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"You Can't Fight Fate:" King Leonidas versus Jamie Foxx

SliderSlider Registered User regular
edited January 2010 in Debate and/or Discourse
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I didn't think I'd like this movie, but I did...a lot. In fact, I almost enjoyed the entire movie, which is more than I can say for the majority of sh*t Hollywood churns out these days.

Butler provides a fresh adaptation as an ex-classified government, smartsy engineer guy who's job is, basically, to be unpredictable and dangerous.

Jamie Foxx, for me, provided no depth to this movie. His part could have been played by anyone and the outcome would have been the same.

My only disappointment was in the ending. I won't ruin it for those who have yet to see the film, but the conclusion seemed forced and unrealistic.

Slider on

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    Look Out it's Sabs!Look Out it's Sabs! Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I agree about the ending, it would have been an okay movie but the ending kinda ruined Gerald Butler's character for me.
    He is supposed to be this super smart ex-government agent who is known for his fail proof plans and we see throughout the movie that he plans everything to the fullest, then at the end he has this bomb which he doesnt have any contingency plan for someone who might end up finding it or trying to move it. Bleh. You think he would have done something with it so he can keep track of it, or make it go off if it's moved but nooope.

    Look Out it's Sabs! on
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    DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I suspect that somewhere this movie has a great script written for it. That is not what was made into a movie through. It really wanted to be like Seven but lacked both the intelligence and balls to do it.
    The ending made no fucking sense. The only way it was functionally different from pulling a gun and shooting the asshole in the head was that it provided the scantest fig leaf of "Oh, he did it to himself" and destroyed millions of dollars of public property in the process. Oh, and all the people who died while they didn't do that.

    This is not touching on the incredibly asinine "He must have an accomplice!" subplot. If you've got super genius dude who blows shit up while in prison I think you could afford a fucking video camera to watch him 24/7.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
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    Enosh20Enosh20 Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    the movie was great

    if only they would cut off the last 20 something minutes

    what Foxx did in the end was totaly, compleatly out of character and in direct oposite of everything he did for the past 1h 30 something min

    the movie is great, but the end is up there with I am legend for "worst end ever"

    oh and the thread tittle should be king Leonidas vs Jamie Foxx, Miles O'Brien and Betty Blue

    Enosh20 on
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    SliderSlider Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Enosh20 wrote: »
    the movie was great

    if only they would cut off the last 20 something minutes

    what Foxx did in the end was totaly, compleatly out of character and in direct oposite of everything he did for the past 1h 30 something min

    the movie is great, but the end is up there with I am legend for "worst end ever"

    oh and the thread tittle should be king Leonidas vs Jamie Foxx, Miles O'Brien and Betty Blue

    I'll only change it if you agree to spell title "tittle" from now on.

    Slider on
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    Enosh20Enosh20 Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Slider wrote: »
    Enosh20 wrote: »
    the movie was great

    if only they would cut off the last 20 something minutes

    what Foxx did in the end was totaly, compleatly out of character and in direct oposite of everything he did for the past 1h 30 something min

    the movie is great, but the end is up there with I am legend for "worst end ever"

    oh and the thread tittle should be king Leonidas vs Jamie Foxx, Miles O'Brien and Betty Blue

    I'll only change it if you agree to spell title "tittle" from now on.

    sorry for not having english as a first language

    Enosh20 on
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    SamSam Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    what the hell happened to Jamie Foxx anyway? wasn't he supposed to be teh hueg in '05? Last thing I saw him in was that shitty formulaic and forgettable terrorist movie. So forgettable I forgot what it was called.

    Sam on
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    AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Sam wrote: »
    what the hell happened to Jamie Foxx anyway? wasn't he supposed to be teh hueg in '05? Last thing I saw him in was that shitty formulaic and forgettable terrorist movie. So forgettable I forgot what it was called.

    That one in Saudi Arabia?

    The Kingdom.

    He was so great in Collateral and Ray, too. Though, he was in that flick with Robert Downey Jr. recently...schizophrenic violinist...

    Alecthar on
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    ParagonParagon Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Paragon on
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    SliderSlider Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Paragon wrote: »
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Exactly.
    It's perfectly logical to assume that Butler would have had the forethought and the intelligence, that he exhibited throughout the entire movie, to successfully plan and maneuver himself through the concluding scenes without suffering any serious repercussions.

    It was as if Foxx and Butler completely switched characters.

    Slider on
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    DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Slider wrote: »
    Paragon wrote: »
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Exactly.
    It's perfectly logical to assume that Butler would have had the forethought and the intelligence, that he exhibited throughout the entire movie, to successfully plan and maneuver himself through the concluding scenes without suffering any serious repercussions.

    It was as if Foxx and Butler completely switched characters.
    Fuck, a burglar alarm on my super secret hideout seems mandatory. Shit, they weren't exactly neat when they broke into his place. You'd think super genius dude would have noticed all the shit they moved around.

    DevoutlyApathetic on
    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
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    Look Out it's Sabs!Look Out it's Sabs! Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »
    Slider wrote: »
    Paragon wrote: »
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Exactly.
    It's perfectly logical to assume that Butler would have had the forethought and the intelligence, that he exhibited throughout the entire movie, to successfully plan and maneuver himself through the concluding scenes without suffering any serious repercussions.

    It was as if Foxx and Butler completely switched characters.
    Fuck, a burglar alarm on my super secret hideout seems mandatory. Shit, they weren't exactly neat when they broke into his place. You'd think super genius dude would have noticed all the shit they moved around.
    Honestly I thought the cop guy was going to die to some booby trap butler would have left in his hideout when they broke in. Like the part where he is on the ladder with the switch? I was totally expecting a hanging shotgun to blast him in the face.

    Look Out it's Sabs! on
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    SliderSlider Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Look Out it's Sabs! wrote: »
    DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »
    Slider wrote: »
    Paragon wrote: »
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Exactly.
    It's perfectly logical to assume that Butler would have had the forethought and the intelligence, that he exhibited throughout the entire movie, to successfully plan and maneuver himself through the concluding scenes without suffering any serious repercussions.

    It was as if Foxx and Butler completely switched characters.
    Fuck, a burglar alarm on my super secret hideout seems mandatory. Shit, they weren't exactly neat when they broke into his place. You'd think super genius dude would have noticed all the shit they moved around.
    Honestly I thought the cop guy was going to die to some booby trap butler would have left in his hideout when they broke in. Like the part where he is on the ladder with the switch? I was totally expecting a hanging shotgun to blast him in the face.

    Haha, yes. I thought the same thing. Apparently, George Lucas isn't the only one who can f*ck up movies.

    Slider on
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    ParagonParagon Registered User regular
    edited December 2009
    Look Out it's Sabs! wrote: »
    DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »
    Slider wrote: »
    Paragon wrote: »
    I very much enjoyed the movie, throughout the entire thing I was ready to give it a six out of six.

    Then came the ending, and if I am forced to rate it with that in mind it's going to drop down to a three maybe even two. There better damn well be an alternate ending on the Blu-Ray version and only then will I consider buying it.
    It pisses me off, really. It may very well be one of the most devastatingly bad endings I've seen. When we have shows like Dexter around, why the fuck isn't it possible for something like this to end in a gruesome fashion? It's like they in the last second decided that they'll make him stupid on his most important job because how else can this end in a moralistic way. This is an epidemic in movies, it's fucking rare that I can't predict almost exactly what is going to happen in most, and I hate it.

    Exactly.
    It's perfectly logical to assume that Butler would have had the forethought and the intelligence, that he exhibited throughout the entire movie, to successfully plan and maneuver himself through the concluding scenes without suffering any serious repercussions.

    It was as if Foxx and Butler completely switched characters.
    Fuck, a burglar alarm on my super secret hideout seems mandatory. Shit, they weren't exactly neat when they broke into his place. You'd think super genius dude would have noticed all the shit they moved around.
    Honestly I thought the cop guy was going to die to some booby trap butler would have left in his hideout when they broke in. Like the part where he is on the ladder with the switch? I was totally expecting a hanging shotgun to blast him in the face.
    Yep - exactly what I thought as well (something more elaborate and silent than a shotgun anyway), it would be very effective because if someone were to break in there it would be someone without a warrant, and he could clear out a body fairly easily.
    I find it incredibly unlikely that a master planner with such powers of prediction would leave his escape route—which his entire plan hinges on—completely undefended. There's no way he would rely solely on the company in his name being obscured by Paraguayan laws or wherever it was.

    Paragon on
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    Hexmage-PAHexmage-PA Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I finally saw this movie last night at the local dollar theater. I was really digging it until the ending. It was plainly obvious that the writers had written themselves into a corner with a super intelligent mastermind that just couldn't be outsmarted.

    EDIT: Wait a minute, it just dawned on me that I never understood the meaning behind the "You can't fight fate" line.

    Hexmage-PA on
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    tallgeezetallgeeze Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Aww, damn. I was looking forward to seeing this, but I don't want an I Am Legend ending.

    I guess I will still check it out to see the progression.

    tallgeeze on
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    cheese_boycheese_boy Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    its not just that he left his secret tunnel undefended, but how in the fuck did they even beat him back to the prison??

    cheese_boy on
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    A Dabble Of TheloniusA Dabble Of Thelonius It has been a doozy of a dayRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Alecthar wrote: »

    He was so great in Collateral

    Speaking of good movies hampered by terrible endings.

    A Dabble Of Thelonius on
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