Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Homage or ripoff?
A lot of fans seem to be pissed about the big Russian Roulette scene in 24. Something about the film Deer Hunter or something. I'm just glad I've not seen it. But you know? Even if I had seen it, I don't think I'd care very much if 24 took inspiration from it. I'm talking blind here because I can't tell from everyone's bitching whether the scene was a ripoff of Deer Hunter or an homage. So without having seen the film, here's my take on it:
I looked it up on the imdb and aha - it's got Deniro and Walken in it. Say no more :) Tough guy Vietnam movie. So I can imagine what the Russian Roulette scene(s?) in that would be like. Must have been very powerful (powerful enough to be remembered for comparison 25 years later). But my theory is that the prisoners at Downey were most likely the type of men who loved The Deer Hunter and movies like it. So why wouldn't they force Jack, the guard and Salazar to play out what must have been a visceral and exciting tough-guy moment from that particular film? What do they have to lose? They know they aren't getting out of there anyway. So they block up the doors and have a little fun with the hostages. And this theory works for me :)
Anyway, if it were me writing this scene (don't I wish!), and I'd written my prisoners into a corner, given them guns and hostages and no way out, I'd probably be thinking that my guys are hyped up from the thrill of a riot (and a break in prison monotony), and my 'leader' prisoner in the scene is a complete psychopath... What could I have them do with the hostages while Chase et. al. race to get Jack and Salazar. They could just sit around quietly, but that doesn't seem in keeping with the prison mentality. Hmmm. I know! Remember that cool scene in that old movie Deer Hunter? Why not make Jack and Salazar do something like that somehow... Roulette just seems like a natural progression in the scene really. And who knows, maybe the writers weren't thinking about Deer Hunter at all when they wrote it. Russian Roulette isn't exactly exclusive to that movie, surely?
I know I've gone back a couple of episodes here, but even now when we're going into episode 7 tonight (yay!) some people around the Net are still complaning about that particular scene. And I guess I just have to say that Deer Hunter or no Deer Hunter, that was an incredibly taut and tense scene to watch on network television and I loved every second of it.
I looked it up on the imdb and aha - it's got Deniro and Walken in it. Say no more :) Tough guy Vietnam movie. So I can imagine what the Russian Roulette scene(s?) in that would be like. Must have been very powerful (powerful enough to be remembered for comparison 25 years later). But my theory is that the prisoners at Downey were most likely the type of men who loved The Deer Hunter and movies like it. So why wouldn't they force Jack, the guard and Salazar to play out what must have been a visceral and exciting tough-guy moment from that particular film? What do they have to lose? They know they aren't getting out of there anyway. So they block up the doors and have a little fun with the hostages. And this theory works for me :)
Anyway, if it were me writing this scene (don't I wish!), and I'd written my prisoners into a corner, given them guns and hostages and no way out, I'd probably be thinking that my guys are hyped up from the thrill of a riot (and a break in prison monotony), and my 'leader' prisoner in the scene is a complete psychopath... What could I have them do with the hostages while Chase et. al. race to get Jack and Salazar. They could just sit around quietly, but that doesn't seem in keeping with the prison mentality. Hmmm. I know! Remember that cool scene in that old movie Deer Hunter? Why not make Jack and Salazar do something like that somehow... Roulette just seems like a natural progression in the scene really. And who knows, maybe the writers weren't thinking about Deer Hunter at all when they wrote it. Russian Roulette isn't exactly exclusive to that movie, surely?
I know I've gone back a couple of episodes here, but even now when we're going into episode 7 tonight (yay!) some people around the Net are still complaning about that particular scene. And I guess I just have to say that Deer Hunter or no Deer Hunter, that was an incredibly taut and tense scene to watch on network television and I loved every second of it.
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