SF Movie Reviewers who don't understand SF

[elfs]

The Boston Globe brings us The Top 50 Scary Movies of All Time. I laughed when I read this review of Event Horizon: "The plot is complicated, intelligent, and rewards the viewer who pays close attention to the film."

Seriously? This movie had the single most stupid line ever shot off in a science fiction film: "You break all the laws of physics and you seriously think there wouldn't be a price?" The entire premise, based upon one scriptwriter's excessively limited concept of frame dragging, that the first FTL starship went not across the universe but to Hell and back, had already been done: in the video game Doom, in Warhammer 40K, and in countless novels and short stories. The plot was childish, brain-damaged, and had every science fiction fan in the audience squirming in theirs seats with embarrassment: for Sam Neil, for Lawrence Fishburn, for just about everyone involved.

Well, give the writer this: John Carpenter's The Thing was in his top-ten. Although for true scariness, I think you should re-watch the movie and then read Peter Watt's The Things, to see what that conflict looked like from the monster's point of view.

Comments

Pure Comedy ...

[tamahori]

... is going into a theater to watch that film with a bunch of people that are thinking "It's Sci Fi, it must be like Star Wars" ... the reactions where a good distraction from a truly crap film.

Though I will admit to having a fondness for the 'look' of the ship Event Horizon itself, not to mention the name is cool as a choice for a ship prototyping an apparently gravity based FTL drive.

Well, I liked the external look, inside it got more silly with the 'make them look as scary as possible' doors, and the 'the spikes make it go faster' star-drive, and of course the Big Cross of Doom front window.

-- Brett

Re: Pure Comedy ...

[tamahori]

I'm honestly unsure why I went to see it in the first place.

-- Brett

Re: Pure Comedy ...

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

It was better than 'The Core'. :)

Re: Pure Comedy ...

[tamahori]

I'll be honest, I enjoyed The Core, even though it had a worse grasp of physics then the typical episode of Anamanics. And yes, the plot was telegraphed, and the acting was pure cheese, but hey, I liked it.

Certainly not disputing anyone else saying it was a crap movie, because it was. :)

Of course I enjoyed the movie Armageddon too, so I really am not the person to ask about 'good movies'. :)

-- Brett

Re: Pure Comedy ...

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

My wife and I enjoyed it in a 'so bad, its good' sort of way.

I dont know if 'telegraphed' is a sufficient way to describe how easy this movie was to predict. Right down to the part where Stanley Tucci gets completely histerical, I turned to my wife and said "Somebody needs to hit him." *POW*

[kenshardik]

"Event Horizon" was one of the lamest movies I've ever seen... and I've seen "Embrace of the Vampire".

[ewhac.livejournal.com]

I can't remember exactly when I saw Event Horizon (it was on cable).

I do remember wanting to reach in to the film and ask Sam Neil's character, "So, did you deliberately design this thing to visit hell, or was that just serendipity for you?"

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Come on now. It's a list of horror movies. Anyone who *likes* horror movies (and, for that matter, could possibly put "Arachnophobia" on a list of good ones, even if it does come in dead last) is clearly lacking good mental fortitude. Or even the slightest grasp of Physics.