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One example of inconsistency in character development

posted 7 months ago by MovieElephant (332)
17 replies | jump to latest

I'm talking about the character of Tennessee (guy with a cowboy hat). There's a scene where Daniels asks to talk to him in private and informs him that "Maggie's gone" (Maggie is his wife). He's devastated and acts accordingly, fine.

But then in the next scene with Tennessee, he's back to his cowboy speak, saying things like "That's the point, son. We have to punch through the atmos." and "See you soon, darling" and "Let's take this fucker down".

Who in the world would still have the will to talk like that when you're mourning somebody. It's like the writers completely forgot that he's supposed to be devastated about Maggie.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 months ago

Most of the characters are badly written, not just in this one but the previous. They come across as stupid, unnecessarily antagonistic, unprofessional and not the sort of people you'd expect to undertake exploration or colonising missions. Presumably they would have some level or training for when things don't go according to plan (or so they should) but characters are seen shitting the bed as soon as they see blood or dead bodies. You just can't take them seriously.

As far as examples of characters quickly moving on and getting on with life after deceased crew members, what about the woman and her partner who get all horny and have sex in the shower after the majority of their crew just got killed off by some dangerous alien life form? I mean it's ridiculous and the writing sucks. It's like something you'd get from a B grade slasher flick.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

Ridley Scott should go to Hollywood prison for massive movie malpractice and incompetence.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

There is a recurrent theme in Ridley Scotts Alien series of people who are supposed to be highly trained and responsible crew members recklessly putting the ship and all the lives and mission at foolish risk because they are scared and overly emotional. And the rest of the crew going along with it.

If people in the future are so stupid how did humanity ever build massive space ships that colonize and exploit deep space? They must lose their ships by the "boatload".

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

I thought the big mistakes in alien made more sense character wise. Kane is clearly a risk taker type. He has no fear about going into the alien ship and go exploring. Dallas is a weak captain and is content to let ash decide what to do with Kane. And of course Ash has been told to get the alien back to the company.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

> And of course Ash has been told to get the alien back to the company.

So, Weyland-Yutani knew about the alien before the Nostromo landed? I think that is a difficult plot point to rationalize. How and what do you suppose the company could have known, and why would it have decided to have Nostromo detoured, and not tell them what they were facing?

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

You seem to be determined to interpret everything that happens in the movie as negatively as possible.

The movie doesn't really tell us what was going on inside the company or what lead to those decisions. The company management probably didn't know what was there, beyond what was in the message sent from the wreck. Telling the crew about the warning message would have meant admitting the company already knew about it. They must have wanted that to be a secret. If word was out about the warning signal, that could be a situation where the government steps in. It would be more profitable for the company if a WT crew finds the ship first.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

> You seem to be determined to interpret everything that happens in the movie as negatively as possible.

So what? Major flaws in movies deservev to be interpreted negatively. When I am talking about what I like a movie would give me your BS garbage and say, you seem to be determined to interpret everything so positively?

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

I just thought Kane was a company grunt and just doing his job.
When he said "We must go on. We have to go on" ... he did not sound enthusiastic, he sounded resigned to just get the job over with.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Totally disagree on that. He really wanted to be part of the group that went into the ship. His reaction is more excited then frightened when they find the dead alien pilot. Wanting to finish the job doesn't explain that. They go into the alien ship fairly early in the movie, but he seems like he could be the sort of person who doesn't mind taking risks.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

I think he got stuck with it since he was the only male other than the captain, and you don't risk the life of the captain in an away team. Kane was resigned to doing his job, too tired to argue, just get it over with ... and got his face hugged for that! ;-)

I mean I feel awful when I just eat too much food, and he had this alien growing inside of him and didn't even notice it? But also, it is so silly that they have all that body scanning equipment in sick bay and never notice that huge thing inside of him.

But, I realize that the people who really love this movie will make something up to cover any criticism ... kind of in the way some voters dismiss any crime their favorite candiate commits ... it's kind of a mental defect in some people.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Ash is the one who checks him out. The movie makes that clear. We only see the rest of the crew there during a scan when Kane is first brought onto the ship. Why do you assume the rest of the crew would have been there to see a scan of Kane after the face hugger drops off of him. Mental defect? Jesus christ. I think I'm about done with you. If some part of the plot isn't spelled out for you, you're determined to find some way to call it a plot hole.

Edit: Kane sure seemed eager to me, not resigned. Again, we don't know much about these characters at the start of the movie. Kane could have been an ambitious guy who badly wanted to make a major discovery.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

> Why do you assume the rest of the crew would have been there to see a scan of Kane after the face hugger drops off of him.

Because they care about their fellow crew member with what would be a first in human history, and they have nothing else to do.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 months ago

I agree. At least in Alien the recklessness felt more believable. Ripley pushed back on letting them on the ship with Kane in his condition and wasn't willing to break protocol until Ash overruled Ripley and did. We later learn why he did. She then questions Ash about it later too.

The behaviour and motivations of the characters in these later films feels much less believable to me. The writers just want to get to the death and gore so engineer stupider ways for the characters to act to arrive at it quickly, at the expense of a smarter script. This brings it closer to a Final Destination movie than the original Alien.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

Yes, I agree. Especially in Promethius.

People do make really bad decisions in the real world. Prometheus had people doing things really out of character just to advance the plot though, like the exo biologist who is afraid of an alien body in one scene then about an hour later is picking up a scary looking alien life form that's acting aggressively. That is bad writing.

[–] spurtle467 (1520) 5 months ago

Yes that scene of the geologist and biologist getting into trouble may as well have been Laurel and Hardy. It was supposed to come across as tense and scary and instead backfires becoming laughable due to their stupidity. It's so far removed from the horror of Alien, which does everything subtly and realistically, that it makes it hard to believe it's the same director.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

I didnt find that too hard to believe. People have managed to stay calm and under control and keep doing their jobs in terrible situations in the real world. People have to do it in combat situations, even after seeing people close to them die.

For all we know he could have had military experience, knew how to brush his emotions a side in a dangerous situation like that where he had to focus on his duties.

There was a lot more stupid things that happened in this mo ie in prometheus.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (8963) 5 months ago

Whatever he did with his emotions he was pushing the ship into certain destruction just to get to his wife. He should have been over-ridden at that time.