MovieChat Forums > Autómata (2014) Discussion > bad movie with unlikeable main character

bad movie with unlikeable main character

posted 9 years ago by nunoanjos1
3 replies | jump to latest

I was curious to watch this movie and finally I've watched it last night. It isn't as good as I thought it was. It's bad and boring. Brings nothing new to the table. It just explores the same questions many movies of the same type explored before but this one is much worse then the others that came before.

Also, there are many things that don't make sense. Antonio Banderas unarmed, driving a truck, a few useless robots, his wife holding her baby and held hostage, against 4 or 5 heavily armed thugs. OF COURSEEEEEE Banderas still wins, having 1% chance LOL how unrealistic. I found very irritating that the robots are so smart, their first directive is to protect human life, they learn everything at incredible speed, but still they could NEVER pick up a gun and shoot lol ridiculous.

Vauchan, Banderas character is very unlikeable, a total @$$#ole from the beginning to the end of the movie. Why always a $#%on? I usually like Antonio Banderas in other movies but in this movie I hated him. He never made me care about him because he was always so cold, distant, stupid, rude.

[–] darrylb-dj 9 years ago

How can you say how unrealistic regarding the end scene? (spoiler alert) So is him against 4 thugs and he does get shot a few times. How is this any different to die hard for example where 1 man takes down a few hundred terrorists by himself? Or any other modern movie for that matter. If you want a realistic movie don't watch one about AI or robots

[–] puschit-1 9 years ago

I agree that this movie had it's fare share of flaws (mostly in the second half) but I don't agree on the "main character wasn't likeable" part for various reasons.

First, he was a troubled and jaded person. Thinking of the world he lives in you can't possibly blame him. I can understand most of his actions. Would you want to have a child and watch it growing up and suffering in this world? Or take his job - wouldn't you become jaded, too, if you experienced things like people killing their own pets to trick the insurance? And yet, even though you hate your job, you have to keep on rolling because, as *beep* as it is, you can call yourself lucky because it's still one of the better jobs out there? Have you seen the meal he brought home, bought with his privileged higher class income?
All he wanted was a better life for himself and his wife but his wife insisted on having a child nonetheless (and with that he would be stuck with his job, no matter how much he hates it).

Secondly, "likeable" is highly subjective. I, for one, do like flawed characters because that's more real and three dimensional. It's the lean, boring, generic flawless goody-good characters I don't care about.

Thirdly and most importantly: Why does a movie need a "likeable" main character at all!? A movie tells a story and you can tell this story from different points of view. But being able to like or relate to the main character (if there is one) is no necessity for a good story. In fact, if "likeable" main characters would be mandatory, then you would be very limited regarding the content, topic and plots of your movies!
Take "Nightcrawlers" for example, the main character is truly disgusting in every way but he needs to be in order to make this story work and the result was a good movie. Or what about "House M.D."? The popularity of this show bases on the main character's flaws and nastiness.

[–] nunoanjos1 9 years ago

You gave a great example. Nightcrawler. Really, a good movie? I watched it, it was a terrible movie, and a big reason for that was the unlikeable main character. What an a$$hole!!!!! I don't agree he needs to be. Part of the reason I didn't like that movie was because our "hero" or main character is so obnoxious, disgusting. I watch a movie to have fun, to have a good time, not to spend the whole movie hating a person like in Nightcrawler. Even the end is nonsense, sad, bad, evil, makes the whole movie a waste of time. People watch Nightcrawler to get depressed at the scum that guy is? No thanks, like I said I want to have fun watching a movie, not get depressed like with Nightcrawler.

I know you will throw the usual card, you will say it's the message that matters, or the "lesson". Oh, don't worry, I got the message. The movie is about the dark side of humanity, our selfish thirst for power, money, for all the wrong things, all the evil sins, temptation, corruption, etc.

I can tell you there are much better movies, quality movies, that approach those same subjects, with better results, and are enjoyable to the viewer, this is the whole point of making movies in the first place!

You want to watch a movie to have a bad time, to feel depressed? I sure don't.

So, talking about Nightcrawler you just proved my point, how important are likeable characters, because we can identify with them, feel sorry for them, empathy, care if they live or die, root for them. When we have unlikeable characters like in Automata or Nightcrawler, the movie is worse, since we don't care about the hero, don't care if he dies or lives, we even want him to die faster so that the movie is over.

As for what you said about Banderas character, my problem was not that he is jaded as you said, or had problems. You try to explain why he acts so rude, I understand the reasons. Still, in other movies, there are characters with greater problems that I still like and care about. Those other movies are just better.