This Movie Is Pure Unadulterated Crap

fattap?
Couple of things, old son. First, if you and your friends think this is 'BY FAR' Carpenter's GREATEST film, then you are in a really, really, really SMALL minority. I don't think even Carpenter has balls big enough to rate this even among his top five, let alone as his best work.

Two, this is how a debate works. Person One puts forth his point of view, adds supporting statements. Person Two then puts forth his opposing point of view, with his supporting statements.

Me, I took the time to explain WHY I think it's crap. I gave actual REASONS. I pointed out areas where the movie fell flat on its face. You...well...your argument is that I and the vast majority of people who saw and panned this film just 'didn't watch it the RIGHT way.

You DO realise that is an argument completely without merit don't you? You DO realise that even the worst movie, hell even Manos: Hands of Fate can be called a cinematic masterpiece whose critics just didn't watch it the RIGHT way.

That argument makes no sense. What you're saying in effect, is that you and your friends have this magical way of seeing a movie that the rest of the world does not comprehend.

I understand that you like the movie. I even respect your opinion. But good god man, do a little research. This movie tanked and tanked HARD. It almost ended many, many careers not least of which was Carpenters' own. LOOK AT HIS DAMN PROFILE.

This movie released in 2001. Since then, he's directed next to nothing. He's directed two episodes for TV. Not one major motion picture, nothing of any consequence. Look at his career before this movie. It was prolific, to say the least.

Two last points. One. The Thing is a vastly superior movie to this, in almost every way. Not just my opinion, the opinion of pretty much anyone who has seen both films.

Two. In this entire pretty long post, I did not get personal even once. Didn't call you names, didn't question your sanity or your right to your opinion. Just because other people tend to disagree with you does not make them jackasses.

If you take nothing else away from this, I hope you appreciate that at least.

I know this is several years late, but if they still sell what you were smoking when you watched the film and/or wrote this I'd like to know what it is?
"For me and many of my friends this is still by far Carpenter's greatest film. Masterpiece. " Seriously???

The OP makes a lot of valid points, but I just enjoyed GOM for what it was. It wasnt Carpenters best by a long shot, but I still bought it and have watched it several times, but The Thing, BTILC and many other Carpenter films are much better.

"That gentleman has placed a deposit on this meat.. No.. a monetary deposit hahaha!"

If Carpenter had to cast both him and Jason Statham, he should have had Statham as Desolation and Cube as Sgt. Jericho.

In fact I believe Carpenter's original plan was to cast Statham as Desolation, and he bumped Statham to the Jericho role when the studio forced him to use Ice Cube instead. I like Ice Cube okay in the role, but that's about it. And yes, I think Statham would have done a much better job with the last lines in the movie.

(So, I suspect, would Courtney Love, Carpenter's original choice for the role of Melanie Ballard; Natasha Henstridge, who did fine on the whole but seems somehow out of place to me, was a last-minute replacement when Love became unavailable because of an injury.)

As for Ballard being thrown outside...at that point the only way they knew to remove the martian ghost from a human host was by killing the host. They certainly wouldn't want to kill their leader so they throw her outside and left her to the "mercy of the wolves".

They also knew that killing her would just release the "ghost" to possess someone else anyway. Their only other alternative would have been to lock her in a cell, and we know how well that worked out with the guy who was possessed before Mel. Putting her outside was as much for their own protection as for anything else: there wasn't anything they could do to help her (apart from Jericho's cleverly giving her Clear), so they were safer with her outside. If she recovered, they could always let her back in (as they did). If not, she couldn't harm them.

By the way . . .

Unfortunately, the military didn't plan for the ghosts of the martians to be released and start possessing people.

. . . I'm not sure the ghosts are supposed to be literally the ghosts of the Martians. During Mel's possession, we see a creature that I think is probably supposed to be one of the original Martians (assuming it's not a product of her Clear high). Dr. Whitlock's statements make me think the "ghosts" are another organism entirely, left there as a trap for "invaders," but a distinct species from the Martians themselves.

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The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I admire John Carpenter. I think he's an amazing artist, who brings a unique look, perspective and edge to all his work. However, I prefer to judge each project he creates based on its merit alone. I don't, for example, "lap at his work like mothers milk". I don't give his next feature an automatic 'Great' rating, just because he's done great work in the past.

I saw this movie. I hated it. I've listed the reasons why. Many people agree with me. Some people disagree. That does not make them fools, nor does it make me right. I have an opinion, but at the end of the day so does every one on this board. Its impossible to rate an opinion as fact.

However, I find your comments distasteful and proof of everything that is wrong with fan boys. Love an Artist, love his work, but have enough guts to stand up and admit that he's just a man. Even a maestro makes mistakes.

In your world, John Carpenter cannot possible turn out a bad movie. In the real world, he can and he has. He is also responsible for some of the most sublime, terrifying, thought provoking and outright amazing scenes in film history.

Who's a true fan? One who appreciates the artist's work, even his foibles? Or one who blindly attacks anyone who criticizes his favorite director, gnashes his teeth and calls those who disagree with him 'zombies'.

I think you're the one without taste. But again, that's just my opinion. Somehow, I think most of the readers on these boards will agree with me.