MovieChat Forums > Midsommar (2019) Discussion > Great atmosphere, terrible character wri...

Great atmosphere, terrible character writing.

posted 5 years ago by Ethanol (1)
6 replies | jump to latest

Great visuals. Great atmosphere. Amazing acting. Holy hell at that opening.

But with all that said, my god the character writing was bad. It felt like straight up 70s/80s/90s cheese ball horror. Idiot kids making idiot calls. Witness a suicide and then a straight up murder? Nah it's fine. It's just these people's way of life. Totally cool. Let's stick around. Friends start vanishing after knowing these people are capable of murder? Oh it doesn't really matter. Hell one of the main characters literally says, "We don't associate as friends of his," when his buddy vanishes. Like dude no one is going to give a shit about a thesis when literally two of their friends have gone missing along with another couple. There is no fucking way anyone in their right mind would feel comfortable being an outsider among 20+ pagan people that are fine witnessing and inflicting human loss.

The movie builds such a tense atmosphere but every time a character decision is made I feel the urge to face palm. This is not how real people react to traumatic events. I would argue the only characters that seemed to act competently were the British couple that were murdered. Even then a rational mind would have never bought the whole "your boyfriend already left without you" claim and gone off with the cult. This is a red flag. The characters even hear the girl scream and make nothing of it. What was the point?

Then there's the cult. They're shown to be murderers, manipulators, and liars. So my question is why do they keep the farce going for so long? When the final arc begins the only two remaining people are Christian and Dani. The final day begins with the cultists lying about their sacred book to cover up the deaths of Josh and Mark. But why? Literally moments later they start the rituals and murder Christian. What the hell was the point of this? Why not drug the fuckers during breakfast? Why bother if they had the paralyzing agent to begin with?

Again, great atmosphere and acting, but jeez was it disappointing to get the same old incompetent protagonists. Also what the fuck was the point of the guy wearing Mark's skin? Like that was at night and didn't seem to have anything to do with the rituals. Pure shock value? It reminds of a scene from another overall great horror film-- It Follows. In that movie, the creature is said to constantly move towards its target. However there is one weird scene where it just stands on a roof as a naked man. This scene made no sense in the context of the story and felt like a shock value insertion.

Anyway, great atmosphere. Great acting. Bad writing. I'm definitely going to keep following Ari, but as of right now I'd argue Hereditary was definitely a few tiers better composed.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I thought the exact same thing regarding their actions but I kept reminding myself that a lot of what they were being fed and what they were drinking contained some type of drug in it so that contributed to all of the bad decisions made during the entire film. I agree it was frustrating.

[–] mayaTitan (36) 4 years ago

Well, my guess is, sometimes you don't see the horror coming. Some stuff creeps step by step and people justify them more and more. Some characters had their own opportunistic motives. Dani even called Christian an opportunist. So why they stayed, my guess is they justified themselves things they were seeing and as it got worse some were either greedy to get more info for their own research (Christian and Josh), too stupid to notice (Mark), or too scared (Dani).

Like the story with the frog and the boiling water.

[–] Tricklebrook (309) 4 years ago

Even then a rational mind would have never bought the whole "your boyfriend already left without you" claim and gone off with the cult.

One small point -- she DIDN'T buy it. She repeatedly said, "This is bullshit!" She packed her bags and ran. But, of course, they caught her.

[–] noisebox666 (39) 4 years ago

I felt exactly the same, but not so much about how characters should have reacted to the multiple disappearances, but rather how they related to each other.
1 - The four guys never felt like real buddies. I can't imagine those guys going on a trip together in Europe seeing how they don't seem to know each other, or care about the others.
2 - Danny and Christian never felt like a couple. I know that's kind of the point, but even with people who broke up, you can still feel a bond, what used to be a certain complicity between two people, and that's not the case here. All the more surprising when she tells everyone that they're together for four years. You could absolutely not tell.
3 - So Danny and Christian are together for four years, he has buddies at the university. They go to at least one party together. And still, when she gets to the appartment before going to Sweden, they seem to discover each other (the "what are you studying?" question, that is like the first question that pops up when you meet someone at the university)
4 - Christian never sounds like a future PhD, nor even an aspiring one.
5 - Mark is supposed to be the jerk of the group, ok, but he could have at least one intelligent or redeeming line from time to time that would have explained why they're friends with him.
there's a lot of other details in the characters that felt out of place, and it's too bad, because still I never felt bored during the film.

[–] MavKilledGoose (784) 4 years ago

And the ending...

She decides to kill her soon-to-be-dead boyfriend. Why?

He clearly doesn't want to die, and others would evidently happily choose to be sacrificed by their May Queen. Yet, she chooses him. Why?

Because she's drugged? Because of an ecstatic religious experience? Mental illness? A combination of all of these things? Inasmuch as this is the case, her choice isn't really a choice, which evacuates it of meaning. If it's because she hates him... then I find that not only unbelievable (as in improperly set up), but it would make her an evil person.

The characters are the playthings of the plot, and that could be understandable if it were the point, but it isn't, so it's not.

[–] DaveBowman2001 (473) 4 years ago

You summed it up nicely. These characters seemed like they just fucking met and didn't seem believable as friends or lovers.
There's so much wrong, I don't even know where to start. Plus have others pointed out and was my first though just from the cover, it's basically a remake of Wicker man, but more entertaining probably.

Another annoyance. I'm sure after a transatlantic flight and four hour drive with annoying friends, the first fucking thing you want to do is Trip on mushrooms, before you even unpack and find out where you're sleeping for the night and who might be raping you while you're paralyzed with scopolamine.

Totally agree Christian (intentional reference) was remotely a Phd student (and why was his collar like 16" wide). He looked like a dumbass D student frat boy. Of course we needed a token woke cast too, who really wanted to go camp out and trip with a bunch of white Scandavavians....lol

They couldn't put 2+2 together and make a decision to GTFO. They told them they die at 72 and still they didn't expect the old 72 yr olds to leap off the cliff (or get the hint when the guy wouldn't tell them what the ceremony was)...you mean it gets better after this one?

Eh Ok movie, but really is full of holes and poor characters.

Besides Christian, Dani's last name was Ardor (Enthusiasm/Passion). I'm not sure I care to research the other names (none come to mind without going back to IMBD), but in case anyone else noticed any post them.