MovieChat Forums > Crawlspace (2012) Discussion > Nobody loves an auxiliary character.

Nobody loves an auxiliary character.

posted 11 years ago by rushknight
4 replies | jump to latest

*****SPOILER INVOLVED*****

One of the classic cliches of movie making is that thugs, tag-alongs and auxiliary characters never really get any appreciation.

Whenever something bad happens to them, we shrug and say, "Gee, I'm glad that didn't happen to the MAIN character!" It's easy to dismiss auxiliaries because they don't really affect the plot any.

But therein lies the cliche, the weakness of the thing is that it doesn't compare to real life. In real life, we have feelings for everyone, not just "main characters." To do differently in movies just points out how absurd they are.

If you've read this far, you are probably wondering what the hell I'm getting at. The best example is the scene where the evil doctor and his psychic protector are speaking with the hero and the psychic blonde; the ladies are psychically battling each other and the hero and doctor are "wit witting" it out.

When Eve shoots Emily(?) in the head so that she can get at the doctor's thoughts, I distinctly felt rather sad for the poor girl. She was only doing her job for Pete's sake. But of course, that's movie life for a secondary character.

But what really drove the point laughably home was when Eve kills the doctor and then says to the hero, "Don't feel sorry for him."

My immediate thought was, "Actually it's HER I feel sorry for." And it seems to me that soldier boy should have felt the same. I mean, she could have just shot the freakin doctor if she was just going to kill him anyway. What's the point of killing more people than necessary? Why shoot the girl, just so you can use your mighty "brain powers" to explode the doctor's head?? The whole scene left me shaking my head in disgust. It just didn't make any sense to me.

Rather than considering Eve a heroic character, I came away from the film thinking that it's a damn shame she survived, because she's a total bitch.

Or maybe I just feel sorry for Emily.

[–] jcreuels 11 years ago

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

You're right about this movie characters.

For Eve, she survived by being a total bitch in a situation where she could have helped it. But in some way she's not her anymore, I think the alien part has overwhelmed her will. In that case and according to Eve actions : she's far too dangerous to other people. In the end, the result is the same for me : I don't feel sorry about her at all.

I would rather be sorry for the movie : there were a bunch of good ideas, but too many defects ruins it (for instance, the alien "hommage" and reference are by far too much present (the radar, some reactions between characters, the "Vasquez-like" women soldier, etc.)).

"Wolf creek" (directors' previous movie) was a heavy piece, with an excellent ambience : you feel isolated, you feel lost in the middle of the bush along with the people. "Crawlspace" failed to create such an atmosphere.

[–] Promontorium 11 years ago

I felt sorry for every auxiliary character in the film. I didn't think a single one of them deserved to die, nor did I think any of them seemed particularly expendable.

Though part of me hoped at the beginning that every one of the soldiers would die. Because what kind of scum do you have to be to accept orders to murder a bunch of people for no reason. Wars and conflicts are all about people in play. If they can be taken out of play alive, then there's no justification for killing them. These soldiers were sent to kill prisoners/experiments.

Ultimately, I felt bad for every death, but no one was redeemable as a character. Even Eve. I can't see her as heroic. She is a villain. An extremely powerful villain. She enjoyed killing. Which is far worse than anyone else there. She'll probably go on to blow up babies and other children just for fun.

[–] georgegliddy 11 years ago

well if it did'nt have such vilence it cud b a good movei so maybe theyl remake it again but btr and NOT wit such voilenc???

well i have such petiton to end vilence so u cud sign that pls:::

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-more-voilence-in-moveis-pls/

[–] cyguration 8 years ago

When Eve shoots Emily(?) in the head so that she can get at the doctor's thoughts, I distinctly felt rather sad for the poor girl. She was only doing her job for Pete's sake. But of course, that's movie life for a secondary character.

She was pretty cute, too. But I suspect that's a tertiary point. I did feel sorry for her, though.

she could have just shot the freakin doctor if she was just going to kill him anyway. What's the point of killing more people than necessary? Why shoot the girl, just so you can use your mighty "brain powers" to explode the doctor's head??

Because the "girl" was projecting onto soldier boy. She was unclouding his mind and giving him back his real memories -- Eve was projecting onto the soldier whenever she could to implant in his memories that SHE was his wife, when she really wasn't.

While Eve was battling Emily, what she was actually doing was two things at once: 1) projecting onto soldier boy so he would protect her and 2) attempting to get into the doctor's head.

No two ways about it, she had to kill Emily to get out because Emily was pu$$y-blocking her like a jock c0ck-blocks a nerd from the hot cheerleader. In this case, the hot cheerleader was soldier boy, Romeo.