MovieChat Forums > Black Water (2008) Discussion > TOO MANY SCENES WERE IRRATIONAL!

TOO MANY SCENES WERE IRRATIONAL!

posted 12 years ago by anthonysevere
11 replies | jump to latest

This film gets a few things right. It's suspenseful, unpredictable, and for once the animal attacking people is of believable size. That was refreshing. But many scenes were so irrational I couldn't really enjoy the experience.

The boat was always the only answer. - They wouldn't even bother with another plan, because there wasn't one.

Let's try using the trees. - Really? And go where, exactly? Even if that was possible they had no sense of direction and were much too far from land.

You could never sleep on branches that narrow. - Never. You move when you sleep and they would fall out of that tree in no time.

Let's sing songs about crocodiles eating monkeys. - After witnessing two brutal deaths? Please.

I just watched the father of my unborn baby die, but I'm fine. - In a scene much, much to soon after the death of her mate, Grace seems to have virtually no psychological trauma at all. In fact, she seems more calm than before. If you witnessed that in real life you'd be a hysterical train wreck.

I'm only criticizing this film in this manner because it is rooted in reality. If it was portrayed as a fantasy I would be more accepting.

Thoughts?

[–] willywilly 12 years ago

Well since you ask... I don't think all these things happened in quite the way you recall. Nor are your objections entirely rational. For instance "go where exactly?" Well who cares? Anywhere but there! They're not far from land, they're in a mangrove, part of a river, not an ocean.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] UberNoodle 11 years ago

It's amazing how films like this bring out all the experts in psychology, psychiatry, animal behaviour and so on. Lol.

Look people can barely hold it together in traffic after a *beep* day at work. What do you think being terrorised by a wild animal will do.

And yes you CAN sleep in such places.

[–] JackHammer69 9 years ago

The song was what we call in Australia "try-hard". They reminded me of children telling stories. The characters weren't children, so I didn't understand that either.

But what really bothered me was Jim. He was one of several things (if not all, at the same time):

1) Broke and in need of a buck

2) A complete cowboy, with more arrogance than brains

3) A complete idiot

He was a fisherman and a tour guide, so he should have known the land and the local fauna. He should have taken them out in a bigger boat that could withstand an attack from a big crocodile, was rigged with safety gear and had a radio/GPS. If tour guides up in the Northern Territory don't do that, they're as arrogant and cowboyish as this dumbar$3 was.

[–] JackHammer69 9 years ago

Children telling ghost stories, I meant to say.

[–] willywilly 9 years ago

It was believed all the crocs had been cleared from the area. He explained this when they quizzed him about the gun.

[–] michaeltrenton 9 years ago

I really enjoy this film and I don't really think it has that many 'irrational' scenes as OP put it.
The main thing that puzzled me was how easy they just dismissed waiting for help. The Adam character convinced the others that no one knew they were out there so no one would come searching for them, but in reality both the disappearance of their 'tour guide' and his boast as well as their abandoned car parked at the facility surely would alert the owner of the tour company (the one they just missed by five minutes) that something was not right?
Obviously the tour guide would realize someone was missing when both his co-worker/friend? (never explained) and the boat never showed up again and no one showed up to pick up their abandoned car?

[–] ThomasAAnderson 8 years ago

Agreed with michaeltrenton's comment, about waiting it out for a day or so. A search party would have started by the following day at the latest when the tour guide realised his employee was missing, and as michaeltrenton said, the abandoned car. Still a great movie though.

[–] littlemissmilitary 8 years ago

I grew up in the Territory. It wouldn't even have been "a day or so" before people went out looking for them. Jims boss would have come back, seen the situation with him gone and a car there, and tried to raise him on the radio for a check in straight away. If Jim hadn't responded Jim's boss would have organised S&R straight away. That's how it works in the Territory. When people get into scrapes up here we MOVE because they don't have a lot of time. They run out of water, they run out of food, they get bitten by weird bugs, they run into salties and freshies and snakes and sharks and all sorts of other things. You never leave people out overnight, you never stop looking for them just because it's dark. People would have already been looking for them by the time they were in the tree fighting about it.

[–] db20db (16147) 4 years ago

Some implausible moments yes, but still a good, escapist thrill ride for the most part; what movies are meant to be.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 4 years ago

I think that anyone who takes “BASED On A True Story” as meaning “This IS A True Story” is a tool. No typo there.