This trailer makes me squee "YES!" inside. It also has me seriously worried that someone on the edge will actually go out and hurt someone after seeing the movie. I am not sure what I think about that.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I don't really see the appeal, at least not to the extent you seem to.
It reminds me of Idiocracy in a way: I think it will probably be an entertaining movie if I just accept the film's premises the same way I will when I go see the Avengers. But as actual commentary on our society, I think it fails.
I also don't really worry that it will push someone over the edge.
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I don't see the movie as particularly brilliant social commentary, just a cathartic revenge flick for anyone who's sick of stupid people. (Going into with approximately the same mindset you would for "The Avengers" is not far off).
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Well, I've always been kind of surprised that the odd terminally ill person didn't do something like this. But I think we can all be pretty grateful for the fact that they generally don't go around killing Kardashians (if only because those bimbos have children).
I don't know. I kind of felt sorry for the victims a little bit because I reckon all of us are annoying to someone. Plus, if you don't enjoy reality TV and infomercials, switch the darn box off. No-one's pinning your eyes open and forcing you to watch.
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My predicted ending: It's all a fantasy/hallucination/dream explained by his tumor or by his dying brain. He'll also realize the error of his ways within the fantasy.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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If Boondock Saints didn't convince people to partake in vigilante crime fighting, I doubt this will get people to partake in vigilante...whatever the hell this is.
I find the idea mildly amusing, because he's living out a hyperbolic manifestation of what many of us would like to happen - maybe not so much that all these people die, but that they go away, disappear from public view, become demystified and deidolized.
Literally attacking pop culture icons that you feel are destroying society is an interesting story. Killing random people you meet on the street because they're rude and bug you degrades that message and makes this less interesting.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:I don't know. I kind of felt sorry for the victims a little bit because I reckon all of us are annoying to someone.
There's this, and there's also the capacity for change. Even the snottiest 16 year old brat could end up a wonderful person as they grow into an adult.
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Xavier: I buy the first part of your prediction, but not the second. I don't get that vibe from the trailer, anyway.
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quote:Xavier: I buy the first part of your prediction, but not the second. I don't get that vibe from the trailer, anyway.
Maybe I overstated it, but I would be shocked if he doesn't at least have a moment of doubt near the end. Triggered by something like seeing the grieving children of one of the A-holes he kills.
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If they had led with 'Written and Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait', I could have stopped watching the trailer that much sooner
Posts: 349 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:There's this, and there's also the capacity for change. Even the snottiest 16 year old brat could end up a wonderful person as they grow into an adult.
This. That trailer made me sad. I find it horrifying that people can so devalue human life and potential and find this funny.
This reminds me of my reaction to Kick Ass. I walked out of that movie filling like all the people laughing (including my date) were sociopaths. I get that it's fiction and you know it's fiction, but I think being able to see humanity in this light is extremely harmful.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:There's this, and there's also the capacity for change. Even the snottiest 16 year old brat could end up a wonderful person as they grow into an adult.
This. That trailer made me sad. I find it horrifying that people can so devalue human life and potential and find this funny.
This reminds me of my reaction to Kick Ass. I walked out of that movie filling like all the people laughing (including my date) were sociopaths. I get that it's fiction and you know it's fiction, but I think being able to see humanity in this light is extremely harmful.
The whole point of Kick Ass was its ridiculousness, so you aren't supposed to take it that seriously. What's more, Kick Ass was about a kid trying to do what he thought was right. It wasn't like he was just going out and killing random people. He was actively trying to save and help people. You're looking at it like it's a super hero version of American Psycho, and it's not. It plays out just like any other super hero story.
Seriously, look at Iron Man. He uses his god-suit to go to the middle east and then he snipes a bunch of insurgents in order to save some civilians. Watchmen has a lot of killing going on. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne blows up a building on a mountain and probably kills dozens of assassins in the process, then at the end he let's his mentor die. But these things happen because, despite the fact that they're severe, they're realistic reactions by characters, however outrageous themselves, to serious situations. Kick Ass is no different. The entire movie is an attempt to portray what might happen if a regular kid in the modern world was somehow able to become a super hero. Well, he'd probably be stabbed when he tried to stop someone (or shot or beat up), he'd be chased down by the mob if he managed to become a threat, and he would also become a celebrity if he was even moderately successful.
There's a humor to this, mostly because that seriousness has to be offset by something. Iron Man had plenty of jokes, as do most other movies like this.
Saying that a movie like this is "harmful" is kind of demeaning, not only to the film itself, but also to other people. You're basically saying that most human beings can't tell the difference between fiction and reality. That's the same mentality that has outlawed certain video games in other countries (with attempts to do the same here in the US) because they are too violent or dark. You might not think they're appropriate for you, but saying they shouldn't exist because they're going to negatively affect people's perceptions is like saying we shouldn't be able to listen to certain kinds of music because of the lyrics, read certain articles or books, or that shows like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos are a bane against human society because they exhibit questionable behavior by fictional characters.
With all that being said, our society has had violent comedies in several forms of entertainment for centuries now. They aren't going to go away, and I think we've proven that despite having them or not having them, the human race isn't going to change all that much.
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I should have clarified. The main character in Kick Ass didn't bother me. It was Nicholas Cage's daughter who took mirth in outrageously violent murders and her sociopathology was absolutely intended to be "funny".
And to clarify, I didn't say that the movie was harmful, I said "being able to see humanity in this light is extremely harmful". It's not about being able to tell the difference between fiction and reality. It's about the reality that fiction can and does affect people. I love fiction specifically when it *does* affect me and makes me feel something or see the world from a different perspective. I know I've been profoundly affected by pieces of fiction. And when you accept that fiction can affect you, you also have to accept that fiction can affect you negatively.
And I think your argument about society having been violent for centuries but that humans don't change that much is pretty false. Worldwide, war exits now at the lowest levels probably ever. And while wealth is clearly the biggest cause, I think our societies are far more humanitarian now than they have been in the past. A society where gladiators and public hangings are a source of entertainment is going to produce people with different levels of empathy than a society where violence is deplored and only acceptable in the form of fiction.
I'm not in any way advocating censorship and I enjoy shows that many probably find deplorable, like Breaking Bad. But I acknowledge that these shows do affect my sense of reality. And I personally find fiction that finds joy in sadism to be disturbing. I think it orients people towards seeing other humans as an "other", as somehow less real than themselves, and makes them that much less empathic. Is one movie going to completely change somebody's whole worldview? Probably not. But do ideas have power that change people as they take hold and become more prevalent? Yes.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I remember when I was watching Kick-Ass I was pretty uncomfortable with the morality. Especially in the scene where Hit-Girl kills pretty much everyone who happens to be in the same apartment as the drug dealer (or whatever) that KickAss was confronting. I think one girl got a sword through her for just trying to run or scream or something (haven't seen it in a while so the details are fuzzy).
I was a little disappointed that the protagonist didn't think "wow these guys are worse then the criminals I am fighting" and instead basically thought "wow they are much better at this than me".
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