Judging by the fact that people seem to either hate the movie or love it,
it must have been really outstanding. You have to trully stir people's
feelings to make them start using words like "idiotic". For one thing, it
grasps your attention. Running across it while flipping the channels, I
kept watching it till the end, even though it was three in the morning.
Concerning the things that's been said by those who hated it. I agree
that the final scene when a big white guy in a suit comes down from the
helicopter and saves the world peace was a little cheesy. Maybe not even
a little. Besides, the cops were definitely beating up the Angela Basset's
character for too long before she got rescued. If a white woman got
clubbed like that on the big screen, the movie would have a lot more
problems, and not only in box office. On the other side, as long as the
racial war has been averted, be it by a white guy or devil himself, it
still gives us some hope. I wish there were more government suits
dropping out of choppers in the middle of the events in LA several
years ago. Unfortunately, real government officials are usually not that
brave. Of course, this is just a Hollywood movie.
However, I disagree that relations between the characters and their
behavior were "unbelivable". First, there was nothing unbelivable about
Basset character's "devotion" to the guy. In my opinion, this is what's
called _friendship_. Maybe it does not happen too often, but it does
exist. I'd like to have a friend like her myself. Besides, they show
things like that between male friends all the time and no one finds it
strange.
About the guy's self-destruction, it's even more realistic. There are
plenty of people falling for someone they try to rescue and who keeps
telling them to get the Hell lost. Actually, in real life, it's a lot
worse, and the guy in the movie was lucky to get away that easily. If you
think "normal" people "with high self-esteem" don't do that, think Kelly
Flinn and what happened to her. This part of the plot was anything but
unbelievable. They don't usually show this in action movies, that's true,
but that what makes this one so different.
The rape scenes were not by far as exploitive as the ones in TV-made "crime"
series they show at prime time on non-cable channels. At least the guys
who watched it expressed some disgust. I've met a person who honestly did
not understand how a man could be against rape. There was a news report
on TV about rape and murder of a model, and the guy I'm talking about just
could not get why the male reporter was so upset about it: "How can he say
this is terrible, wouldn't he love to do it himself, if given a chance?"
And this person was not some crook or something, but a loving husband and a
father, and his wife was sitting there. I'm glad there is an action movie
where tough men can be upset about a rape victim, even if she's not their
sister or girlfriend as it usually happens.
I'm afraid this message gets too long. Basically, what I am trying to say
-- this movie is imperfect, it has lots of cliche's and stereotypes, but
it's a big step forward comparing with the majority of traditional sf
action. And finally, bad box office is not always an indication of
worthlessness. I've heard that Tank Girl did not make a lot of money,
either, but I think it's way more interesting than all the Batman flicks
combined.
Marina
"Femininity is code for femaleness plus whatever society
happens to be selling at the time."
Naomi Wolf
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:07:37 PDT