The flawed basic premise - A Quiet Place (2018) Discussion

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

[deleted]

Thats another show that falls apart under the weight of its own premise. So I am supposed to believe that individual people can survive the threat of a zombie outbreak but somehow it manages to destroy the government.

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[–] NukaCola (24) 6 years ago

> I am supposed to believe that individual people can survive the threat of a zombie outbreak but somehow it manages to destroy the government.

IF there was some kind of outbreak (of any type; zombie, medical, or military) I wouldn't be surprised that a few people would be able to survive in remote areas, even if the government was brought down.
It's happened before, in war etc.

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[–] FifthFreedom (196) 6 years ago

Yeah, makes no sense. Why is it that a first-world military can defeat a third-world military (Like Iraq's) in a week, but are still battling small groups of insurgents there to this day? Doesn't make sense. Flawed premise!

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

"Yeah, makes no sense. Why is it that a first-world military can defeat a third-world military (Like Iraq's) in a week, but are still battling small groups of insurgents there to this day? Doesn't make sense. Flawed premise!"

You really believe we defeated a third world military? They are made up of groups of insurgents! The reason we lost in Vietnam was because of insurgents! It also didn't help that we didn't really understand why we were in Vietnam. Same goes for Iraq. Why were we really there? Oil.

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[–] FifthFreedom (196) 6 years ago

You missed the point. Iraq had a genuine, modern, organized military, which we defeated in less than 2 weeks. Small groups of pissed off civilians (aka insurgents) however, kept fighting for several years, and were the cause of almost all of our casualties.

Point being: militaries are made for fighting other militaries, not small groups of enemies that can hide anywhere and fight with guerilla tactics. It's very easy for me to believe the bulk of our military were simply slaughtered by the monsters, because obviously, they would try to fight them... and fail.

To quote somebody much smarter than myself, "The most powerful military in the world proved all but useless for taking out these insurgents armed with old AK-47s and homemade IEDs."

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

No, I didn't miss the point. The point I understood is that the aliens were not afraid of anything. They would sacrifice themselves to help their cause. The insurgents (both in Vietnam and Iraq) were not afraid to die for their cause. (Suicide bombers?)
I agree that military is meant to fight military, not small groups of insurgents. There is a good example in our own history. When the British tried to invade the colonies, they were dressed in red uniforms (hence the term "redcoats") and our members were dressed in clothing they could hide in. Same thing. Groups of insurgents can do a lot of damage.
But, we are talking an alien invasion film anyways, so the point is really moot. In truth no one can equate what happens in the wars on our planet amongst our own people in comparison to what happens in an alien invasion. At least, let's hope we never find out!

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[–] Devotee (98) 6 years ago

They use this fact in exactly ONE episode and then never use it again.

It was that sort of stupid story logic that caused me to dump that series back in Season 3.

And by doing so you missed the concept of "herd" in the tv series (and the comic) and its special appearance in seasons 7 and 8.

http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/Herd

Attracting a single zombie with sound to kill it = easy
Attracting a herd of thousands of zombies with sound = you've got a problem

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

So it took them another four seasons to get it right? I'm glad I gave up on it after S3.

Also, wouldn't the herd concept work FOR THEM, i.e. noise to draw hundreds and thousands of zombies away from them in another direction?

I remember when they holed up in a prison. Everyday, dozens and dozens of zombies were pressing against the fence.

I thought: Man, how stupid is this group? It was pretty clear early on that the zombies would eventually overcome the fence through fatigue failure (which they do, IIRC). Meanwhile, they could have rigged speakers/bells/wind chimes/xylophones/cowbells... whatever away from the prison and turned them on periodically to draw the zombies away from the fence.

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[–] Devotee (98) 6 years ago

To be honest, I don't really like the TV series. I like the comic way more, it's more elaborate and less flawed than the TV adaptation. It's more gory and less PC, too.

Regarding the herd, it's complicated. You can't simply draw them away and hope that they won't come back, or that you'll doom another community of survivors by sending the herd in their direction (I know what you'll say, "f*ck other survivors!"). Also, you can't always control sound. Let's say you're holed in a good spot (like a prison, or a walled neighborhood), if a group attacks you the gunfire will attract zombies. And, as you pointed out before, a good amount of zombies will eventually go through anything. Be it a fence, or a wall.

I use to watch the TV series because I'm curious about how the show writers address what happens in the comic series. And it's been quite disappointing as far as for the seasons I've watched. I would definitely recommend the comic (there's a LOT to read, though).

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

>caused me to dump that series back in Season 3.

Ah, then i guess you will be glad to know they used the sound distraction multiple times since. But in the walking dead its pretty much established that zombies are not a big threat compared to other humans.

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[–] Lateralus (1) 6 years ago

I thought the same thing. Also, if the creatures were blind, how did they navigate running the woods and buildings without running into something? I suppose they could have used echo location like bats, but you never see the creatures doing that.

Maybe I'm looking too deep into this fun little movie.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

"if the creatures were blind, how did they navigate running the woods and buildings without running into something"

LOL... that didn't even occur to me.

Speculating on echo location as you did, maybe that was the whole bit with them being overcome by high frequency noise. Maybe they did use high-frequencies to echo locate and that the hearing aid was the equivalent of a mega-loud sonar blast to them.

That introduces its own set of plot holes though... If they did echo locate then they should have been able to 'see' moving things, the way bats and Daredevil can, which would make it easy for them to hunt.

Maybe the noises made by humans and animals was the "signal" that told them: "Hey, meat on feet close by", i.e. the initial noise alerts them to a potential food source, then they use the sonar once they get closer to find and finish the prey.

Or maybe they DID bash into trees and other obstacles and that's why they were so angry all the time!

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[–] Matthew83128 (13) 6 years ago

They did use eco-location. When they were walking around the house and corn fields you heard a clicking noise, just like bats and dolphins.

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

That clicking sound they made? Sounds like echolocation to me.

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[–] leader (1707) 6 years ago

The truth is there was no realistic was for the creatures to win, that is why the movie work only in the small-scale location it is set in.

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[–] Nosduj (144) 6 years ago

You should pay more attention. There were FAR more than three coming for them at the end.

Also, it was made abuntantly clear that they were very difficult to kill.

Yeah. You really should pay attention. Especially since you seem to be looking very hard for something to complain about.

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[–] nolerhett (78) 6 years ago

I don't think there was far more than 3. When the wife is looking at the monitors at the end we see 2 on one monitor and then 2 show up on another monitor (I think it was the same 2 just moving closer to the house). So the audience is shown anywhere from 3 (if same 2 on both monitors) to 5 (if different 2). Obviously there could be more that aren't shown.

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[–] Nosduj (144) 6 years ago

They were coming from all directions. The corn field was crawling with them.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

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[–] nolerhett (78) 6 years ago

I re-watched the last scene to check. You're wrong kid.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Yep only two on the monitors (with barely a rustle in the cornfield).

That end scene: https://youtu.be/NuVrsicWKmY?t=1m30s

And on the White Board the Father did it reads.

[Creature]
- Blind
- Attack Sound
- Armor
- How Many In Action ??
- Confirmed [3]

So like you say hence the nod, cock of the rifle and smile on the mothers face.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Since when two is FAR more than three?

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[–] Nosduj (144) 6 years ago

You need to look again. They were coming from all directions. The corn field was crawling with them.

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

No, I really don't. But you need to stop confusing this movie with a recent Black Mirror 'Metalhead' episode.

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

maybe YOU should pay more attention. There were two (2) creatures in the corn fields that bolted towards the barn, making three (3) in total.

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[–] Gastonian (946) 6 years ago

There are too many illogical points that distract from this movie being truly effective. But really the premise itself is the biggest one. How these creatures got the jump on the government and all of its massive military resources makes no sense. And just like 'Ready Player One' (where it took gamers 5 years to realize the secret to the first challenge is driving backwards...seems like a common sense move someone would try on the first day) - the big discovery the how to fight back did not seem so obscure that someone in the government wouldn't also figure that out. Especially if they know these aliens are blind, a jarringly loud frequency seems like common fu#king sense.

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[–] fountainhead (318) 6 years ago

While I agree there was the usual artistic license taken with this movie, I can see how the military might have a problem with these creatures. Hell, the real life U.S. military, as powerful and technologically advanced as it is, can 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 have trouble fighting low-tech, ragtag guerilla fighters like the Viet Cong and Al Qaeda.

Imagine that possibly thousands or even millions of these creatures spilled all over the Earth. Unlike the traditional enemy the militaries of the world are designed to fight, which hold territory that can be plotted on a map, the creatures quickly invade civilian population centers and embed themselves among their prey, rendering the use of high explosive weaponry, and aerial and armored vehicles nearly impossible. So, infantry would be tasked with hunting them down. But, as we saw, the creatures have a tough, bulletproof exoskeleton and are fast enough to decimate infantry as soon as they're in firing range.

In short, anything big and strong enough to take these creatures out would also risk killing civilians or, if the creatures are threatened, they appear fast enough to run and hide in the dark or wilderness. Anything small enough to avoid that problem, the creatures could easily kill in close quarters combat.

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

>Hell, the real life U.S. military, as powerful and technologically advanced as it is, can 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 have trouble fighting low-tech, ragtag guerilla fighters like the Viet Cong and Al Qaeda.

Its worth noting that this is primarely because the military forces there were trying to avoid civilian casualties and it was impossible to distinguish the guerillas from civilians until they attacked. In iraq specifically they would literally send mothers with babies in their hands so the soldiers would not shoot them, while they were carring explosives under thier clothes.

The actual numbers if you look up shows US military winning at a very high ratio (something like 20+ kill to death ratio).

The creatures in here were easy to identify, easy to distract and easy to trap by luring. They had nothing on the guerillas, and guerillas lost.

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[–] OldG (628) 6 years ago

Agreed... even though they seem hard to kill... they seem very easy to trap... and as someone wrote a bomb would probably do the job... we even saw newspaper headlines that they were drawn to noise... so the military would definitely know this too... even though I enjoyed the film for its intensity... do not think to hard about the premise because it makes no sense...

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[–] nolerhett (78) 6 years ago

I'm in agreement with all of this. The only saving grace is if in the sequel (which seems to be in the works) it's revealed that the creatures were just one aspect of it and they weren't responsible (or just a small part of) the dire straits that humanity (and any other noise making animal) appeared to be in.

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

Yeah, in Falling Skies the aliens first wipe out the human military with big stuff, then use smaller creatures to hunt down and wipe out the remaining humans (and enslave them as the plot goes weird over 5 seasons). They at least put some effort into thinking things through.

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[–] Towelie_Towel (1722) 6 years ago

It's weird. In one of the newspapers it was saying "Army says no bullets! No bombs! Nothing, its armor is impenetrable!"

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

The feedback noise must have weakened their armour, but you know a creature sensitive to anything above a whisper and the "Government and Army" couldn't work that out.

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[–] Matthew83128 (13) 6 years ago

I think it forced it to open up its face. If you notice during the feedback the armor around it’s face opens up and that’s when she shoots it. If the military could never force this, then they would seem to be impenetrable.

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[–] Strazdas (2328) 5 years ago

The armor also opens up before feedback too, just there is noone to capitalize on it.

At the very least the military would experiment with different frequencies as traps and would have discovered it.

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[–] not_a_virus.exe (1267) 6 years ago

I don't know where you're getting the idea that there were only three in the vicinity. Toward the end we saw dozens racing to the house before they cranked up the mic. The movie posits that this is post apocolyptic. Which means the creatures took over as the dominant species. Why would you assume that there weren't thousands of them? Don't you think the military would have been able to defeat thousands of them?

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[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

No, there were not dozens of them racing towards the house. There were only two. The final scene is on youtube.

To your other point, yes, it's possible that there are thousands or millions of these things on the planet. I'm only concerned with the flaws in this movie.

It's already been pointed out that certain types of white noise such as waterfalls render humans 'invisible' to the creatures. If they could go on stealth raids for supplies, they could surely have simply walked over to the other farms and organized a resistance that would meet by the waterfalls to discuss strategies.

(And, if mere civilians were able to figure out the waterfall trick, then the military/government would also have been quickly aware of this important fact.)

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[–] dmac8 (5050) 6 years ago

I thought the same.

The silo would make a nice roach motel.

Bait them with sound and you get fish in a barrel.

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