MovieChat Forums > Virus (1999) Discussion > A bad thing about this movie (spoilers)

A bad thing about this movie (spoilers)

posted 19 years ago by movielikerlover
11 replies | jump to latest

The thing I really hate about this movie is how the black guy dies. He graduates top of his class in the face of adversity, he is clever and resourceful, the way he blasts the machines is comic, and he puts together a brilliant escape pod only for the damn hermaphrodite white woman to steal it!!! I mean come on, it would be a far better ending if he escaped with the russian girl, she was hotter than Jamie Lee.
Comments?

Also, I love it when the Maori guy says "when electricity hits water, it diffracts, it dissipates and then it *DIES*" the way he says it DIES just crax me up. if you have the VCR or DVD, watch that bit again. It's hilarious.

Comments?

[–] capnbWHU 19 years ago

*beep* film but then again i like *beep* films :-D

agree about the black fella tho, but then again in 99.99999999999% of crappy B-movie horror flicks the black guy ends up dying or running off into the sunset with the white woman so can't please everyone!!!

also why does cliff curtis have exactly the ssame part in this as deep rising :S

[–] TearsInRain 19 years ago

"the black guy" I am so sick of hearing those words, did anybody catch the morgan freeman interview on 60 minutes, I'm sure we can call movie charecters by there names, because nobody refers to the white people in films as "the white guy" open up your minds -Wiley

[–] capnbWHU 19 years ago

point taken, but i couldn't remember his name

[–] drunkenmaster04 17 years ago

Odds are, at least a few years back, if "the black guy" was gonna die in any film, he would always be the first to go...as mentioned in Evolution lol.

[–] carmenjonze-1 19 years ago

He graduates top of his class in the face of adversity, he is clever and resourceful, the way he blasts the machines is comic, and he puts together a brilliant escape pod only for the damn hermaphrodite white woman to steal it!!!

i had major problems with the Ritchie character, because he was a total *beep* throughout the entire movie, and didn't need to be. so you already know he's not going to make it, forget that he's black, just personality-wise. add to it that he's a black man, stir occasionally, and now you've got an instant hollywood cliche.

and if you saw the outtakes on the DVD, it's revealed that he is a misogynist and has some stupid -- though very typical -- issue with working with a woman as his peer. jamie lee's character Kelly Foster responds to his harassment with a nasty racist remark. so that was better left out.

but please refresh my memory, where do we learn that Kelly Foster is "a hermaphrodite". i must have missed that scene.

besides, foster does not "steal" anything, get a grip.

______________________

Norman Bates is a babe.

[–] toastman1992 19 years ago

Agreed 100% riche is top class stuff.

[–] dmacdonald95 19 years ago

Above all, the reason why people refer to the black character in a film as "the black guy" is because he's either the only black main character, or he's the only black character period. If there's a movie filmed somewhere with 99 black people and 1 white person, and you needed to talk about that white person, you'd refer to him as "the white guy", because it's EASY.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] moezeus 17 years ago

Dmacdonald95 hit the nail on the head. In movies where there's only one semi-significant black character, you call him the "black guy" cause it's simple, not cause it's racist. In a movie where there's only one semi-significant white guy and the rest are black or asian or whatever you'd call him the "white guy" just the same.

Not at all. People refer to these characters by that name because this particular stock character is defined by his skin color and not much else. Some refer to this vestigial racism as The Token Black. In bad thriller/horror films there is almost always a one dimensional black character (more and more of them have stylish dreadlocks), and they generally serve the same purpose: levity. These characters are prone to cowardice and panic and are often the first to become exasperated with such lines as "I've got to get off this ship!" (insert canned laughter). In worse films their exasperation turns to cockiness and obnoxious rejoinders punctuated with the word "Bitch!"

As mind-numbingly insulting as these films are to anyone with a working brain stem, I would expect that they are especially insulting to black audience members.

The Black Guy is but one of the usual cadre that populates this sort of turgid cinema.

There is also

Greedy Turncoat
Reluctant Hero
Tough Guy
Ratty Sidekick
The Complainer
The Survivor Of The First Slaughter Who Delivers Endless Exposition
etc.

[–] Jazzie3789 15 years ago

Man, you just basically posted my brain right here and I burst out laughing every time Hiko says that. "It DIEEESS" lol

Where have all the good writers gone?

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 14 years ago

I actually liked this movie, it wasn't perfect but some of my favorite actors were featured in it. I liked Richie, he was one of the memorable characters, I loved how he shot at Squeaky when he kept calling "Steve!" That was hilarious. I liked Foster & Nadia both, they were both hot IMO!

"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna `*beep*` wit' me!" Hudson in Aliens.