Feb. 8, 1997
Take for example the rival scientists in black vans in "Twister." They're well-financed, competitive, and arrogant, and not above stealing an innovation here and there. In the Wall Street Journal, these guys would be heroes. In the movie, you can see fairly early that they're doomed.
Judgement comes when they're racing the the protagonists to a particularly nasty tornado that takes a sudden turn. The driver is impaled by a flying 20-foot section of metal tubing, and their truck is flung into the air. After a few go-rounds in the vortex, the truck is dashed to the ground, and the ringleader dies in the explosion.
At this point, the audience (San Jose) cheers. What's up with this? Flaming death for an ethical violation? You'd think Newt and Hillary would speak out against this sort of inflammatory storytelling.
Another recent example of movie caning is the oleaginous researcher in "The Relic," who's trying to take Penelope Ann Miller's grant money away. He's also the one Asian in the movie. It's obvious after about 30 seconds that he's monster food.
When he's trying to schmooze with benefactors for funding during a gallery opening, the monster tracks him down, decapitates him, and slurps up the good parts of his brain. Agreed, the beast took innocent people as well, so it's not exactly volunteering as judge and jury; but the writers set him up, just to give the viewers a sense of vengeance. Wouldn't life be grand if you could sic the Relic on your boss (2% raise), the girl in fourth-period Spanish (doesn't know you exist, dates the school bully who picks on you), or Bill Gates? No, no, and yes.
Both movies are examples of minor villains in a conflict between good and greater evil. Look for more of this in the volcano and flood movies coming out.
In cases where the evil
is human, the movies often go for a quick and spectacular death: impaled on a railing,
burning, crashing in a helicopter, falling 50 stories, and so on. Sometimes this just ain't
enough.
Cape Fear, the remake. Robert DeNiro getting paroled, stalking his lawyer's family, pretty
much getting his own way until the final five minutes. I couldn't finish this one (far too
manipulative), but I hear he drowns. That's it? What about simply being sent back to prison?
Drowning is the easy way out. For the vengeful among the audience, you could do a clever scene
where Protagonist Lawyer visits now and then to inquire about DeNiro's sex life.
How about an action movie where the villain gets captured alive, convicted, and sentenced?
No wonder our justice system seems flawed. The courts are agonizingly slow compared to a flying
sawblade, or a shipping crate dropped from 40 feet.
