High-concept science-fiction movies tend to go in two different directions. They can be either as campy as John Woo’s Face/Off (1997) or as thought-provoking as Christopher Nolan’s Inception¹ (2010).

高智商科幻电影通常有两种截然不同的路数。它们要么像吴宇森导演的《变脸》（1997年）一样华丽浮夸，要么像克里斯托弗•诺兰的《盗梦空间》（2010）那样引人深思。

The new movie Criminal, however, doesn’t seem to know which path to take. At once serious and silly, the film hinges on one of the most beloved tropes of the genre²: Our hero wakes up to find his head filled with memories that aren’t his own, and he has to fight to make sense of them before time runs out.

不过新片《超脑48小时》似乎两条路都不沾边。电影乍一看略显拘谨和笨拙，它以大众最喜闻乐见的电影模式展开：我们的英雄醒来发现自己的脑袋里装满了不属于自己的记忆，他必须争分夺秒在规定时间内搞清真相。

The story begins when CIA agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is killed during a top-secret mission. Unable to resuscitate³ him, CIA scientists transfer his memories into Jerico (Kevin Costner), a ruthless criminal.

故事开始，中央情报局特工比尔•波普（瑞恩•雷诺兹饰）在一次绝密行动中意外身亡。中情局科学家未能将他救活，于是将他的记忆植入了一位极度暴戾的罪犯杰里科（凯文•科斯特纳饰）身上。

Israeli director Ariel Vromen uses this well-worn plot to explore how malleable⁴ human identity might be. “Science is kind of bringing us along already and suggesting deleting bad memories,” Vromen told the US entertainment site Den⁵ of Geek. He explores some of the ethical⁶ implications of altering memories through Jerico and his adventures.

以色列导演艾瑞欧•弗朗曼利用这种老旧的情节来探索人类认同到底有多强的可塑性。弗朗曼告诉美国娱乐网站Den of Geek ：“科学已经发展到一定程度，它甚至可以抹去我们糟糕的回忆”。他还在片中探索了交换杰里科的记忆和人生带来的一些伦理影响。

Jerico is a prisoner who suffers from “frontal lobe⁷ syndrome⁸” due to a childhood brain injury. In other words, he neither has emotions nor empathy. But shortly after Pope’s memories are implanted into his brain, Jerico starts to adopt Pope’s characteristics.

因为童年时遭遇过脑损伤，罪犯杰里科患有“额叶综合征”。换言之，他是一个没有情感和同理心的人。但当被植入波普的记忆后不久，杰里科开始接受波普的人格。

Jerico glimpses flashes of the past that hold clues to what happened during Pope’s classified mission. But the most overwhelming sensation Jericho experiences is a sudden rush of love and responsibility.

杰里科瞥见了过去的剪影，发现了波普执行绝密任务时的线索。但杰里科体验到的最难以抗拒的情感还是如潮水涌来爱意和责任感。

It’s here that the outlandish sci-fi plot gives way to domestic melodrama⁹. Jericho’s new memories lead him to the doorstep of Pope’s grieving widow (Gal Gadot). It’s little surprise that Jerico finds renewed purpose in the warmth of hearth¹⁰ and home, but, as Chicago Tribune film critic Katie Walsh points out, Vromen uses these scenes to raise questions about the role of redemption in today’s criminal justice system.

也正是在这一刻，离奇的科幻情节让路于俗套剧情。杰里科的新记忆把他带到了波普悲痛欲绝的遗孀（盖尔•加朵饰）的门前。我们丝毫也不意外，杰里科在温馨舒适的家庭生活中找到了新的目标，不过正如《芝加哥论坛报》电影评论家凯蒂•沃尔什指出的，弗朗曼通过这些场景引起大众思考救赎在当今刑事司法体系中的角色。

“The idea that someone else’s memories might make an unrepentant killer feel something real for the first time ends up being a rather poignant¹¹ concept,” Walsh wrote. “Jerico, written off and imprisoned¹² by society, not only gets a purpose in his life, but he gets to understand the way that other, normal people understand the world.”

沃尔什写道：“别人的记忆可能会让一个毫无悔意的杀人犯第一次体验到真实的世界，这最终会是一个切中要害的概念。遭到社会清算和逮捕的杰里科不仅找到了自己的人生目标，更是理解了其他正常人眼中的世界。”

With its mad-scientist plot, the film may ultimately be too cornball for some moviegoers – and that’s okay. Its unapologetically sincere tone makes Criminal a refreshing¹³ departure from the snark and sarcasm¹⁴ that have come to dominate the summer movie season. With weighty performances and a strong plot, Criminal has set the bar high for this season’s blockbusters.

对一些常看电影的观众来说疯狂科学家的剧情可能就是陈词滥调，不过这无所谓。《超脑48小时》不容置辩的真诚口吻让人耳目一新，也让这部电影和霸占暑期档的那些冷言嘲讽分道扬镳。《超脑48小时》的重量级表演和强大情节提高了评价本季度其他大片的标准。