22 August 2011
Quote of the Day: Linda Holmes
From this post about the after-the-credits "tags" in movies:
The purpose of [Rise of the Planet of the Apes] is to tell the story of how (1) apes got really smart, and (2) humans got wiped out. Those are its two table-setting stories. The first story makes up, oh, 98 percent of the movie.
[...]
And then at the end of the movie you get, in effect: "P.S. Also humanity is wiped out by a superbug."
There are certainly hints of trouble for humanity before this point, but maybe two minutes of screen time is spent on them, and as of the first appearance of the credits, I turned to my friend and said, "So the sick guy was in the movie for no reason whatsoever." And then after a few names had rolled by, the film returned with a sequence — a short scene, and then an animation — in which humanity was wiped out.
Let me repeat that. Humanity was wiped out after the credits. Humanity was wiped out in the tag. The end of humankind was considered the equivalent of a blooper reel. And while the end of humankind would certainly be a blooper, this seems like rather a lot to pack into a post-credits sequence that might be missed by people who, for instance, stop a DVD when the credits roll. I don't have problems with people who leave immediately missing a bonus sequence. I do have problems with them missing the apocalypse.
The purpose of [Rise of the Planet of the Apes] is to tell the story of how (1) apes got really smart, and (2) humans got wiped out. Those are its two table-setting stories. The first story makes up, oh, 98 percent of the movie.
[...]
And then at the end of the movie you get, in effect: "P.S. Also humanity is wiped out by a superbug."
There are certainly hints of trouble for humanity before this point, but maybe two minutes of screen time is spent on them, and as of the first appearance of the credits, I turned to my friend and said, "So the sick guy was in the movie for no reason whatsoever." And then after a few names had rolled by, the film returned with a sequence — a short scene, and then an animation — in which humanity was wiped out.
Let me repeat that. Humanity was wiped out after the credits. Humanity was wiped out in the tag. The end of humankind was considered the equivalent of a blooper reel. And while the end of humankind would certainly be a blooper, this seems like rather a lot to pack into a post-credits sequence that might be missed by people who, for instance, stop a DVD when the credits roll. I don't have problems with people who leave immediately missing a bonus sequence. I do have problems with them missing the apocalypse.
Labels: Linda Holmes, movies
# posted by mamurd @ 10:28 PM 
