Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Reflections on Viewings Past: The War On Terror

Oh, the computer's trying my patience tonight. Must be trying to prevent me from saying the horrible things I'm about to say.
It has to do with the War on Terror... or whatever it's called these days. See, the talking heads still insist that we get good data from people who get tortured. See, this was when America used to stand for something, a beacon of hope in a world gone mad, some crap like that. And yet people, mostly on TV, still insist that if you torture someone, particularly one that's been labeled a terrorist, they'll tell you the truth if you torture it out of them! That's where Payback comes in. I know, I know, there's a lot of Paybacks out there. There's a TV series called Payback. Then there's Mr. Payback, the first interactive movie... and probably the last. After all, making movies is hard enough... now they have to be interactive? But the one I'm talkin' about is the 1999 Icon Production itself, starring and possibly directed by... that's right! Mel Gibson. I know, I know, but let's try to set aside all those extenuating circumstances for a minute, of which there are so very, very many. Let's forget Mel's Christ movie for a second, but let's try to keep Mel's many Fox News appearances in mind, because they sorta come into play here!
Anyway, there's the big torture scene at the end, and ... oh, yeah, let's also forget that the movie encourages us to root for the bad guy, but as always, the bad guy's just bad for a little while, just enough to get back on his feet, but then he becomes a big softie we can all sympathize with. Anyway, so Mel's holding the bad guy's son hostage, right? And the bad guy is... you guessed it! Torturing Mel! Trying to beat his son's whereabouts out of him, one toe at a time. SPOILER ALERT: IT DOESN'T WORK. See, Mel's thought one step ahead, and gives the bad guys the address of the Big Exploding Room instead of the location of the kidnapped son!

So... is the debate over yet?

**1/2
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan

No comments: