I was surprised Luke Wilson's character did nearly always the right thing, and let me say that's pretty unusual for an average thriller/horror movie. Good script, Bravo!
shareAgreed. Horror films especially need more main characters like him.
share Until his wife outsmarted him. If he did everything correctly, he would not have gotten stabbed and nearly killed. You could argue that the wife lived because of her husband, but she took charge in the last quarter of the film, and actually stood up to the attackers more than her husband ever did. I think this film went in a different direction than what was expected, which was kind of brilliant. I don't think anybody predicted Luke Wilson to be critically injured, and to have Kate Beckinsale take over for the last portion of the film. If anything, people were probably expecting Kate to be the one killed first.
I couldn't disagree more. In almost every movie of this type it's the girl that survives and have to deal by herself with the attackers. This could be even considered as cliché.
As for the wife (Amy) outsmarting his husband (David). Am I missing something? Any choices that she tried to make with him still around her, were wrong and came from panic. For example first trip to the tunnel and her wanting to go back. Or when she wanted to run to the truck driver, oblivious to the fact that he could be aware of things happening there. She only survived because of his one clever idea. And almost ruined it by waking up and just jumping down, without even try to listen if there's someone down there. After that it was just a scramble that just have to end in her favor.
"If he did everything correctly, he would not have gotten stabbed". Once again I disagree. He saw that the attackers were pushing the car and he will have a window of opportunity. He put her in the safe spot and... have to take extra time to tell her that he loves her. Only because he have to got stabbed seconds later. First time he opened the door without checking what's out there and there was that explanation served that he take an extra time to talk to her. That is how movies are made. Although it was not the brightest moment of this one.
But I have to agree with OP's main point. Both lead characters were surprisingly smart for that kind of a movie.
I think the scene with the truck driver and the scene with the cop shows how they both need a bit of what the other person has. The husband needs to be less suspicious and protective and the wife needs to be more suspicious and protective. Luke's character was right about the truck driver being a bad guy and Kate's character was right about the cop being a good guy
shareAgreed, I think that was probably one of the many points of the film, was to illustrate that they needed eachother, because they're faced with numerous situations, and they make decisions that are logical. When she hears teh screams on the videotape, she wants to leave cause she senses something is off, while he knows it's a tape, so it's probably just a movie, and they're both right, since they're snuff films, a marriage of what both suspected the source of the screams to be. One thing I really loved was how they were both logical, she wanted to go out to the truck driver because what else could he be? To the OP, how could she predict he was a part of it? And better how could you predict that in the same situation? You couldn't, so saying it's dumb she wanted to go out there to him is dumb.
Both characters made logical and correct decisions, and over and over again it's shown that one is wrong one situation, and the other is wrong in the next. If they solely listened to Luke's character, they would have ended up stabbed and dead, she was right in not wanting him to go to the lobby, he was playing his cards too heavily and he paid the price for it. While if they listened to her they could have easily trusted the wrong person at the wrong time. I think if you try to pit who was more logical, you're missing the point of the film.
She didn't really outsmart him. She came out of hiding spot and almost got herself killed.
The smart thing would have been to stay hidden, waiting for the police to show up. A policeman goes missing after responding to a call to investigate a potential kidnapping/murder, they're bound to show up in a day or two.
I guess it's just a problem with the ending in general though. It goes back to a lot of the errors movie characters make. The villain talking too much/making stupid mistakes, the victim making stupid decisions and the police being incompetent.
Nnope. The ending was where the writing fell flat. They forced that outcome, and it's palpable.
not to mention Amy doesn't do anything smart. Hell, she's even THROWN on the survival weapon.
Hawkeye: Do you know how it feels to be unmade?
The Avengers
To be honest Amy just got lucky that she managed to kill two of them at once.
shareThe entire twist to this film, in my opinion, is that the protagonist's DON'T play by the "horror movie rules" and react like normal people, which is why the killers find them so difficult to deal with.
Well, until the last ten minutes of the film when the wife climbs out of the attic...
Due to the lack of moderators, trolls can ruin the IMDB message boards. Don't feed them.
He did some smart things, but he made lots of mistakes. He should have tried to find or fashion a weapon as soon as he saw the video. If they were going to come in right away (like they could and should have), they would have been dead with no chance. Also, his thing about finding the secret passageway in the bathroom was dumb because if they were smart, they would have changed tactics from the video they gave them. Also, they could have been drawing them into a trap. It was also stupid not to grab a weapon or at least provide cover to the cop when they got in the car. There were plenty of others, not to mention everything he did prior to them watching the video to get them in that situation. I don't see any difference between him and every other stupid horror protagonist.
shareAdmittedly I haven't seen this movie, but I do remember all the promo stuff when it came out, it looked interesting.
My issue with horror/thriller movies is the good guys always seem to be so painfully idiotically naive and stupid, that they must've grown up in Mayberry because none of them ever think anything bad can happen, they trust everybody they come across, none of them would ever have ANY reason to think they should carry a gun, or ANY kind of weapon, because they're always perfectly safe wherever they go and wherever they are and whoever they encounter. That's one place where older movies did it right, take And Then There Were None, Lombard had the sense to bring a gun with him for protection, and he wasn't the murderer. Today instead it's either the bad guys have guns or they AND the cops have guns, though in a lot of movies just like real life the cops ARE the bad guys too, OR, the good guys have to about be senselessly murdered to even think to grab a gun, never mind bring your own. Is that supposed to make us like them, or so we KNOW they're the good guys? Like we're too stupid to figure it out already? What's wrong with having a character who actually LIVES in this world and knows what goes on and takes precautions against them? What, that'd make too much sense to put in a movie?
And Then There Were None wasn't a movie that did it right. It was a book first. And Lombard carried a gun for protection regardless, not because he was in a dangerous situation. Also didn't his gun get stolen? He didn't even get to use it.
[deleted]
He and Kate Beckinsale's character definitely were smarter. Perhaps because they weren't horny teens. And unlike a lot of these films where the good guys have no discernible personalities, the opening conversation on the drive helped flesh out the characters enough so that we can feel sympathy for them.
Others have pointed out that, yes, they make some stupid mistakes, but to be fair, this IS the first time they've ever been held hostage in a hotel by crazed killers. Nobody's first encounter with terror goes smoothly. Next time they'll take our advice and kick total ass perfectly.
And also, I'm surprised the budget is so high for this movie about SNUFF FILMS. That's a horror movie subject not often covered outside the lowbudget exploitation world. ("8MM" and "feardotcom" are the only other big budget movies about it I can name off the top of my head.)
Until he got stabbed. His wife also did some stupid things.
share