Okay that title may not have sounded right so allow me to explain in proper detail:
There's a lot of talk about character turns in movies, you know where a character begins one way then over the course of the events he or she goes through they go another way. It's called a character arc.
Some good examples include Jim from 28 days later toughing up after starting out soft and helpless and Ellen Ripley going from harmless victim to asserted badass over the course of the Alien movies.
However this thread is about the ones that either made no sense or the ones not done well. Those moments where it feels more like a wierd and out of character behavior than actual characterisation and in turn just leave us scratching our heads and asking:
"What the hell just happened?"
I'll give my example right now, however I cannot reveal it without giving away some spoilers so I'll put it in the box however this is to do with the 'plot' of Hostel Part 2 so respectivley I don't think it is too offensive to suggest not that many people would be concerned if the story did get leaked but regardless:
So yeah, that's my example. How about you? What examples can you think of where a clear attempt to change characterisation instead resulted in confusion and wondering how the bad guy suddenly turned good or vice verca?
Those simple out of character moments that are just baffling.
There's a lot of talk about character turns in movies, you know where a character begins one way then over the course of the events he or she goes through they go another way. It's called a character arc.
Some good examples include Jim from 28 days later toughing up after starting out soft and helpless and Ellen Ripley going from harmless victim to asserted badass over the course of the Alien movies.
However this thread is about the ones that either made no sense or the ones not done well. Those moments where it feels more like a wierd and out of character behavior than actual characterisation and in turn just leave us scratching our heads and asking:
"What the hell just happened?"
I'll give my example right now, however I cannot reveal it without giving away some spoilers so I'll put it in the box however this is to do with the 'plot' of Hostel Part 2 so respectivley I don't think it is too offensive to suggest not that many people would be concerned if the story did get leaked but regardless:
In Hostel Part 2 there is a side story involving two men, Todd and Stuart. Todd is a high flying and frankly very cocky businessman who in an eager attempt to try out the extreme signs onto 'Elite hunting' which in Hostel means an organisation dedicated to allowing rich clients the joy of getting to torture and kill people for pleasure.
He also inexplibily ropes his best friend, a calm and gentle natured man named Stuart into coming with him. Stuart is reluctant but goes along with it, awkwardly being dragged into a situation he clearly does not feel comfortable with. This is made clear as they near the 'big day' as Todd becomes more and more psyched up and determined whereas Stuart becomes more and more disturbed by it.
Eventually the big day comes and then also does the pivital moment. The first being that Todd gets to the room with the woman he is intended to kill, named Whitney. And after teasing her a bit with a torture device he accidentally hits her, mortally wounding her face and he becomes instantly horrified and disgusted and drops the device. He then attempts to leave, unable to kill her and presumably tries to run off to the police only to instead be killed by a pack of dogs.
Now I actually think this aspect is believable because often we all think we are capable of doing dangerous and violent acts but in reality we can't. So I didn't think there was any problem with this.... but with Stuart, well.
Stuart enters his room, horrified by the power tools and sees the poor victim, makes an effort to untie her and then as she is about to escape he has some kind of powerful nervous breakdown and snaps and punches her in the face, ties her back up again. Goes back and kills the already mortally wounded Whitney and then starts torturing the girl he had originally intended to save. At this point he is now in a deranged state and finally he is tricked, overpowered and killed.
The thing is, that's so wierd and out of place, because while good guy's turning evil is by no means unseen in movies, usually it needs a bit of time and development first. But here it just sort of happens like someone flips his switch from NICE to SADISTIC in a flash and bam he's someone else. My own guess is they had a different ending planned and simply ran out of time.
But then I really shouldn't think much of a movie like 'Hostel Part 2' as giving off realistic characterisation so it shouldn't matter so much.
He also inexplibily ropes his best friend, a calm and gentle natured man named Stuart into coming with him. Stuart is reluctant but goes along with it, awkwardly being dragged into a situation he clearly does not feel comfortable with. This is made clear as they near the 'big day' as Todd becomes more and more psyched up and determined whereas Stuart becomes more and more disturbed by it.
Eventually the big day comes and then also does the pivital moment. The first being that Todd gets to the room with the woman he is intended to kill, named Whitney. And after teasing her a bit with a torture device he accidentally hits her, mortally wounding her face and he becomes instantly horrified and disgusted and drops the device. He then attempts to leave, unable to kill her and presumably tries to run off to the police only to instead be killed by a pack of dogs.
Now I actually think this aspect is believable because often we all think we are capable of doing dangerous and violent acts but in reality we can't. So I didn't think there was any problem with this.... but with Stuart, well.
Stuart enters his room, horrified by the power tools and sees the poor victim, makes an effort to untie her and then as she is about to escape he has some kind of powerful nervous breakdown and snaps and punches her in the face, ties her back up again. Goes back and kills the already mortally wounded Whitney and then starts torturing the girl he had originally intended to save. At this point he is now in a deranged state and finally he is tricked, overpowered and killed.
The thing is, that's so wierd and out of place, because while good guy's turning evil is by no means unseen in movies, usually it needs a bit of time and development first. But here it just sort of happens like someone flips his switch from NICE to SADISTIC in a flash and bam he's someone else. My own guess is they had a different ending planned and simply ran out of time.
But then I really shouldn't think much of a movie like 'Hostel Part 2' as giving off realistic characterisation so it shouldn't matter so much.
So yeah, that's my example. How about you? What examples can you think of where a clear attempt to change characterisation instead resulted in confusion and wondering how the bad guy suddenly turned good or vice verca?
Those simple out of character moments that are just baffling.
