What happened to Ridley Scott?
Discussion
Blade Runner is one of my favourite movies. Alien and Gladiator are are up there too.
Finally got around to watching Blade Runner 2049 yesterday. Awful film. Soooooo slow. And plot holes you could drive a truck through and dreadful dialogue. And so long. Two and a half hours could and should have been compressed into 90 minutes (the story is so thin you could easily have fitted it into an hour or less).
I suppose after having watched Prometheus I shouldn’t have been surprised at Scott pissing all over another of his legacy films. Was it just luck that Scott made decent films in the past? How could he have lost his touch so badly?
Finally got around to watching Blade Runner 2049 yesterday. Awful film. Soooooo slow. And plot holes you could drive a truck through and dreadful dialogue. And so long. Two and a half hours could and should have been compressed into 90 minutes (the story is so thin you could easily have fitted it into an hour or less).
I suppose after having watched Prometheus I shouldn’t have been surprised at Scott pissing all over another of his legacy films. Was it just luck that Scott made decent films in the past? How could he have lost his touch so badly?
Blade Runner 2049 was directed by Denis Villeneuve. I dont like it as much as the original film but things like being slow, long, odd dialogue, it shares with the original film too, so to me sounds unusual to pick those as criticisms in one but not the other.
As for Ridley Scott himself, he has always been a hit or miss director, in between his best works you've mentioned, he still always had rubbish films. In fact there are more duds than his peaks. He can still make good films in recent times though, The Martian was one of them. But if you look at all Ridley Scott's best, they are adaptations from novels or written by someone else, would indicate that he can be a great director but needs the great story to begin with.
As for Ridley Scott himself, he has always been a hit or miss director, in between his best works you've mentioned, he still always had rubbish films. In fact there are more duds than his peaks. He can still make good films in recent times though, The Martian was one of them. But if you look at all Ridley Scott's best, they are adaptations from novels or written by someone else, would indicate that he can be a great director but needs the great story to begin with.
So people dig it, some don't.Are we forgetting The Duellists ?
Some outstanding sets, appreciated even more when reflecting on the restrictions on budget.
Thelma and Louise seems to have done rather well too.
I don't know what he is doing now but for me he has left a huge impact on the movie scene from humble beginnings.
Some outstanding sets, appreciated even more when reflecting on the restrictions on budget.
Thelma and Louise seems to have done rather well too.
I don't know what he is doing now but for me he has left a huge impact on the movie scene from humble beginnings.
BurtonLazars said:
HorneyMX5 said:
I actually love 2049.
+1To me from the very first scene it made no sense - why would they be chasing and retiring the remaining nova 8 replicants?
Pretty much everything that followed had me scratching my head too. The original wasn’t perfect but made much more sense (except for Deckard potentially being a replicant himself).
My wife was trying to persuade me it wasn’t as bad as I thought but my daughter agreed with me.
Lets remember the original film was released with the grizzled detective voiceover explaining sam spade and his efforts.
Obviously later on when ridley scott thinks he is important enough he pretends it wasn't his idea and removes it plus
some other changes.
Same as george lucas changing his star war films but with less protests.
The new one not by scott is quite good but the action at the very end seemed a bit bland.
His brother made some good solid uncomplicated action films but then chucked himself off a bridge which has never really been explained as far as I know.
Obviously later on when ridley scott thinks he is important enough he pretends it wasn't his idea and removes it plus
some other changes.
Same as george lucas changing his star war films but with less protests.
The new one not by scott is quite good but the action at the very end seemed a bit bland.
His brother made some good solid uncomplicated action films but then chucked himself off a bridge which has never really been explained as far as I know.
BryanC said:
Are we forgetting The Duellists ?
Some outstanding sets, appreciated even more when reflecting on the restrictions on budget.
Thelma and Louise seems to have done rather well too.
I don't know what he is doing now but for me he has left a huge impact on the movie scene from humble beginnings.
The Duellists is excellent. Some outstanding sets, appreciated even more when reflecting on the restrictions on budget.
Thelma and Louise seems to have done rather well too.
I don't know what he is doing now but for me he has left a huge impact on the movie scene from humble beginnings.
, he directed the smuggest film in the world about the traumas of an amoral trader learning how to play with others and make some wine. oldaudi said:
What do you think about Raised by Wolves? Ridley Scott had a fair bit to do with that show
I thought it was stunning, original and quite clever. Dropped off a bit towards the end though as some themes came under greater focus. As a standalone Sci-fi Prometheus is a good movie.
1982's Blade Runner is my fav movie of all time. I love Prometheus for its theological ideas you don't often see that in a mainstream movie. I can even forgive Ridley's valuing pace over script (he chose to remove critical scenes or changed the script making the character irrational to fit the pace, watch the deleted scenes). Covenant just made me angry, just clichés after cliché and it shat on everything good about Prometheus, I've never been so angry to sit through a movie since Transformers 4.
I don't think there is any other director who has an eye like Ridley, all his movies are visual masterpieces. I completely agree Ridley needs a good source material to make a movie.
Looking at his IMDB page he has a lot projects on the way.
I don't think there is any other director who has an eye like Ridley, all his movies are visual masterpieces. I completely agree Ridley needs a good source material to make a movie.
Looking at his IMDB page he has a lot projects on the way.
Edited by DonBarracuda on Saturday 26th December 12:16
Sorry but 2049 is a superb film, is faithful in most part to the original and paints just as good a picture as the original, not as revolutionary no, but still a great movie, as most fans say sorry.
Scott has been poor for a long time now, I think Gladiator was his last good movie, Prometheus had such amazing potential the pre movie bits were amazing, truly superb, but the film itself and its follow ups were poor.
And his latest tv thing follows the theme, great idea, poorly done.
Scott has been poor for a long time now, I think Gladiator was his last good movie, Prometheus had such amazing potential the pre movie bits were amazing, truly superb, but the film itself and its follow ups were poor.
And his latest tv thing follows the theme, great idea, poorly done.
Black Hawk Down is pretty epic, which he did soon after Gladiator.
I liked Bladerunner 2049 too, and was a fan of the first film. It's a hard act to follow through. Rutger Hauer stole every scene he was in and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good without his performance. The new one kinda needed a protagonist like that if anything.
Has anyone seen "The Counselor", which he directed? That has some serious WTF moments in it.
I liked Bladerunner 2049 too, and was a fan of the first film. It's a hard act to follow through. Rutger Hauer stole every scene he was in and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good without his performance. The new one kinda needed a protagonist like that if anything.
Has anyone seen "The Counselor", which he directed? That has some serious WTF moments in it.
Esceptico said:
To me from the very first scene it made no sense - why would they be chasing and retiring the remaining nova 8 replicants?
In the run-up to the film's release three 'shorts' were released on Youtube. The second and third of those explain things very well...2036: Nexus Dawn.
2048: Nowhere to Run.
To actually answer the question; can't help feel its an age thing, he has the commercial clout and clearly the drive to continue but it feels like his output has been declining in quality since around 2010 when he was already in his 70s.
(That's not meant to sound intentionally mean btw; it comes to us all).
(That's not meant to sound intentionally mean btw; it comes to us all).
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