MovieChat Forums > The Black Hole (1979) Discussion > Why all the hate? This is a Sci-Fi Class...

Why all the hate? This is a Sci-Fi Classic

posted 13 years ago by howardgrantrulz
37 replies | jump to latest

Everyone hates on this movie (and ST:TMP) - not realizing that both were ahead of their times in 1979.

The Black Hole is a very good movie: innovative, challenging, and it has very cool set-pieces. But people hate VINcent and hate on how some of the effects look...

Just like people hate ST:TMP and V'Ger. That concept was also ahead of 1979's audiences...

Both films have held up and are far superior to the sci-fi dreck that is currently flooding our cinemas.

The thing is - most films from the 70's hold up and people remember them....seriously, you can't remember 75% of the cinema from the 2000s but the 60s and 70s hold up and have classic after classic...sad, but true.

[–] BourbonKing (5777) 4 years ago

I absolutely loved this movie and saw it on repeat occasions when it came out with my childhood friends. It's a great combination of ambitious Sci-Fi and campy melodrama. The soundtrack is also wondrous and has aged very well.

[–] trevorh321 (5495) 4 years ago

I didn't love it but it is an oddly compelling film. I could have done without the cowboy robot. And even the good robot, I forget their names. They were too cute for me. But I thought the bad red robot was very effective. I love the ship in the movie, the big one, beautiful design. And score is amazing. So there is a lot to like in this film. And the ending is memorable and unusual.

[–] Quint (957) 3 years ago

The robot were mainly there for the kids. I liked Vincent back then. But watching the movie as an adult its surprising how good this movie is. The scifi is just the framing. This is about characters and dealing with life and death and the border between them. Thats the one of the most Film noir SciFis ive ever seen (but not in a postmodern way like the Blade Runner did greatly (indeed just the theatrical release, cause Scott never ever understood the novel (but how could he - he was mainly an awesome advertisement director - thats what you see in each and every scene of the movie)).

[–] DarthRoger (867) 4 years ago

I really enjoyed TBH as a kid and it's still an entertaining movie to watch. It's no "hard Sci-Fi" on the level of Interstellar or Moon but it's still better than much of what passed for the genre in the late 70's.

People forget that the 70's gave us classics like Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Logan's Run and of course Star Wars: A New Hope.

The 70's also gave us the original Battlestar Galactica, which I still treasure.

[–] Quint (957) 3 years ago

Its way harder then Interstellar with his obvious second story layer ever will be. Its about life and death and the meaning of life. Thats the Black Hole. It uses a simple scifi plot to ask questions todays movies wont dare anymore to ask. And its way, way darker then a movie like Moon. But dark in a philosophical and not in a trashy way.

Todays movie consumers (there arent moviegoers anymore) cant find layers behind the obvious story anymore. I wont even dare to think about how they would handle Psycho (with all its hidden critism for capitalism for example or how Hitchcock made the moviefans build up empathy for the killer).

[–] Quint (957) 3 years ago

The problem is that people mostly cant see behind the first layer of a movie anymore. They have to offer everything right into your face. And thats why their is all this hate today for this movies. ST TMP and, to my surprise, The Black Hole are very philosophical movies. And both are therefor slow paced. This means for someone whom cant handle anything more then one minute clip on TikTok intellectually nothing else then a thread. It show his inability to handle the importing things in life. And in many such cases the natural reaction is hate (and trying to progress - which would be the harder way - something most youngsters wont handle anymore).

There is the source of the hate you mentioned.

And to be honest: The youngsters back then wherent that much smarter :) , cause we like the action centric Star Trek II in most cases also better then ST TMP. But usually people become smarter with age. But not todays people anymore. And thats the huge problem with our society.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

They just don't get the movie.