Prometheus

[Jim_Campbell]

something hugely dull like The Raid or Taken or whatever,

I find it astonishing that you'd mention a brisk 90 minutes of inventive arse-kicking like The Raid in the same sentence as a turgid piece of racist crap like Taken!

Cheers

Jim

[SmallBlueThing]

Surely Jim, you of all people understand that there are just some things you KNOW arent going to appeal. Im 42, and i know myself quite well by now- neither The Raid nor Taken (nor many other things) appeal to me at all, so given the strict choice of them or Prometheus, i'll go for the latter. I'm sure both films are wonderful for an audience that responds  well to such things, but not for me thanks.

Im equally sure there's a  damn good chance Prometheus will be every bit as terrible as people are saying it is! It's a moot point anyway, as i have werner herzog's 'encounters at the end of the world' to find time for first- a movie ive been waiting years to see, then hammer's 'the gorgon'.  and before even them, i promised the boys 'sharktopus', 'pirates of the caribbean on stranger tides' and 'silver bullet'. Nothing has the remotest chance of being watched before theyre all done.

SBT

[JamesC]

I think it's a bit much to say that Taken is racist. Xenophobic, sure.

[Jim_Campbell]

I think it's a bit much to say that Taken is racist. Xenophobic, sure.

I'm incredibly tolerant of action movies -- I can quite happily stick my brain in neutral and cruise past gaping plot holes, inconsistent characterisation, lousy science and pisspoor dialogue.

Basically, I'll sit through pretty much anything as long as it's competently directed and zips along at a fast enough pace, which Taken does. Even so there's a dawning realisation as you watch, that film is asserting that literally anywhere outside the US is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and the takeaway message is: "Touch the white girl, Abdul, get a bullet in the face."

Xenophobia? Racism? Tom-AY-to, tom-AH-to...?

Cheers

Jim

[JamesC]

I take your point.

It seems like American culture has become very aware of a generation of younger people taking a year out to travel to 'exotic' Europe. There are loads of films where they play on the 'not in Kansas anymore' culture shock - be it for comedy in films like Roadtrip or Beerfest (which both feature ludicrous national stereotypes) or thrillers like Hostel or Taken which go down the eastern European gangster route. Notably in both of these films the victims are seduced by the exotic foreigners.
It seems like it's the fear of the unknown that provides the impetus for the drama rather than true racism.
I can see why it would piss people off though.

[Richmond Clements]

I take your point.

It seems like American culture has become very aware of a generation of younger people taking a year out to travel to 'exotic' Europe. There are loads of films where they play on the 'not in Kansas anymore' culture shock - be it for comedy in films like Roadtrip or Beerfest (which both feature ludicrous national stereotypes) or thrillers like Hostel or Taken which go down the eastern European gangster route. Notably in both of these films the victims are seduced by the exotic foreigners.
It seems like it's the fear of the unknown that provides the impetus for the drama rather than true racism.
I can see why it would piss people off though.

Taken really goes for it though: literrally the first person they speak to off the plane is a white slaver! What's the chances??

[Spaceghost]

at least Prometheus has monsters and allegedly scary bits

Not many monsters and no scary bits whatsoever.

Add to that a cast of paper thin characters acting in inexplicably stupid ways, a plot that makes no sense and makes no attempt to explain itself and things happening for no discernable reason and you have all the ingredients of a stinking turd.

Despite all that, I enjoyed certain aspects, such as the isolated atmosphere, the design, the costumes, Fassbender, the bits that reminded me of Alien, Noomi Rapace and [spoiler]the alien abortion[/spoiler].

[Spikes]

But what did we think of ALIEN?

[orinAGN]

Even so there's a dawning realisation as you watch, that film is asserting that literally anywhere outside the US is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and the takeaway message is: "Touch the white girl, Abdul, get a bullet in the face."

Xenophobia? Racism? Tom-AY-to, tom-AH-to...?

Cheers

Jim

Yeah... no.  I'm gonna have to call major shenanigans on this assumption of yours. 

[orinAGN]

I take your point.

It seems like American culture has become very aware of a generation of younger people taking a year out to travel to 'exotic' Europe. There are loads of films where they play on the 'not in Kansas anymore' culture shock - be it for comedy in films like Roadtrip or Beerfest (which both feature ludicrous national stereotypes) or thrillers like Hostel or Taken which go down the eastern European gangster route. Notably in both of these films the victims are seduced by the exotic foreigners.
It seems like it's the fear of the unknown that provides the impetus for the drama rather than true racism.

^^^ THIS! 
Truth!

I can see why it would piss people off though.

I can't.  Not in the slightest.

[Jim_Campbell]

Yeah... no.  I'm gonna have to call major shenanigans on this assumption of yours.

Well, go on, then.

Every single non-American character in Taken is either directly evil or complicit in evil deeds. The closest thing to a 'character' that any of these have is the French policeman, who is introduced to us carrying a baguette who is fairly quickly revealed to be corrupt; Neeson's character shoots his wife in the family home and we're supposed to approve of/ be impressed by this? It's OK because the husband is a scumbag?

Turn this movie around: European girl travels to the US. Populate the film with lazy cultural stereotypes of black people who are, without exception, evil. European father proceeds to kill all the black people without hesitation or remorse. Note that European father shows little or no interest in any of the other victims of the people he's hunting, beyond the precise point where they can help further his mission to retrieve his daughter.

Still not racist, or only racist because the maligned group is now black?

The crushing irony of all this is that the film is made largely by French people and stars an Irishman, which gives the whole thing a whiff of pandering to this detestable worldview in order to make a buck.

I can't.  Not in the slightest.

Try harder.

Jim

[Richmond Clements]

Try harder.

Indeed.

[mygrimmbrother]

Taken stank to high heaven. The message seemed to be, 'if you're crazy enough to set foot outside the good old USA, then you're taking your life into your own hands.'

Turned it off after half an hour.

[Charlie boy]

I can view Taken in two ways. One way is:
"Yeah, America can be domineering and be mistaken for being out-of-touch at times, but the world and its officials are all corrupt and dangerous and only we know how to make it better. You'll realise that eventually when we save the day our way."
Then there's the second way:
"Let's remake COMMANDO but instead of having the former CIA operative against another former CIA operative who has kidnapped his daughter, we'll have him against foreign criminals."

[Dandontdare]

am I the only one who had a Peter Griffin momemt during the trailer for Taken II? - when he says 'your mother and I are about to be TAKEN'