MovieChat Forums > After the Dark (2013) Discussion > For a movie on logical reasoning this ha...

For a movie on logical reasoning this had the silliest ending [SPOILERS]

posted 9 years ago by ella_leona
7 replies | jump to latest

It fell apart after the first hour.

The 3rd reiteration was painfully stupid, it seemed spawned from the mind of a 7 year old not that of a super intelligent A+ philosophy student.

The MTV video conclusion to the 'thought experiment within the thought experiment' took the film down a few more notches. Again more fitting of a hormonal teen.

And then to conclude that this was some love triangle revenge plot?

Such a waste of a good concept.

[–] mrcase 9 years ago

I think the movie is supposed to be about the relationships and the way the people are interacting with each other more so than the logic puzzles showing the optimum way to solve the problem. I think the goofy solutions were their way of making a statement to the instructor about what they thought of the assignment. I think the MTV iteration was that guy saying he no longer cared and was just having fun (remembering it was their last day of school in their senior year). I think the 3rd iteration was basically her demonstrating that she'd taken control and was done instructor trying to manipulate her. I think that's why it has the title it does.

Granted, that seems to be an issue with this film. It's easy to get caught up in the logic problems and forget to think or care about the relationships.

[–] ella_leona 9 years ago

It's easy to get caught up in the logic problems and forget to think or care about the relationships.

You can not care about the relationships because the characters are vacuous. Philosophy is the perfect backdrop for a tale of humanity, love and betrayal but it fails to deliver because the characters think and behave like children.

Basically the teacher was a bully and Petra who was allegedly the top student in class (come to think of it she was sleeping with the teacher) seemed lacking in common sense as illustrated by her choices for the bunker. This reiteration could so easily have been presented as a metaphor for our societies preoccupation with entertainment at the expense of progress which is more befitting of an A+ student but NO!

Other irritations like taking parameters from the previous thought experiment and applying them to the current (the bunker code) is dumb nonsense. Talking about the second thought experiment it occurred to me that since the group had 365 days of boredom ahead they could have started writing a list of possible bunker code combinations from the get go which is what smart kids would do. I thought there might have been some significance of the the 5 digits hashed that was shown but apparently not. In any case with 1,000,000 possible combinations that would have kept them entertained the whole year for sure!

[–] therefdotcom 9 years ago

relationships? which one? those of the 30 students we learn nothing about throughout the film or the relationship of patra to her boyfriend of whom we only learn that he is "not gay", does not like to be gay in a role playing game and takes the "thought experience" way too seriously? or do you meant the relationship of the 40 year old teacher that sticked his salami into a teenage girl, who was also his facking student and then tried to punish her and her boyfriend for the fact that she left him for someone of her own age, while his whole class is witness of his insanity? THAT relationship?

[–] fridaynight-1 9 years ago

I've been enjoying the film right until the end when everybody agreed to listen to the "holier-than-thou" blonde who decided everything for everyone.

She said that everyone deserved a chance during the apocalypse, but still let only half of the students into the bunker. If they were there to have fun and drink wine, only praying to survive, not actually thinking they can survive, why not let everybody in?

I didn't understand how she could be the smartest one, though sleeping with the teacher might be a smart move if she wanted top grades.

Her epic love with fellow student was laughable, and the idea that their devious and tricky teacher could commit suicide because of a teenage girl who is quite dumb and pathetic is not believable at all.

[–] fridaynight-1 9 years ago

Oh, and I forgot to mention that ridiculous scene when all the "survivors" stood between that "florist" student, whatever his name is, and the teacher with a gun.

For f's sake, that was just pathetic, predictable and moralizing. I wouldn't be surprised if Superman came to save them at that point.

[–] MissAngelCakes 9 years ago

The scientific "logic" scenarios weren't working, forcing groups of people in a room together in an apocalyptic situation didn't work.

She realised this and instead of following the same approach, she adopted another one.

The stress of the situation wasn't getting anybody pregnant and so she decided that if they were going to inevitably die due to the apocalypse, she needed to cut out rational reasoning and at least enjoy a more emotional ending that was happier.

It's not all about science, "continuing the human race" shouldn't be a prime imperative. Especially since it can't always be that simple.

[–] TypikalTom 9 years ago

Not only that, but in every other scenario they never even survived the year to continue humanity. The scientific, logical aspect was not working. She realized that the only way humanity could survive would be if they actually survived the year inside the bunker first. I kind of liked the movie, despite obvious logical holes. But it also came off to me as some kind of liberal, hippy propaganda. Love conquers all sort of thing. Interesting premise though.