MovieChat Forums > Bone Tomahawk (2016) Discussion > A lot of people missing the fact this wa...

A lot of people missing the fact this was a huge satire.

posted 8 years ago by Memento288
32 replies | jump to latest

The Trogs are how Indians were essentially viewed in that era, just savages and monsters.

"They don't eat blacks because they think they're poisonous"

The whole Brooder character.

The dynamite references and cheesiness that never eventuated.

A crippled man saved the day, crawling into the cave and blowing on some bone

The over the top gore, especially when they killed Nick and he's going on about the "Calvary" coming.

The casting of the girl from Banshee as the Ms O'Dwyer, deliberate misplaced casting, but suits the tone of the movie if you know her Banshee character.

Richard Jenkins.

The script and eccentric character interaction.

This movie is missing comedy in its description, it's clearly a great satire on Indian impressions and Wild West cliches.

I found this movie absolutely hilarious and had some real dark comedy and hidden gems among the dialogue.

Of course all this will go over the top the heads of the average IMDb movie goer who is better of sticking to their Marvel movies with obvious humour and witless one liners.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Memento288 8 years ago

I will admit that there was comedy. The formal way they talked, the remarks from Chicory, etc, but comedy is needed in a tense movie. All the other stuff is overanalyzing.

Not at all, it's clearly a satire given the cast and script.

[–] king_cooler 8 years ago

Some Native American tribes, specifically the Comanche, did commit these kinds of acts and worse.

To me it felt like the filmmakers wanted to make an old fashioned western but the only way to do this in today's PC world was to come up with a fictional group of people so no one could take offence.

I won't deny it had plenty of humour though.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SpanishFlyman 8 years ago

I definitely got an air of satire out of this. Basically turning the politically correct "you can't make Indians bad in movies anymore" on its ear.

The talk of the Calvery while the guy was being mutilated followed by the old man's long winded description of the flea circus struck a darkly humorous chord for sure.

Interesting movie for sure. Seems destined to strike a lot of discussion, which is a very good thing.

[–] Memento288 8 years ago

I definitely got an air of satire out of this. Basically turning the politically correct "you can't make Indians bad in movies anymore" on its ear.

The talk of the Calvery while the guy was being mutilated followed by the old man's long winded description of the flea circus struck a darkly humorous chord for sure.

Interesting movie for sure. Seems destined to strike a lot of discussion, which is a very good thing.

That was great from Richard Jenkins, he was superb, I'd almost suggest and Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, I didn't even notice it was him until towards the end.

The movie will instantly go down as a cult classic.

Perfect movie for Kurt as well, really enjoyed it.

[–] Cyraxote 8 years ago

What is your definition of satire? I didn't see it, but I'm curious what you saw. I mean, this was no "Dr. Strangelove" or "M*A*S*H."

[–] LollygagFlapjack 8 years ago

Could you all please stop ripping Memento288 a new cornhole? It's clear by the "I'm smarter than you" attitude and the constant use of the word-of-the-month SATIRE that the person could be autistic.

[–] Cyraxote 8 years ago

Huh?

[–] Pianohero4 8 years ago

It didn't " turn it on its ear", it obeyed that Orwellian pc thought law.

Please excuse any typos, this was typed on an iPad

[–] Soodinum 8 years ago

You're wrong. Most people who start threads along the lines of "am I the only one who got this??" often are.

[–] DoodMcDoodertun 8 years ago

What are you gonna say next, the SAW movies are satire as well?
The way you describe the movie almost makes it seem bearable...unfortunately you give the film maker way to much credit. He only wanted a reason to showcase blind limbless baby-makers and additional torture porn. But he needed an hour and 30 minutes of additional movie to wrap around it.

Recall when Brooder wakes up in the middle of the night and shoots into the darkness when his trip alarm goes off? Well, showing or telling us what he killed the next morning would be "too much detail" i suppose. That was the only part i felt that demonstrated satire in a "cowboy gungho mentality" sort of fashion.

[–] Pianohero4 8 years ago

You must be deaf and blind. He shot a dog. I deduce that you are deaf by the fact that you obviously didn't hear the dog whimpering for 15 seconds in that scene. I then deduced that you are also blind given that as a deaf man, you would have seen the subtitles clearly state "an injured dog whimpering". The scene was to denote that although his logic "a human will identify from afar, and an animal that approaches must be a predator" was sound, except he forgot the exception of animals that are drawn to humans because they are friendly to them (dogs).

Please excuse any typos, this was typed on an iPad

[–] DoodMcDoodertun 8 years ago

I'm sorry I wasn't using the *beep* subtitles! Whatever happened in that scene still doesn't fix the fact that the rest of the movie is contrived junk.

Additionally, just pulled up the amazon stream version and YES there are dog sounds! But guess what? The other version I'm comparing it too that I had from like 8-9 months ago DID NOT HAVE DOG SOUNDS! (early torrent).
So I retract my statements about this specific part.

[–] CountJonnie 8 years ago

Yeah, the only thing separating this from being a satire....was the complete lack of satire. It was a torture western, with more torture than western. LOL

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Suggestions?

[–] jawaburger-166-605328 8 years ago

It seemed to be a lot more western to me, it had like two hours of western and like 8 minutes of gore violence at the most.

[–] mrpinbert 8 years ago

Yeah more torture than western. Even though there was only one really gruesome scene... derp.

What are you smoking?

Zardoz (1974) has spoken!
My top 100 http://www.imdb.com/list/ls079512886/

[–] gaelichero-1 8 years ago

The movie was a goof. A very well made piece of hyperbole. I think it was an homage to Quentin Tarantino.

[–] SloppyJ30 8 years ago

Actually, if you really think about it, it's a sly send-up of Bollywood musicals.

[–] JacintoCupboard 7 years ago

Now, that, is sarcasm. *l*

While I'm here this movie certainly isn't any kind of satire. It's a mashup of Western, and what my guess would be, zombie flick. Sure, it has some lighter lines...you have to otherwise the unrelenting darkness would be tedious. That doesn't make it a comedy of any kind.

Not sure what the intention was other than to give a novel spin to what can be a tired genre. Most of the story would be a True Grit clone otherwise.

It works in a way, but no way is this movie operating on any kind of meta level. It's dumb as a sack of hammers. But hey, lots of good popcorn movies are.

And the idea that any supposed irony in this movie serves to undermine the history of racial and other stereotypes in westerns really is spectacularly idiotic. Movies to change racism. Wow. Like Ben Elton said in a similar context, it's like saying the purpose of German Cabaret was to undermine Nazism.

But hey, the Bollywood gag is a punchier putdown here.

[–] objviewer 7 years ago

Sloppy
???

[–] M_Salama 8 years ago

It was a satire. especially the not-so-heroic death of Fox after his "I'll kill as many as I can.. with dynamite" speech.