Ever go to the theatre to watch a movie you anticipated from the previews and trailers to be amazing, then beat yourself up for putting your hard earned money into watching a load crap for an hour and then some?! That’s been happening a lot lately. Many of my colleagues, apparently loads of others online have shared complaints about trusting movies or even trailers lately. You believe you’re about to make a good $6 ticket well spent (if that) on a cool flick, then you leave the theatre only remembering one or two scenes that barely fulfilled those needs. Well my friends that because the movie writers and directors don’t take you seriously! In this venting article you’ll discover why that is so, and get a dose of how seriously the writers and directors take you. Thus, I will really get into what grinds my gears about movies these days and really drill and new hole into slacking cinema. I’ll make comparisons between the Jason Bourne & Matrix Series, thus discuss the usage of vulnerable vs invulnerable characters.
As far as movies are concerned, the marketing and trailers are what counts. It’s what causes thousands of convinced people to walk out of their homes, burn their hard earned gas all the way to a theater to buy tickets for disappointing movies. What’s worse, the damage is already done as you have taken the 50-50 chance to purchase something you would either love or hate. The directors and writers of these trash flicks have already made their profit whether you like it or not – giving them liberty to make more half-assed movies they could profit from.
What I have commonly heard about movies is that they’re too cheesy, far fetched, or cheap! Well, cheap could pretty much sum up this debauchery of crap served well done. Movies whether being horror, action, suspense, etc. have one thing in common and that is redundancy. Yes, film makers are re-using the same cheap thrills in order to catch the attention of bored movie goers. What’s worse is that they’re not even trying harder. Yes, you’ll be seeing more of the same split second loud booms and shrieks of false alarms in horror flicks; the same side-winding flips in the air as an action star shoots away enemies; the same characters walking away from explosions with a bad ass attitude; the same non-changing story pattern of lovers misunderstood; and much, much more of the same indifferent children that whisper not-so-eerie things to the main characters in horror flicks; need I go on?!
Many feel disrespected, as they should, I am one of them. I take it personal when film makers think deeper sex scenes, more flips, and more explosions consistently make a safe movie good. Why would I pay six more dollars on a ticket to see something that’s been repeated since the 70s? This goes beyond cheap thrills folks. Some film makers even fail at making a difference as they dish out more twists and dramatic changes to a story line that at times make no sense. It does make a movie less predictable but completely ruins the good stride they were already running through. I guess, a good movie is sometimes ruined by inconsistencies.
Most of us aren’t pros in the film industry, but our opinions mean a lot to the evolution of good movies. As a big fan of action and suspense movies I truly believe there is a thin line between realistic fantasy and science fiction fantasy and that they should NOT be intertwined. With movies that try to defy reality as we know it, I encourage film makers to do so by all means but within the right genre. A perfectly good movie is ruined when the film makers cannot decide whether or not the film is a realty or sci-fi based. If Jason Bourne went from evading government using realistic military techniques and well calculated maneuvers to performing back flips from building to building while blowing up enemies in various places, I would have lost my mind and walked out from the theatre for a rein check request. If Neo was amazing enough to manipulate time through the matrix but failed to see the loud screaming knife man attacking from behind, I would have lost my mind the same. These were two characters very similar yet in movies of different fantasy.
Aside from their great stories, The Bourne and Matrix series were both great because they remained consistent in their form and still gave the notion that both characters were defeat-able in their own right. The Matrix brought something new to sci-fi action flicks with stop time cinematography as The Bourne series brought something fresh to espionage suspense with heart stopping camera angles and real life killing techniques implemented in serious scenes. Some film makers have taken from these great flicks and, in my opinion, raped them for the qualities they possessed; implementing them into their movies incorrectly and inconsistently.
In order for suspense to be initiated it must be implied that the protagonist is in dyer circumstances and must escape the inevitable force that strives to destroy them. This cannot be achieved if the main character is invulnerable because they can then cheat their way out and that equals no suspense. Apparently a lot of film makers don’t understand that. They would rather serve us the same gravity defying and explosion filled action scenes which involve unstoppable main characters that deliver enough corny one-liners to fill up in movies for the next four decades. I have watched enough movies to know when they’re not trying hard enough anymore and it’s time we voice our opinions.
Maybe I like my Alice from Resident Evil a little vulnerable – to only weld a combat shotgun with limited ammunition and take on the onslaught of non-stop zombies, rather than have her run vertically down a building and performing impossible acrobatic feats 10 ft. in the air that you only wish you could have done when actually playing the game. Maybe I can put up with the notion that bullet can be curved a little in “Wanted” with the flick of the wrist and not put up with a bullet that kills off a dozen assassins of different physical height from one shot that completely circum-navigates around a 15 ft. radius. I was honestly offended, like I was that stupid to put up with it and deem it amazing.
I think it’s time to put an end to crappy film makers and hold off on buying tickets for their movies. They know what they are doing and would rather not serve a movie that is well versed in elements that are fresh and well placed; no they would rather recycle elements and place in a different setting because the audience doesn’t know any better. I almost changed the article name from “Cheap!” to “Rein Check”. That’s what grinds my gears and I’m done.
~Z
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