丹·宋 索菲·查拉拉

Virtual reality is a gift of a mechanism for screenwriters and directors in Hollywood. It allows them to push plot limits of what’s governed by the laws of physics and， best of all， it means they can play with that most delicate of subjects of what is real.

Fortunately， the silver screen of years gone by is littered with such sci-fi classics， particularly the 90s. Here are the very best movies about virtual reality.

The Lawnmower Man （1992）

First things first， yes this VR horror thriller is well worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it. Based on a Stephen King story， The Lawnmower Man sees Jobe Smith develop psychic genius powers after being put on a regimen of crazy drugs and computer simulated experiences （cough： VR） by a scientist. It’s really weird. But also easy to see where Palmer Luckey2 and the rest got their inspiration.

Black Mirror （2016）

Season 3 of Charlie Brooker’s endlessly imaginative dystopian anthology series Black Mirror includes a couple of episodes which deal with virtual reality. In the lovely but melancholy， hour-long San Junipero， it is only revealed towards the end of the TV movie episode that the 80s party town in which two girls meet is inside a virtual world.

In Playtest， meanwhile， the future of VR and mixed reality—specifically gaming—is much more sinister and scary. In this version， the tech works via an implant and the gameplay is generated based on the individual’s worst fears.

The Matrix （1999）

The Matrix is probably the very best virtual reality film there’s ever been. Didn’t really think of it as a VR flick at the time？ No， neither did we and that’s probably because it’s a rather dark and twisted virtual world. Nobody realises that they’re in it， nobody would want to be in it if they knew and， unless you happen to bump into a bunch of kung-fu goths3 with coloured pills， you’ll be destined to spend your actual existence with your very life force serving the needs of your captors. Nasty stuff.

Of course the real VR fun begins once you understand the rules of the game that you’re playing and how you can ultimately turn you into a superhero. There is no spoon.4

eXistenZ （1999）

A cult5 classic， eXistenZ is a VR film for the purists. It’s centred around the launch of the world’s greatest and most immersive virtual reality game where the game’s creator goes on a journey into fantasy with a room full of the lucky first to try it. It also happens to be a wonderful subject matter for the ever-dark David Cronenberg to melt your mind while exercising a little of his trademark love for latex6 body horrors.

The effect for the viewer is that you get to embark on a form of VR journey of your own with the plot shifting from setting to setting with dream-like subtlety and absorbing you completely along the way.

The Thirteenth Floor （1999）

The Thirteenth Floor would probably have won the Saturn Award for the best science fiction film of the year if hadn’t had the misfortune to be released at the same time as The Matrix. The bonus7 is that it affords this VR classic cult stasis—loved by those that know.

Virtual reality is the centre piece of the story that begins very much as a who dunnit. A billionaire owner and creator of the world’s most advanced VR simulator pops his clogs8 under suspicious circumstances leaving the heir to the company framed as the murder. The plot thickens as the search for the truth enters the computer simulation. Mind-bending9 ensues.

Strange Days （1995）

Virtual reality is the tool in Strange Days which helps to answer questions about what it would be like to see through the eyes of others. An ex-cop turned futuristic digital drug dealer of a kind trades in emotions and experiences recorded on what’s basically MiniDiscs （remember them？）. The user dons a headset and gets to feel exactly what that other person saw and felt down to the every sense. There’s excitement， joy， thrills and， of course， porn for all to enjoy so long as they’re happy to tread on the grey side of the what’s right and wrong.

The reason we’ve got it in our best VR movies list is because a） the acting’s spot on and b） because there’s something very believable about the kind of VR content that’s bought and sold. Written by James Cameron， directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Ralph Fiennes， it’s a class act.

Avalon （2001）

Something of an oddity as a Polish-Japanese collaboration， Avalon is a bit of an art house flick and rather a beautiful one at that. Like all on this list， it’s set in future and one where the youth of the day are addicted to an illegal VR game that’s best described as a fully-immersive version of Call of Duty.

It’s filmed in a stylised sepia tint and with a haunting soundtrack to match scored by Kenji Kawai who also write the music for the Ring films as well as the Manga classic Ghost in the Shell. Don’t expect the plot to be too clear nor the pace of the action to be that quick， but the dark depiction of the virtual and consequent blurring of the lines is very nicely done.

World on a Wire / Welt Am Draht （1973）

For fans of 1970s sci-fi—think the colours and paranoia10 of A Clockwork Orange and The Andromeda Strain—then German virtual reality-focused Welt Am Draht， or World on a Wire， is the classic missing from your set.

It’s based on the same book as The Thirteenth Floor， so once again centres around the murder of the man who created a virtual world known as the Simulacron. While there’s no difference in the major plot lines， what makes this one worth watching all the same is the claustrophobic11 sense of conspiracy that only Cold War thinking could truly capture. The stern German acting is also rather fun.

Brainstorm （1983）

If the 70s was sci-fi paranoia， then the 80s was all about how the military was going to bend technology to its own， evil， warmongering12 ways. It’s that drive that plays the antagonist in Brainstorm as a benevolent scientist， played by Christopher Walken， invents a VR technology， not unlike that in Strange Days， which can record and playback the sensory and emotional feelings of one person to the audience of another.

What’s great about this depiction of the technology is， not only the insane amount of raw-looking， wired-up hardware involved but， most prophetically13 of all， the kinds of VR simulations that they use to wow the bosses. Just like Oculus today， it’s all driving cars， riding rollercoasters. It seems some things never change.

Ghost Machine （2009）

Don’t believe the lack of hype， Ghost Machine ain’t all that bad. It’s a top notch concept perhaps slightly ruined by the fact that the VR becomes a vehicle for the film’s real purpose as a slasher14. All the same， it’s one of the smoothest and most modern portrayals of a computer-generated immersive experience that you’ll see on screen.

Probably quite realistically， this advanced tech is the product and prized asset of the military and used to train their soldiers on battle manoeuvres. Of course， it gets pinched15 for a bit of weekend war gaming by some of the troops who decide to take a stroll through the virtual in a haunted prison. Whoops. Maybe not a must but enjoyably British.

對好萊塢編劇和導(dǎo)演來說，虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)是對表現(xiàn)手法的饋贈(zèng)，讓他們得以突破物理定律的限定來推動(dòng)情節(jié)發(fā)展，最棒的是，他們可以演繹現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中最難把握的題材。

幸運(yùn)的是，多年來銀幕上這樣的科幻經(jīng)典層出不窮，特別是1990年代。下面有幾部最精彩的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)電影。

《割草者》（1992年）

首先，如果你還沒有看過這部虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)恐怖驚悚片，那么本片值得一看?！陡畈菡摺犯木幾允返俜摇そ鸬男≌f，主角喬布·史密斯在接受了科學(xué)家的瘋狂藥物治療和電腦模擬體驗(yàn)（也就是虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)）后，產(chǎn)生了通靈的超能力。這部電影的確情節(jié)古怪離奇，不過也很容易看出帕爾默·拉奇和其他人的靈感來源。

《黑鏡》（2016年）

查理·布魯克的反烏托邦獨(dú)立單元?jiǎng)　逗阽R》第三季充滿無盡想象力，其中有幾集描寫了虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)的內(nèi)容。一個(gè)小時(shí)長的電視電影劇集《圣朱尼佩洛》拍得美好動(dòng)人而充滿憂傷，只是觀眾看到結(jié)尾才恍然大悟，兩個(gè)女孩相識(shí)的80年代派對之城原來是在虛擬世界里。

與此同時(shí)，在《游戲測試》這一集中，虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)和混合現(xiàn)實(shí)（尤其是游戲）的未來變得更加邪惡可怕。其中，虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)技術(shù)通過植入裝置運(yùn)行，根據(jù)每個(gè)人最恐懼的事物而生成游戲玩法。

《黑客帝國》（1999年）

《黑客帝國》可能是有史以來最精彩的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)電影。當(dāng)時(shí)真的沒人想到這是一部虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)影片嗎？沒有，我們也沒想到，可能是因?yàn)楸酒茉炝讼喈?dāng)黑暗扭曲的虛擬世界。沒有人意識(shí)到他們置身于這個(gè)世界，如果他們知道的話，沒人會(huì)想待在里面，除非你碰巧遇到了一群帶著彩色藥丸的黑衣功夫高手，否則你注定要將具有生命力的真實(shí)自己消耗在為捕獲者效力上。真是討厭。

當(dāng)然，一旦你理解了游戲的規(guī)則，知道最終如何把自己變成超級英雄，就能開始體會(huì)虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)真正的樂趣。勺子其實(shí)并不存在。

《感官游戲》（1999年）

邪典經(jīng)典《感官游戲》是一部純粹的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)電影。本片情節(jié)圍繞全世界最出色、最具沉浸感的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)游戲的發(fā)布而展開，這款游戲的設(shè)計(jì)師走進(jìn)初次試玩的幸運(yùn)玩家聚集的房間，開始了一段奇幻之旅。對于總走黑暗路線的大衛(wèi)·柯南伯格來說，這也恰巧是個(gè)絕妙的迷幻主題，運(yùn)用了他喜愛的乳膠肉體恐怖片的標(biāo)志性手法。

本片對觀眾產(chǎn)生的效果是，隨著情節(jié)在場景之間轉(zhuǎn)換，給人如夢般的微妙體驗(yàn)，吸引你完全沉浸其中，開始自己的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)之旅。

《異次元駭客》（1999年）

如果不是時(shí)運(yùn)不濟(jì)與《黑客帝國》同時(shí)上映，《異次元駭客》可能會(huì)獲得當(dāng)年土星獎(jiǎng)最佳科幻電影的殊榮。意外收獲是貢獻(xiàn)了這部關(guān)于虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)的經(jīng)典邪典影片，為那些了解的人所喜愛。

虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)是這個(gè)故事的核心，開頭卻頗有偵探電影的意味。世界最先進(jìn)的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)模擬器的擁有者和發(fā)明者是個(gè)富豪，他的死亡疑云密布，讓該公司的繼承人被誣陷為殺人兇手。隨著主角進(jìn)入電腦模擬的世界中探尋真相，情節(jié)變得越來越復(fù)雜，接下來的故事更是令人費(fèi)解。

《末世紀(jì)暴潮》（1995年）

在《末世紀(jì)暴潮》中，虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)是幫助解答有關(guān)體驗(yàn)他人視角的問題，可以通過別人的眼睛看到他們的生活。一位前警探改行成了未來感十足的數(shù)碼毒販，他交易的是記錄在類似迷你碟片（還記得嗎？）設(shè)備上的情感和體驗(yàn)。用戶戴上設(shè)備，就能準(zhǔn)確獲得他人的所見所感。碟片里有興奮、快樂、刺激，當(dāng)然還有色情，供所有愿意游走在對錯(cuò)之間的灰色地帶的人享受。

我們把這部影片列入最佳虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)電影榜單的原因如下：1.表演非常到位;2.買賣交易的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)內(nèi)容有非常逼真可信的地方。本片由詹姆斯·卡梅隆編劇，凱瑟琳·畢格羅導(dǎo)演，拉爾夫·費(fèi)因斯主演，稱得上大牌云集。

《阿瓦隆》（2001年）

作為波蘭和日本合拍的電影，《阿瓦隆》的風(fēng)格頗為怪異，有幾分藝術(shù)電影的味道，而且充滿美感。像這個(gè)榜單上的所有影片一樣，《阿瓦隆》的背景設(shè)定在未來世界，那里的年輕人沉迷于一款非法的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)游戲，稱其為完全身臨實(shí)境的《使命召喚》再恰當(dāng)不過。

本片采用別具風(fēng)格的棕褐色調(diào)拍攝，令人難忘的原聲配樂出自川井憲次之手，他還為《指環(huán)王》系列電影和日本經(jīng)典動(dòng)漫《攻殼機(jī)動(dòng)隊(duì)》譜過曲。不要期待看到過于清晰的情節(jié)，動(dòng)作場面的節(jié)奏也不會(huì)那么快，但是對虛擬世界和隨后模糊界限的黑暗描寫處理得很好。

《世界旦夕之間》（1973年）

對于20世紀(jì)70年代科幻電影（你會(huì)想到《發(fā)條橙》與《人間大浩劫》的色彩和奇想）的影迷來說，這部以虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)為主線的德國影片《世界旦夕之間》是你錯(cuò)過的經(jīng)典之作。

本片與《異次元駭客》改編自同一本原著，所以故事再次圍繞虛擬世界“三重模擬”的創(chuàng)造者被殺害而展開。盡管主要情節(jié)線索沒有什么不同，這部影片仍有值得觀看的地方，即只有冷戰(zhàn)思維能夠真正拍出那種陰謀帶來的幽閉恐怖感。冷峻的德國表演風(fēng)格也相當(dāng)有趣。

《尖端大風(fēng)暴》（1983年）

如果說70年代的電影充滿科幻奇想，那么80年代的影片完全是在講述軍隊(duì)如何利用科技為達(dá)成自己邪惡好戰(zhàn)的目的而效力。正是這種創(chuàng)作動(dòng)機(jī)塑造了《尖端大風(fēng)暴》中的反抗者形象，克里斯托弗·沃肯飾演的友善科學(xué)家發(fā)明了一種虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)技術(shù)（類似于《末世紀(jì)暴潮》中的設(shè)備），可以記錄一個(gè)人的感官和情感感受，回放給其他人觀看。

本片描述這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的精彩之處，不僅在于大量外觀原始、連接電線的硬件，而且最具預(yù)見性的是，他們使用的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)模擬技術(shù)令人嘆為觀止。影片里的技術(shù)，開汽車和坐過山車，就如今天的Oculus一樣先進(jìn)。有些事情似乎永遠(yuǎn)沒有改變。

《幽靈戰(zhàn)隊(duì)》（2009年）

不要相信熱度不夠，《幽靈戰(zhàn)隊(duì)》沒有那么糟糕。也許是因?yàn)樘摂M現(xiàn)實(shí)在片中被用作打造驚悚氛圍的手段，才令這部電影的出色概念略微受損。無論如何，就你在大銀幕上看到的計(jì)算機(jī)生成沉浸式體驗(yàn)而言，本片是描述最流暢、最具現(xiàn)代感的電影之一。

可能非常切合實(shí)際的是，這種先進(jìn)技術(shù)用于訓(xùn)練士兵進(jìn)行戰(zhàn)斗演練，是軍隊(duì)的產(chǎn)物和寶貴資產(chǎn)。當(dāng)然，幾名士兵決定周末在鬧鬼的監(jiān)獄里進(jìn)入虛擬世界玩戰(zhàn)爭模擬游戲，這個(gè)設(shè)定很吸引人。也許本片不是必看的電影佳作，卻是一部引人入勝的英國片。