Timewaster's Guide Archive

Ah, but despite logical complaints, the characters in Ocean's 11 were indeed presented as heroes, and not anti-heroes.  The plotting and characterization of the movie produced empathy for the characters, and a desire for them to succeed.  While they did illegal things, their actions were presented in the 'loveable rogue' vein.  We aren't supposed to think 'these are ruthless men who would kill dozens of people to get what they want' we're supposed to think 'aw, look at all those nice people who are stealing from the big bad gambling-kingpin.'  In fact, I think that the characters presented--if confronted with factual knowledge that they were going to kill people with their little electricity thing--would probably have found another way.  As it stands, it's just an example of 'don't think too hard about this' plotting.

Of course, despite being a great movie, it was rife with that kind of plotting sloppiness.  I mean, what was the point of carving up explosives like gemstones and going through all of the trouble of sending them down in a briefcase when you have a guy sneaking into the vault in one of the money bins?  Couldn't he have just taken the explosives with him. . . .

? Oh, come on.  That's a lamer excuse than the 'I don't have an excuse' excuse.  We both know you could write up ten pages of prose with your eyes closed, Fell.

Ah, but we love shameless plugs--assuming they're in the right place.

You know, this could be its own thread--'heroes' who, if you think about it, probably just wasted a bunch of innocent people.  One of my favorites is in Ocean's 11.  How many people do you think bit it when the guys decided to blow the power in the entire city?

Of course, having the Jar Jar piece--so you can use his head to fuel your ship's reactor, or something like that--does have its allure.

Actually, I think most of the legos today are kind of lame.  Have you seen the star wars ones?  It seems like they come with about five pieces.  Sure, those pieces are cool, but they're very specific and don't lend themselves well to imagination.  Great if you want to build Anakin's fighter from Episode one, but terrible if you want to build anything else.

Ooo.  Evil Master Plan?  Does it, like mine, involve chickens?  Undead Chickens of Doom!