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MichaelJPollock (654)
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Low key favourite shots in horror films
Garbage theme
What's the name of the film again...
18th century cameroon...?
Had no idea this guy was also...
Subtel reference in 'Donnie Brasco'
'Carlito's Way' reference
Same sex couple actually makes a lot of sense for this particular story...
This is a strange one...
This one borrows quite a bit from...
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"but you could argue that he develops empathy towards a stranger since he lets the last guy live."
He let's him off the hook not out of empathy but a sheer cold and rational pros and cons assessment that it would bring too much heat on him to murder a powerful player like him.
He's tough and ruthless with the weak (taxi guy, secretary) and weak with the powerful (penthouse guy).
"It doesnt seem to be a movie about character development that much."
I think you're absolutely right about that.
I don't see that.
He protects the girl as he would his property, and merely wants to cover his tracks. He can't allow anyone to get to him. If he cared for the girl, he'd have killed the penthouse big shot who ordered the hit. He doesn't because it would be too much heat on him for killing a powerful player.
I don't think at all the film is about the killer opening up to the idea of empathy or displaying any from the beginning.
He's a dead-inside empy husk of a man and remains so until the end of the film. He defies identification from the viewer.
I think Fincher's point was to make a film about the mediocre times we live in, which is why it's a purposefuly unpleasant film, with no character arc whatsoever (the protagonist is stuck in his rancid excuse for an absence of actual philosophy - he's the absolute morally agnostic consumer), and full of "non places" (in the sense of Marc Auger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-place).
I think it's also telling that the girl, upon waking up at the hospital, seems scared to the point she has to reassure him she didn't tell them anything about him, and strives to gain he's validation and make him proud of her. That's what it's like to be in a relationship with a sociopath. Notice in the final sequence the scared protective reflex the girl has, when he approaches her chair?
The film is of course not the comic book, but in the source comic book, the killer is very promiscuous and only cares about his girl for sex and to "have something that's his". She's not really a person.
Me three!
Aliens is the first film of the saga I saw, at a fairly young age, and it really impressed me at the time. But I much prefer Alien 3 (seen in cinema on release) to Aliens.
I agree, that Alien 3 doesn't work "as a sequel": It works as something greater than a mere sequel !
I prefer the photography, sets and costume design in Alien3. Aliens is full of ugly blue screen and interior design reminiscent of the first Alien.
I also prefer Ripley's characterization in Alien3: give me "horny Ripley" ("-Are you attracted to me?", "-In what way?", "-In THAT way!") over "motherly Ripley" from Aliens, any day of the week.
The editing in Alien3 is also incredible (watch that autopsy sequence again! https://youtu.be/8xzSZYaeBcU?t=58).
But mostly, Alien 3 is about something more complex and grander and more relatable than the protective surrogate mother theme running through Aliens:
- Grief for the tragic loss of a “child”, and acceptance of the intrinsic unfairness of existence (something I understand the immense majority of people who disliked Alien3 for "killing off" both Newt and Hicks had the most difficulty coping with).
- The depression and difficulty to stand up and fight in the face of what seems like insurmountable odds: Ripley is at the same time so much stronger (she stands her ground amidst a group of violent male criminals and rapists) and vulnerable (she can’t take it anymore and decides to end her life at some point… before deciding to fight again) than in the other films.
- The sheer terror and hyper-reality of the moment you realize something with your x-ray or CT scan is not quite right, and all that it could imply.
- The living for so long with something in your life or inside of you that will eventually kill you, that it becomes a part of who you are (which by the way is what Alien: Resurrection illustrates very literally and unsubtly, as Ripley actually BECOMES the Alien.).
- Acceptance in a community that is so fundamentally different from yourself, and learns to "tolerate" the "intolerable". Turn on the news today and see how crucial and difficult this is.
Your points 3 and 4 have aged extremely well, unfotunately...
The good and truly moral person is not the one who is never tempted to commit evil. It's the one who is tempted to, but has the moral fortitude to renounce evil and not act upon their basest impulses.
I wouldn't trust the former, because he is a saint and most likely has little in common with normal human beings and little understanding of the human experience.
Don't know for sure, but looks like the first one only, with some characters and minor plot elements from the other two books (think I spotted Sophon, the giant stellar particle accelerator....). The Chinese series is 30 episodes long and only tackles the first book as well.
Thanks for your reply.
Sorry you had to live through this. Seems you've processed it and are well adjusted as an adult though, so that's good. I'm not saying one should whish to experience these kinds of ordeal, but I think they do make us better persons if we manage to live through them (mostly) unscathed: more compassionate, and more attuned to the complexity of human beings and their motives.
In Carrie's case, the poor kid also has to deal with an abusive single parent at home, on top of all the bullying at school. More than enough to push anyone over the edge. Also she seems mentally ill by the end of the film, she has paranoid delusions and this adds the complex question of legal insanity and mental competency to the mix.
I suppose the tragedy of real life is that she can (and probably is) BOTH a victim and a perpetrator (or a 'heroin' and a 'villain' as the OP puts it). Ideally we should be able to entertain both the antithetic ideas that she's to be pitied and worthy of compassion, and that she should be condemned and punished for her immoral acts, at the same time.
As Manzon's wife says in William Friedkin's 'Sorcerer': No one is "just" anything.
Now that's an interesting question and invitation to change perspective...
What do you think yourself ?
Skynet also updated the T-800 model to reduce the size of its jaw, add a self-awareness module that let's the T800 know when it is doing cool shit, and a built-in 'wound-but-don't-kill-people-and-then-later-pretend-you're-doing-so-because-a-10-year-old-brat-ordered-you-to'.
And Connery plays a Spaniard in the original film !
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