Just having watched the movie, I'm going to take a crack at this just for a technical exercise.
"Where to start. For starters they aren't fearing the common cold like the voice over said, it's actually the flu."
Sam actually said the cold and the flu are both problems. In harsh conditions with limited resources and everyone is in a confined space, yes a simple cold is a very serious problem. If you look at the worst parts of third world nations, simple illnesses that cause you and me a weeks worth of annoyance is deadly to those people.
"Also what's the point of quarantining someone if you are going to put more than one person in a room, won't they just keep giving each other the flu?"
The only time this happens is when the couple were infected. If the trio had made it back, if one has the flu it's likely the others have it also. If the flu is deadly, they can't take any chances letting a possibly infected person roaming the base, as explained in the film the last outbreak killed a few dozen people.
The whole cold/flu issue hamstrings this ridiculous movie from the beginning; how are these people coming into contact with strains of the cold or flu? Either it's surviving in the compound for YEARS among the inhabitants or once no one is infected, no one can be. Same is true for the other stations so unless they are letting in random travelers, it just doesn't make sense.
Problem 3. How did the cannibals follow Briggs and Sam? You're expecting me to believe in a place that is snowing literally 24/7, their tracks didn't get completely covered up in the first minute?
If the snow was constantly settling, then absolutely everything, including the street lights, helicopter, bridge and the surface sections of the colonies would also be covered. Additionally the journey is as the crow flies, all they needed to do was follow Sams route until line of sight. Also the cannibals seem to have some form of intelligence, so it's not difficult to believe they found another route.
This explanation makes no sense unless this snow is somehow different from what we currently experience here on Earth. With power line towers virtually buried under mountainous drifts, the helicopter remains would be completely obscured. One plausible explanation is that the downed chopper was a recent event but the movie conveys that a good deal of time has passed since men or machines moved about with any regularity. The bridge could possibly be clear due to the wind blowing through the pass but most likely it would have drifted some. Regardless, with snow falling as depicted in the movie, their tracks would have been obscured within an hour or two at most. And as far as the cannibals tracking them, they would have no idea which way to go once they cleared the rubble at the station. Line of sight has no meaning to them because they don't know the destination/end point.
Problem 4. Why did Briggs feel the need to sacrifice himself? Why didn't he just pick up the dynamite light it again and start running and then throw it back?
Because quite a few were already attempting to cross while it was lit, hence that if he lit it and threw it (or just placed it) the cannibals would have caught up as he was taking cover.
He had plenty of time to grab the dynamite and light it on the run for a throw. If the argument is that he had to stay with it to make sure it lit, then that was a foolish choice since he ran the risk of it not lighting and then getting overrun anyway. Better to create distance and work on the fuse while he had time to decide to continue with the dynamite or try a counter attack. This is not a big deal as far as the writing goes (people can do weird things under pressure) but as a soldier and survivor it was a strange choice.
Problem 5. When they are back at there bunker why didn't they find a better place to defend from, one where you know they couldn't be attacked from all sides. Mason is suppose to have some military background since he served with Briggs. He should have known the best spot to defend from.
He did, the main entrance, it would have bottle necked the cannibals so all they had to do was keep shooting until the attacks stopped. They didn't anticipate an attack from the ventilation system, which was a mistake but, after having no major attacks what are you expecting? As explained in the film, the only big problem they suffered was an infected person venturing back into the colony.
No one would anticipate an attack from the ventilation system because only a movie building/compound would have such a ludicrous design. First, that large duct work would be for air
supply, not exhaust, and as such the cannibals would have to go through an HVAC unit to get into it. Even if they were former service techs and knew where the units were, they would basically need to destroy the unit to get past it. But suspending disbelief on that point, as a military man, Mason used horrible tactics by staying so far from the point of entry they expected the cannibals to drop down through. Essentially they had them in a "fatal funnel" and could have easily defeated all of them with just a few shooters (remember, they knew the cannibals had no missile weapons).
They had plenty of ammo and weapons they could have given as many people as possible guns and anyone else knives and whatever. All these cannibals had were knives and their hands, they should have easily been able to mow down the cannibals and kick there butts.
Because everyone turns into the terminator as soon as problems begin, on the other hand the look of absolute fear should have given you a clue. Not everyone in the world is a hero. But saying that, if everyone did suddenly turn into a mass killing machine, you would be complaining about that instead of a lack of combat experience.
As before, they had several qualified shooters as evidenced by how they handled themselves once the cannibals were in the compound. So if they would have deployed correctly, as Mason should have instructed, they would have easily overwhelmed the invaders.
But beyond all that (and there's lots more still not mentioned by the OP), the biggest flaw is simply this; in a barren snow covered world, where no food grows outside these few locations, what in the hell have the cannibals been eating for all these years? Are we to believe that 20+ humans have been roaming the frozen wastes and finding enough food to subsist for a couple decades? Clearly the surviving humans are few and far between, not nearly enough to sustain a pack of cannibals. And where do they shelter while on the move? Sam barely survived his return trip to the station after Briggs blew the bridge but the cannibal boss doesn't bother to cover his head, ears, or face. In that climate frostbite would have claimed his nose and ears in a day. There are lots of problems with this movie and whether it started with the script, or a poor interpretation by the director, the result is the same--a horrible mess that gets in its own way of being a decent flick.
reply
share