Movies engineers like

[G0sp3l]

Airframe
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Bridge to Terabithia
Source Code
Torque
Failure to Launch
I’ll be here all the week

[Ranchoth]

@Tranquilis

I think it’s the sudden change in character of the mission Commander that hacked me off the worst. They had done so VERY well with her, then some pissant in Hollywood decides we need an ‘emotional moment’ from an ‘empowered woman’ and so they shit all over her character AND the power and dignity she’d brought to the role. A truly empowered woman would’ve stuck to her duty - and allowed her crew to do theirs. If they needed a ‘drama’ moment, they could have done something like cut to tears in her eyes as her crew reels the castaway in. Or about a hundred other posssiblities.

Indeed…though, personally, I never really got a good sense of “command presence” from Chastain’s Lewis to begin with. It’s a type of role other actresses have pulled off just fine, over the years, just not her.

Well, I might also be biased, in that Jessica Chastain just, personally, gives me the creeps. Like a CGI character flailing in the Uncanny Valley, or Ray Liotta.

[Tranquilis]

@Ranchoth

Indeed…though, personally, I never really got a good sense of “command presence” from Chastain’s Lewis to begin with. It’s a type of role other actresses have pulled off just fine, over the years, just not her.

Oh, sure, she’s no Janeway, but then real commanding officers I’ve known aren’t, either. No Kirks, no Rikers, nor Janeways, etc. either. Even the ‘Picards’ are damned few and far between.

What she did was take a look at the options, take a look at her responsibilities, including to her living crew, make a decision, and then enable her crew to carry it out. Then, she kept her crew mentally healthy and focused during a long and very arduous mission; made sure the ship was maintained, rations were managed, and a thousand other small tasks that must be handled. I’d happily serve under or with her (movie) commander any time. Until they gave her the lobotomy.

Well, I might also be biased, in that Jessica Chastain just, personally, gives me the creeps. Like a CGI character flailing in the Uncanny Valley, or Ray Liotta.

There, we differ.

[Ranchoth]

@Tranquilis

Oh, sure, she’s no Janeway, but then real commanding officers I’ve known aren’t, either. No Kirks, no Rikers, nor Janeways, etc. either. Even the ‘Picards’ are damned few and far between.

For my part, I will, completely cheerfully, note that she’s also no Jonathan Archer. That was not an insult—in fact, at least one reviewer I can think of has made a compelling case that Archer would have benefited from a lobotomy.

Be that as it may, effective administrator or not, it also doesn’t make for particularly compelling cinema. Especially if the CO in question decides to strap on her Barbarella boots and start playing space cowboy.

[Ike_Witt]

@RealityChuck

The Great Train Robbery
Silver Streak
The General

And a new version of Murder on the Orient Express.

[Tranquilis]

@Ranchoth

For my part, I will, completely cheerfully, note that she’s also no Jonathan Archer. That was not an insult—in fact, at least one reviewer I can think of has made a compelling case that Archer would have benefited from a lobotomy.

Be that as it may, effective administrator or not, it also doesn’t make for particularly compelling cinema. Especially if the CO in question decides to strap on her Barbarella boots and start playing space cowboy.

No, not compelling - unless you’re appreciative of well-crafted (as opposed to ‘dramatic’) cinema. And frankly, that’s where I thought they were going with her character - I was looking at her and thinking “damn, they got THAT one right!” and then they went all Space-Ranger with her and ruined it. I’m not sure which jerked me out of the movie harder - that, or the glove-thruster.

[Ranchoth]

@Tranquilis

No, not compelling - unless you’re appreciative of well-crafted (as opposed to ‘dramatic’) cinema.

Oh, I’m plenty appreciative of dry, well-crafted cinema, friend. It’s probably just that I’m not used to a character that dry moving around without her bandages or Tana Leaf fluid.