MovieChat Forums > The Divide (2012) Discussion > Very bad movie, reasons

Very bad movie, reasons


1.She knew it that the veteran guy was innocent and kill the guy in self defence and didn't say to the others.
2. The 2 crazy were doing anything they want, wasting food, water, raping the woman and nobody did anything about it! They just let them rule the place.
3. There was no reason for her to not trust the veteran, she knew it from the start that he was the best of all there, so I don't get it till now why she kept him tied till the end.
3. In the end, after the veteran was released she saw he was a GOOD guy and she left him to die, for what?? And even she knew it before that he was the only one with brains in the right place.
The film was good till the veteran is tied up, after that I felt irritating how the people were dealing with the two crazy guys.

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Totally agree. I found the movie well acted and very dark, but the character motivations and personalities made no sense and changed throughout the entire film. By the end we were not left with any "characters" per se, but rather a set of people who each seemed to be different characters every scene. I imagine the director was going for some sort of "this is how humans act in traumatic situation" thing, but in reality I think it reflected inconsistencies in the script and interpretation. The whole Lord of the Flies thing wore thin because adults act with much more resolve than kids, and no one in their right mind would have put up with the sado-masochistic rapists once they started hoarding the food and water, which was after all, their only means of survival.

I also thought it made no sense how they never sat down once and seriously debated/questioned WTF was going in the outside world. They quickly make racist references to "ragheads" or North Koreans, but they never seemed genuinely puzzled by what the heck was going on. After the initial shock of nuclear war, I imagine that a bunch of human beings stuck in an underground bunker would quickly move to discussions of what was going on. Their thought process was instead simply to resign themselves to their fate down there without even seeming to care.

Overall not a horrible film, but I thought the film started very strong and then relied on a bunch of over-used clichés and character tropes (The psycho, the crazy vet, the weak/weasel guy, the lackie, etc.) to further the plot. By the end it seemed they had replaced any attempt at a story with simple shock value. And the worst part was the entire over-arching plot was left without any explanation at all. This worked well in The Road, because that novel/movie relied on very human and believable characters, whereas this one just seemed like the writers were too lazy to bother writing an explanation, so just employed the (also way over-used) "it's left open to interpretation" trope so they could try to give the illusion of a depth that just wasn't there.

5/10 for me, maybe a 6, tops.

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I agree with the O.P. .

I don't think that the film was so much as dark, but brown coloured , as in s**t .

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No, you need to watch films more carefully. (SPOILERS AHEAD)

1. Eva spied on him as he was confronted by Delvin. Delvin suspected Mickey had been hiding supplies from them. When he caught Mickey red-handed the two fought. Mickey was able to murder Delvin to cover-up his secret from the others. A fact that was confirmed when he moved Delvin's body out of the panic room and claimed - when the others burst into the room - that it had been an innocent struggle and a terrible accident. Eva was the only one who knew differently.
Mickey had only shown deceit and had not demonstrated that he could be trusted. Perhaps he had not had the chance to prove himself, but he had his chance when he was being watched.

2. Bobby and Josh had aligned themselves as group leaders during the subduing of Mickey. The others were against torture and were frightened of Bobby and Josh.
At this point they were able to intimidate the others, allowing them to do whatever they wanted. Including full access to the supplies (and changing the combination on the lock). It was pretty clear to B+J that they were all slowly dying (spitting blood and losing hair) so they figured, "*beep* it, lets just drink and do whatever we want!"
Marilyn craved human contact after the trauma of losing her daughter and initially sided with Bobby. At one point Eva tries to help, at which Marilyn herself tells her to "*beep* off, I'm not a child". By the time things escalate (rape) it's too late.

3) Mickey had proven himself untrustworthy by a) concealing the supplies and b) trying to cover up the murder of Delvin. I feel we went over this before? Try to keep up. Plus untying him prematurely would have aroused suspicion from the others. Her boyfriend Sam certainly wasn't up to protecting her.

4) He told her long before she untied him that he just wanted to know who he could trust, so it had nothing to do with her knowing that. Before she untied him she had to be sure there was a plan. And once she found out there was an exit, she had no guarantee that Mickey wouldn't just leave by himself as soon as she untied him. Lets not forget there were still three people alive at the end. Eva, Mickey (who had proven to be a deceitful murderer) and Sam (who had grown apart from Eva, where he had become jealous of Adrien and shot him)

This is basically an adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Just substitute the schoolkids for the neighbors in your block. How well do you really know you neighbors? Would you trust them with your life if there were no more rules?

"It has been said that civilization is twenty-four hours and two meals away from barbarism." - Camus

And for those that say this wouldn't happen over a few days? It clearly didn't. The film has a distinct absence of time-keeping. When Eva reaches the surface, she sees the skeletal remains of a victim from the first scene. They've been underground for months.

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2) Sorry, here we'll disagree. It was beyond stupid that Eva and 2 grown men couldn't take Bobby and Josh. I'm not even counting Mickey and Merilin here.

For crying out loud, lure one of them out and take him out. There's 3 of them. Fine, 2.5 with the hand injury. If Eva can struggle or improvise a weapon from the food can she could have done it and have backup far earlier in the movie. With all due respect, Bobby and Josh are not some special forces dudes, they are just slightly buffed men and were sick at that point. They could have been dealt with easily.

I'm not even talking about supposed plan C (poison anyone?)

The movie basically treated them like they are impossible to kill or subdue martial artists or something and it was dumb. They didn't need the gun at all.

Not saying they will be taken down easy, but they didn't even discuss that option.

4) I just assumed it was because they only had 1 suit, so either way only 1 person would leave alive.

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2) This plot device wouldn't go over your head if you had even a limited understanding of human psychology; especially concerning the dynamic between alphas and omegas. The group was so submissive because that's their default psychological response to being controlled by someone they perceive to be stronger. This is how pack mentality works. Fear is a very powerful motivator, Bobby and Josh used it to great effect to maintain control over the group. Mickey was the only one mentally strong enough to assert control over Bobby and Josh, but they wisely restrained and tortured him as soon as the group turned against him. Everyone else in the group was simply too afraid (understandably so) to rise up against Bobby and Josh because they believed they would end up like Mickey, or worse. People who are submissive naturally opt for the path of least resistance, especially when their life is on the line. Towards the end of the story, Eva was the only one capable of finding the courage and strength necessary to save herself, and even then she had to allow herself to be raped to gain an upper-hand.

This is all textbook psychology. It's easy for you to say they could have "easily fought back" when you're sitting behind the comfort of your computer screen. But I guarantee you'd be singing a different tune if you were suffering from severe radiation poisoning, malnutrition, and welded inside what is essentially a giant concrete coffin. Unfortunately, like many other viewers of this film, it's simply out of your depth to truly appreciate.

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As for (1), ok so Mickey was deceitful. But, uh, he wasn't a torturing rapist like the other two guys. He wasn't daring Sam (her husband!) to cut up the black guy. He wasn't wearing a woman's dress and trying to make Sam suck his deck*. Except for a few racist comments, Mickey was pretty common sense and trying to keep everyone calm and cool.

I have no idea why Eva decided that the two freaks were better off running the place than Mickey. If she didn't like any of her choices, why didn't she try to take over? She was like a passive observer the whole time up until she decided to slice the guy's neck - the guy who, by the way, was about to kill the main alpha male who was beating Sam, her husband, to death!

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