BigFin
Well-Known Member
Polarizing movie, it seems.
Clue is purely a comedy and I wouldn't put it in the same league, either, but the start of Bad Times is set up in the same way. They're totally different movies, though.
Anyways, I was expecting a complex puzzle that fits together in a satisfying way with some funny or crazy dialogue peppered in somewhere. The problem is that it isn't a complex puzzle. Its a MacGuffin movie. Its about the individual character motivations and they're all totally different and 2 of the 3 MacGuffin's end up getting completely steamrolled by the plot.
What you're left with is one meaningful character arc: Darlene Sweet, the singer. Her major problem is racism. She has talent. She can sing. She lets the movie know this for long stretches. Her duality is that she wears a wig? But she is still attractive but it shows that she is willing to play the game for success. Her major choice is to figure out if she is going to shoot the only guy thats been kind to her and take the money. She gets talked out of it because she wouldn't get away with it. So not really a moral choice. She then gets tied up like everyone else because thats what this movie does. She then escapes because she was really, really lucky. She gets her money and gets to sing because she now knows that she doesn't need the money. The end.
Not the most satisfying arc ever in a movie about morality but we get a happy ending. All of the other arcs were butchered. The Cop and the Military Guy's arc were so small that they probably should've been the same character. The movie really wanted the scene where Hamm gets the shotgun blast at the same time as the Military Guy. Its a dumb scene. The cop breaks into the room, disposes of the threat, unties the victim, the threat while in the same room gets up and kills him. Thats just daft. Not only is it ridiculous for Hamm to not notice the threat moving around but its ridiculous that the movie needs the victim untied to continue the plot.
I could go into more of the movie but the movie is so long that its really difficult to break down why I didn't like it. I just wanted to show that I've seen the movie. Omar's criticism seems very vague.
your analysis is way too much for me... But for the most part I agree... I also think they needed to kill off the "priest" if they wanted it to be a good movie... The irony of it would have been a redeeming part... How he worked so hard to get the money, but died before he could use any of it...
Clue is purely a comedy and I wouldn't put it in the same league, either, but the start of Bad Times is set up in the same way. They're totally different movies, though.
Anyways, I was expecting a complex puzzle that fits together in a satisfying way with some funny or crazy dialogue peppered in somewhere. The problem is that it isn't a complex puzzle. Its a MacGuffin movie. Its about the individual character motivations and they're all totally different and 2 of the 3 MacGuffin's end up getting completely steamrolled by the plot.
What you're left with is one meaningful character arc: Darlene Sweet, the singer. Her major problem is racism. She has talent. She can sing. She lets the movie know this for long stretches. Her duality is that she wears a wig? But she is still attractive but it shows that she is willing to play the game for success. Her major choice is to figure out if she is going to shoot the only guy thats been kind to her and take the money. She gets talked out of it because she wouldn't get away with it. So not really a moral choice. She then gets tied up like everyone else because thats what this movie does. She then escapes because she was really, really lucky. She gets her money and gets to sing because she now knows that she doesn't need the money. The end.
Not the most satisfying arc ever in a movie about morality but we get a happy ending. All of the other arcs were butchered. The Cop and the Military Guy's arc were so small that they probably should've been the same character. The movie really wanted the scene where Hamm gets the shotgun blast at the same time as the Military Guy. Its a dumb scene. The cop breaks into the room, disposes of the threat, unties the victim, the threat while in the same room gets up and kills him. Thats just daft. Not only is it ridiculous for Hamm to not notice the threat moving around but its ridiculous that the movie needs the victim untied to continue the plot.
I could go into more of the movie but the movie is so long that its really difficult to break down why I didn't like it. I just wanted to show that I've seen the movie. Omar's criticism seems very vague.
your analysis is way too much for me... But for the most part I agree... I also think they needed to kill off the "priest" if they wanted it to be a good movie... The irony of it would have been a redeeming part... How he worked so hard to get the money, but died before he could use any of it...
I can see this being the main factor as to whether or not you like the movie. To me it felt like the movie didn't respect my time as an audience member. I was watching scenes again to see them from a different viewpoint and i didn't feel like I was getting enough out of it to matter. Almost like watching a Call of Duty game. Just images of people moving to a condition and getting ambushed. Someone gets tied up, someone else escapes, we get a flashback. Then someone gets tied up, someone else escapes, we get a flashback. Then someone gets tied up, a couple of characters escape and we have an ending.The characters that fail, fail BECAUSE of the actions of the other characters. That I didn't KNOW all the motivations of those other characters through the whole movie made it MORE enjoyable for me, not less.
YRMV.
I can see this being the main factor as to whether or not you like the movie. To me it felt like the movie didn't respect my time as an audience member. I was watching scenes again to see them from a different viewpoint and i didn't feel like I was getting enough out of it to matter. Almost like watching a Call of Duty game. Just images of people moving to a condition and getting ambushed. Someone gets tied up, someone else escapes, we get a flashback. Then someone gets tied up, someone else escapes, we get a flashback. Then someone gets tied up, a couple of characters escape and we have an ending.
My favorite sceneis when the military guy is tied up and is begging for his life No Country For Old Men style. The crazy girl says their names and everyone realizes that he needs to die. I also like the scene where Jeff Bridges is tied up and loses his memory. Great acting in both scenes by all people.
Just curious, but have you seen the movie "Cube (1997)"?But that was the cool part of it, was that each time they flashed back, something MORE was revealed. There was a sci-fi movie on a train with the same conceit a number of years back, and I was worried early on in 'Bad Times,' that it was going to be the same, repeated ground for very little payoff.
Except I thought this one did a fantastic job of making sure you DID get new info, or stuff made different sense when seen from that new perspective. So the character of the bellboy takes on a whole different meaning in the flashbacks, when you understand what role he plays in the hotel.
I thought it was cool the way that each of the characters had these decisions to make about what kinds of people they were, but even if they made the 'good' choice, that was no guarantee that they'd get a good outcome.
Take the older sister. She makes a decision to trust the younger sister, because that's the 'better' choice. Ooops. She should, in hindsight, have not trusted her at all. Because sis makes the phone call that gets them both killed. The singer same deal, she has her crossroads moment when she can take off and escape, and she stays, because that's the RIGHT thing to do. Her outcome, while better, still isn't great.
Cube was great. Total unknown movie with a tiny budget that hit on every level. The sequels weren’t as good, but still decent.Just curious, but have you seen the movie "Cube (1997)"?
It's actually a little different than Belko experiment. My memory is a little fuzzy because I haven't seen it in twenty years but I suspect that you might like it.Nope. A little too horror for my tastes (having just now watched the trailer). I DID see the sociological version of that movie just a few weeks back on cable - bunch of people hired to work in a skyscraper in South America, then the building gets blockaded by security folks, and they start killing people off until the people inside agree to play the 'game,' essentially seeing who will be the last alive.
The Belko Experiment
The Belko Experiment (2016) - IMDb
It was kinda Saw before Saw was Saw.Thanks for the suggestion. If I run across it, I'll check it out. I'd never even heard of it though, so I may have to search out some online sites or something.