星座》的前三集成功首播这一点就值得庆祝。幸运的是，截至目前彼得·哈内斯的系列新剧《世界之战》，由英国广播公司播出，也是一次相当愉快的观影之旅。

From the get-go, it's abundantly clear that Apple and the production companies have put a lot of money into this one. The first two episodes, which feel like a more logical first-week drop, shine bright thanks to Michelle MacLaren's ("Games of Thrones") sharp direction and knack for mixing well-staged spectacle with believable intimate moments. The third of the bunch, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ("Downfall") feels more mundane for story reasons, but that's the point, since the plot starts to unravel in intriguing ways, though perhaps too rapidly.

从一开始就很明显，苹果和制作公司已经在这部剧上投入了大量资金。前两集将精彩的剧情与真挚的情感瞬间相互融合，从而大放异彩，放在首播位置逻辑上十分合理。这一成功归功于米歇尔·麦克拉伦（《权力的游戏》的导演）的精湛指导。然而，第三集由奥利弗·赫希比格尔（Oliver Hirschbiegel）执导（《一落千丈》的导演）执导，因故事情节而显得更加平淡，但这正是关键的一环，因为至此情节开始以引人入胜的方式展开，尽管也许速度过快。

"Constellation" is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exciting sci-fi shows and movies coming in 2024 to streaming. The second season of "Halo" has been a fun ride so far, and "Star Wars: The Acolyte" promises to dive deep into the dark side of the Force. But first, don't miss the Adam Sandler-led, trippy space movie titled "Spaceman" on Netflix next month.

说起2024年即将推出的激动人心的科幻剧和电影，《群星》只是冰山一角。截至目前，《光环》第二季是一次有趣的旅程，而《星球大战：暗影使徒》承诺深入原力的黑暗面。但首先，别错过下个月在网飞播出的由亚当·桑德勒执导的诡异太空电影《太空人》。

It's hard not to fall prey to "Constellation"'s strengths early on, as the script gets us quick to the inciting incident aboard the International Space Station, which may or may not have happened due to a cutting-edge experiment going maybe too right. It's only later that viewers will start to notice the show might not have enough mystery left in it to fill out eight episodes.

早期，《群星》在吸引观众方面颇具优势，因为剧本迅速将我们带入国际空间站上的关键事件，这可能是由于一项尖端实验进行得太成功而发生的，也可能不是。后来，观众可能会开始注意到剧集可能没有足够的神秘感来填满八集的内容。

Former NASA astronaut and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Henry Caldera (Jonathan Banks) is running an experiment from Earth that aims to find and create a new state of matter which can only exist in zero gravity. Things go awry as soon as Commander Paul Lancaster (William Catlett) turns on the machine and seemingly achieves their target. It's reasonable to think the experiment is responsible for the ISS suddenly going haywire and depressurizing, yet we soon learn a mysterious object hit the station.

前美国宇航局宇航员、诺贝尔奖得主亨利·卡尔德拉（乔纳森·班克斯饰）正在地球上进行一项实验，旨在寻找并创造一种只能在零重力环境下存在的新物质状态。当指挥官保罗·兰卡斯特（威廉·凯特莱特饰）打开机器似乎达到了他们的目标时，事情就出了岔子。剧中暗示实验可能导致国际空间站突然失控和失压，但很快我们就发现是一种神秘的物体撞击了空间站。

Jo Ericsson (Noomi Rapace), who's been tasked with studying how living in outer space affects humans' mental state and behavior, ironically starts to suffer a mental breakdown and hallucinating (or is she?) shortly after the station is damaged. We know this from the very beginning, as the script decides to jump back and forth between the present and the future, where she appears to be on the run from authorities along with her daughter and the results of the experiment in the middle of the Swedish countryside.

乔·埃里克森（劳米·拉佩斯饰）的任务是研究生活在外太空对人类精神状态和行为的影响，然而讽刺的是，空间站受损后不久，她就开始出现精神崩溃和幻觉（或者她本身就有这种情况？）。我们从一开始就知道了这一点，因为剧情在现在和未来间来回跳跃，未来她似乎在瑞典乡村带着女儿和实验结果一起逃避当局。

The first two episodes make it very clear that something is wrong after Jo's return to Earth, which is spoiled as soon as the premiere starts. You'd think this would rob the action in outer space of tension, but that's not the case. It's still intriguing to see how Jo fights several technological and mechanical setbacks in order to get back to Earth after the rest of the surviving ISS crew leaves in one of the two capsules available.

前两集说得很清楚，乔回到地球后就出现了问题，首播一开始就揭示了这一点。你可能会认为这会削弱外太空行动的紧张感，但事实并非如此。在其余幸存的国际空间站成员乘坐可用太空舱中的离开后，乔如何应对技术问题和机械故障最终返回地球的情景仍令人好奇。

The first 100 minutes or so of the show feel like a pretty compelling riff on "Gravity" and "The Martian," with Jo desperately going through the motions and protocols needed to get her return right, all while everyone on Earth races against the clock to help her. Its more unique voice, however, comes from the fact she starts seeing and hearing things that are hard to explain early on. We get plenty of that in the future-set scenes, but the ISS soon feels 'haunted' as well, starting with a U.S.S.R.-era, dead cosmonaut which could be the object that impacted against the station.

该剧的前100分钟左右感觉像是对《地心引力》（Gravity）和《火星人》（The Martian）的改编，乔拼命地按照需要完成回归任务的步骤和规程，而地球上的每个人都在争分夺秒地帮助她。然而，奇怪的是，她一开始就听到和看到了一些难以解释的声音和事情。在未来设定的场景中，我们会看到很多这样的情节，但国际空间站很快也会感知到“闹鬼”，一开始是一名苏联时期死去的宇航员，他可能是撞击空间站的物体。

Rapace is no stranger to wild sci-fi rides and perilous space journeys, as she was, by far, the most compelling element of the divisive Alien prequel "Prometheus" (2012). Apple's series gives her far more space to flex her acting muscles, and the much longer runtime isn't the only reason. "Constellation" feels like a show of two halves (so far) even after Jo returns to Earth, with a family drama at the center of a web of paranoia and potential conspiracies.

拉佩斯对狂野的科幻之旅和危险的太空旅程并不陌生，因为在迄今为止备受争议的异形前传《普罗米修斯》（2012）中，她是最引人注目的元素。苹果系列剧集给了她更多的空间来施展表演才华，剧集的时间并不是唯一的原因。即使在乔回到地球后，《群星》在乔返回地球后仍感觉像是一部由两部分组成的剧集（到目前为止），以家庭戏剧为中心，围绕着一系列的偏执和潜在的阴谋展开。

There's a lot of science talk, and it's amazing to see one of these 'prestige' series taking the time to pay attention to smaller details and the rigid processes surrounding space operations. Above everything, "Constellation" hits the right notes as a paranoid thriller that has you questioning what's real by regularly switching the audience's point of view.

《群星》中涉及到了很多科学讨论，这样一部“高端”系列竟然花时间关注细节和严格的太空操作流程，真是令人惊奇的是。最重要的是，《群星》作为一部偏执的惊悚片符合观众的心声，通过定期转换改变观众的视角，让你对现实产生了质疑。

Even beyond the non-linear narration, you can tell that the writers are toying with the audience, making it challenging but enjoyable for a viewer to keep up.

即使在非线性叙事之外，你也可以看出作者在吊着观众，使得观众难以跟上但仍然愉快。

There's a sound logic to focusing on Jo's experiences in the opening episodes, only to open up the scope in the third, when Jonathan Banks slowly takes over the main plot and delivers a dual performance with a ton of potential moving forward. The series doesn't seem especially concerned with 'hiding' the mechanics of what's actually going, which would be fine if more than one objective had been laid on the table. Mind you, we're only three episodes in, but with episode three being as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face and a plot that seems to have played its best cards early, we're left wondering whether this entire thing has legs.

前几集聚焦于乔的经历是有道理的，但第三集集中扩大范围，乔纳森·班克斯慢慢展开了主要情节，并带来看了一个具有巨大潜力的双重表演。该系列似乎并不特别关注“隐藏”实际发生的事情的机制，如果除了一个目标之外还有其他目标被提出来的话，那也没什么关系。请注意，我们只看了三集，但但第三集的表现却像是对观众的狠狠一击，而且剧情似乎早早地展示了它的最佳底牌，这让我们不禁怀疑整个剧集的发展方向。

A potential secret weapon is the aforementioned family drama. This already hints at Jo and her husband Magnus (James D'Arcy) having major marriage issues before she left Earth, and her daughter Alice (Rosie Coleman) feeling as confused by the post-accident, reality-bending effects as herself.

剧集中有一个潜在的秘密武器，即前文提及的家庭剧情。这已经暗示了乔和她的丈夫马格努斯（詹姆斯·达西饰）在离开地球前就存在重大的婚姻问题，她的女儿爱丽丝（罗西·科尔曼饰）和她一样对事故后扭曲现实的影响感到困惑。

There's also the matter of bureaucracy and hidden interests (Russian, American, and whatnot) surrounding the experiment as well as the resulting ISS accident. This could introduce much-needed twists and action to what's otherwise looking like an Earth-bound psychological thriller and drama that's equal parts effective and self-limited.

围绕实验以及由此导致的国际空间站事故，伴随官僚主义和隐藏利益（俄罗斯、美国等等）的问题。这可能会为原本看起来像是一个地球上的心理惊悚剧和戏剧带来急需的转折和行动，这部电影既有效又自我限制。

Undoubtedly, "Constellation" is a well-shot and often unsettling series, although the cast and presentation alone could carry this one to the finish line. Yet, it's gonna need to add more sauce to the mix in the coming weeks to stay relevant in the mainstream conversation and our memory.

毫无疑问，《星座》制作精良且剧情跌宕起伏，尽管仅凭演员阵容和制作水平就能让这部剧走向成功。然而，在接下来的几周里，它需要添加更多的精彩内容，以保持在主流对话中的相关性，并勾起我们的回忆。