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R. Dittmar
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
420 Posts |
 Posted - 05/13/2007 : 1:43:58 PM
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The first one that popped into my head I'd also argue was a big mistake that diminished the movie.
Ed Harris' Gen. Hummel in The Rock is clearly supposed to someone that the audience likes and supports. The film is so ham-handed in portraying everyone in the government as a bunch of corrupt and crooked a*$&*)#s, that his request for money for U.S. soldiers is actually somewhat altruistic. And also note how he agonizes over his men killing the raiding party and how he can't pull the trigger and launch the rockets at the end of the film.
Unfortunately, the misguided but selfless villain totally unbalances the entire movie. Rather that rooting for a come-uppance you just kind of pity the guy and it leaves a huge villainy vacuum that no one else in the movie is able to fill.
(On a totally unrelated note, The Rock also features one of Hollywood's oft-used but completely erroneous tropes. Nerve "gas" is actually an oily substance that's supposed to stick to things so that people get poisoned on contact. It does not burn like battery acid! I know it's cinematically horrific, but that's not how it's supposed to work.) |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 2:06:15 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by New Hinda
quote:
Originally posted by The Rev. D.D.
How about Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction? She's obviously got issues, rather than just being plain evil; and then Dan jerks her around so badly and so ruthlessly that I can barely feel anything but pity and sympathy for her. (Except for what she does to the rabbit. Poor rabbit! Poor kid!) I surely don't feel any for Dan, that cold, cuckolding bastard. I know it would've been really hard on his innocent wife and child, but I kinda wish Alex had taken him with
Don't forget, she also kidnaps the little girl, who she should have left out of it. Otherwise, I wholly agree. The Michael Douglas character was a total bastard. And that closing shot of the family-the family that selfish, stupid jerk had cheated on!!!!!
I don't think I've ever seen Fatal Attraction all the way through, though I've seen enough to know the plot pretty well. But the original ending was a much more fitting comeuppance for Michael Douglas's character: Alex Forrest commits suicide, and he's arrested for her murder.
Warning! Warning! Maybe we should start a new thread: Changed Endings That Screw Up A Movie. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2007 : 7:40:59 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by R. Dittmar(On a totally unrelated note, The Rock also features one of Hollywood's oft-used but completely erroneous tropes. Nerve "gas" is actually an oily substance that's supposed to stick to things so that people get poisoned on contact. It does not burn like battery acid! I know it's cinematically horrific, but that's not how it's supposed to work.)
That's right, there are gases known as "blister agents" that burn the skin. Mustard gas is one of these.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2007 : 08:28:15 AM
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Never heard of that ending for FA. I like it though.
And a tip of the hat to New Hinda. Forgot to mention the kidnapping. Definitely a strike against her.
Still, she's way ahead on points against Dan. And yes, that end shot makes me a bit ill. Bleh.
Good call on The Rock. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember Harris' character struggling with the raiding party's deaths. Details like that did skew my view of the characters involved, I recall.
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*sig out of order* |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2007 : 12:14:38 PM
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| Re: The Rock, I thought that was supposed to be the point. Harris wasn't supposed to be the Designated Villain. His character was meant to be taken as tragic, a good guy gone wrong. That's why, for example, the slaughter of Michael Biehn's assault team was due to carelessness and itchy trigger fingers, not Harris giving the order to blow his opponents away. In fact, if you recall, Harris redeems himself at the end of the film by standing up and steadfastly refusing to set off the bomb (or whatever device the villains were planning to set off) that would have resulted in the deaths of thousands... whereupon Harris is promptly killed by the movie's real villains, led by Tony Todd. |
Edited by - zombiewhacker on 05/15/2007 12:15:46 PM |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2007 : 09:50:55 AM
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[quote]Originally posted by AnnGora
Rev-
You reminded of the most sympathetic movie monster of all: King Kong. I remember when the old 1933 version would come on TV Saturday afternoons when I was a kid and my mother would just shake her head and mumble softly, "Poor ol' Kong...he's pitiful. Bless his heart."
Kinda like the shark in JAWS or the Grabboids in TREMORS...they just want to eat, and you look tasty. Nothing personal, its just dinner.
Marvin the Paranoid Android to Buzz Lightyear "Too infinity and beyond-i've been there, its rubbish!"
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KDOT
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2007 : 11:35:41 AM
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Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West in Re-Animator.
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RossM
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2007 : 1:01:29 PM
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I always root for the alien in Alien. Even though Weaver looks great in her underwear, those crewmembers are so dumb and cliche ridden that every time the monster eats one of them I secertly say good riddence.
rossM |
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John Doe
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2007 : 6:39:20 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West in Re-Animator.
He's not really the villian though is he? He's more like the hero's sidekick. Almost a comic relief type figure. The real villian I thought was the Dean Wormer type guy.
my eyes!! the goggles do nothing!! |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 05/18/2007 : 7:01:05 PM
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You could make an argument either way. Certainly he's a mad, unscrupulous scientist who cruelly manipulates Bruce Abbott. All the tragedy that ensues is West's fault.
It goes without saying that the Dean Wormer guy and David Gale (the headless guy) were villains also. |
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AnnGora
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
252 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2007 : 1:38:44 PM
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quote:
Kinda like the shark in JAWS or the Grabboids in TREMORS...they just want to eat, and you look tasty. Nothing personal, its just dinner.
Kong wasn't so much hungry, he was just lovesick. And what does he get for his pain? Being buzzed by bi-planes and a nasty fall off the Empire State Building.
She was bred in old Kentucky, but she's just a crumb up here. |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2007 : 12:30:30 PM
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I was suddenly struck by another one...and I'm surprised he hasn't been brought up. Although maybe it's because his movie's set up so that we really have no choice but to cheer him on the whole way.
Dr. Anton Phibes.
I mean, come on...he lost Caroline Munro on the operating table and ended up looking like the brother of the guy on the video cover of Evil Dead II after his car crash. Who ISN'T going to root for him and feel a bit bad for him, even as he slaughters a bunch of basically innocent people?
I'd probably only consider him for this list on the strength of his first, vastly superior movie. In the second one he's practically Jason's granddaddy, just mostly killing at whim and for little reason or gain.
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Watch out for Brussell sprouts! |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 06/03/2007 : 02:05:43 AM
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Aaaaarggh!
How could I possible forget Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean?!!
To the gallows, says I! |
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The Rev. D.D.
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
203 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2007 : 08:41:08 AM
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Is he really a villain, though? I know he's a pirate and all, but he struck me more as an "anti-hero", like Riddick in Pitch Black or something. Wouldn't the villain be Capt. Barbosa?
To be fair, if Depp hadn't been such fun in that movie, I probably would've been rooting for Barbosa; but I'm an unabashed fan of Geoffrey Rush, so my loyalties were already skewed (nothing against Depp, I like him too.) I still haven't seen the second movie, but I'm tempted to go catch the third just because he's back.
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Not TOO tempted though... |
Edited by - The Rev. D.D. on 06/06/2007 10:30:30 AM |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2007 : 7:03:00 PM
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I liked Barbosa, too!
You'll have to see the second movie to know what's happeing in the third. The first can be taken on it's own.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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