Are gamers too sharp for movies?

[Gizzard]

I tend to find that most movies can't surprise me, even when they try.

An alternate explanation here is Sturgeon's Law, which says "99% of everything is crap!".

A handful of movies (or books, or any other art) really impress me every year. Sixth Sense impressed me that year, Fight Club impressed me in its year. OTOH, there is a great slushy bog of movies that did not impress me.

So, if we walk away frustrated by how shallow a movie was, is it because we were too smart for that movie or because that movie was too dumb for us? ;-)

 

[Kryndal Levik]

I'm in the same boat- I have noticed the same thing. It happened to me with What Lies Beneath, especially (which was disappointing, because I liked it overall). I figured out The Sixth Sense right away, too. The Usual Suspects, Malice, Unbreakable, Fight Club, and The Game were all good stumpers. (Check out The Game if you haven't yet- fun flick). I kinda figured out The Others, but I enjoyed it anyway- good atmosphere.

 

[Dagger75]

The Others I figured out and I never saw the movie.

The commercial ruined it for me. Here is what was said...

"A surprise ending you have to see to believe"

I told my friend what I thought the ending was, the next day his wife made him take her to it. He said I was right.

Previews and trailers ruin movies. And I don't think they showed Yoda with a light saber before the movie came out, after the movie every commercial had that scene.
Lucas is the worst person with spoilers. He showed Darth Maul with double bladed lightsaber months before the movie was released. If you bought the soundtrack, the last song is like the Death of Qui Gon. Whats up with that.

I like how they never showed the Balrog for FotR, that was a pleasant surprise.

As for gamers being to smart for movies, I don't think so.

 

[dreaded_beast]

As for gamers being to smart for movies, I don't think so.

agree.

sounds like the general attitude of this thread is that gamers or people who game are somehow more intellegent the rest of non-gamer society. that stinks of...oh i don't know...something. i don't necessarily believe that gamers are more or less smarter than people who don't. no more patting ourselves on the back because we are gamers and becuase we're smarter than regular-folk who can't automatically figure out a movie's twist. i just don't dig this type of elite attitude, which hopefully, wasn't the intent of this thread.

anyways, movies become less and less entertaining the older and more experienced we become, in my opinion. watch a movie that you enjoyed when you were in elementary, and see if it is still as enjoyable as you remember. while there are the few that will probably still be enjoyable, i am betting that most of them will not be as entertaining as they once were.

 

[Dr Midnight]

I had FIGHT CLUB's end spoiled for me while I was watching it. Here's that story, highlight the text to read...

FIGHT CLUB SPOILERS IN TEXT BELOW:

I'm watching with a friend who's seen it. At the part where the guy starts beating himself up in front of his boss, the narration says "For some reason I was reminded of my first fight with Tyler." My friend says "Okay, remember that! Just remember that line." I turn and say "What, are they the same person?" Her face drops and she starts apologizing.
She didn't realize she'd given the movie away with so easy a hint. I wasn't really bugged by it, but I love twists, so it was a bit of a downer.

It wasn't that I was so smart that I put it together... I just think I was given a dumb hint. Hell, I think that part of the movie, without the hint, gives it away. That part of the narration is just... kinda... "Here's the twist!"

 

[Viking Bastard]

Well, it may have not been a major "twist" but it was a sort of twist anyway, at least near (maybe not exactly at) the end of the movie: the twist was the fact that the city was floating in outerspace.

(highlight to read, incase someone out there hasn't seen it and doesn't want a spoiler).

Oh, you mean that. Didn't really change much about the storyline
really, so I don't consider it a real twist, but merely expanding
upon the preexisting story.

A twist IMO is a revelation that everything you've been lead to
believe until that point in the movie/book/whatever was wrong in
some way.

 

[WayneLigon]

One thing I remember about Sixth Sense: Everyone I met had a tremendous respect for it. It was SO respected by everyone I know, that NO one would tell me the ending until I watched it for myself.

NO ONE. Even online, for a while. When a movie comes along with a good twist, and an excellent ability to tell a story, people

Heh. I notice that even in this thread, years after the movie has come out. People say 'I figured it out' but never say what they DID figure out. I'm glad no-one ruined it for you. I had to just shake my head when people - having heard there was a twist - would ask me what the twist was. I didn't trust myself to even give a slight review, for fear I'd blow it.

I actually do get surprised by a lot of twist-ending movies (Sixth Sense surprised the hell out of me. So did Angel Heart and Unbreakable, and others) because I generally don't go to spoiler sites, I don't watch very much TV, and I tend to go to a film on the opening weekend, so net chatter and friends hardly ever spoil things for me.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

With all the Matrix talk, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned.

When I went into the theater, I had heard nothing at all about the plot of the movie. Of course, the twist comes only about 35-40 minutes into the movie, but for that 35-40 minutes, the theater was filled with a lot of "what in the world is going on?"s

Too bad the Reloaded want have the same kind of major twist in it. At least, as far as I know.

 

[Michael Tree]

I don't think gamers are any smarter, but there is a tendency for gamers (and SF nerds in general - and I'm including myself here) to look behind the curtain, to actively try to figure out a movie rather than just experience it.

Trailers are indeed part of the problem, but so is word of mouth. The twist in the Sixth Sense was so impactful to me largely because when I saw it I didn't know there was a twist at the end. Simply knowing that a movie has a twist spoils it for me, because I subconsciously cease to take things at face value.

I like how they never showed the Balrog for FotR, that was a pleasant surprise.

It was indeed, which made it all the more disappointing when the trailer for TTT had one of the biggest trailer spoilers in movie history - Gandalf alive.

 

[Merlion]

Well I myself am not great at figuring out twist endings(of course I dont really try). I do find myself often able to anticipate actions or accurences during movies. And especialy, when watching fantasy, horror, and to a lesser extent sci fi movies when something shows up...a creature, a magical affect, a mystical word or symbol...I often either know or can pretty accurately guess what it means, is, or will do at least in a general way. Of course, that has as much to do with my general obession with fantasy, mythology and religion as with my gaming.
Sixth Sense and the Matrix both completely surprised me...of course going into the Matrix I had almost no idea what it was even supposed to be about.
And yea Joss Whedon can surprise even we fantasy fans some times....usualy because he often breaks with "tradition".