One Battle After Another

Needing likeable characters to enjoy a film is just nonsense

"Ooh, I don't like that they did a bad thing" grow up FFS. Expecting everyone and everything to adhere to your own moralistic ideals is just stupid. People are flawed. Some of the greatest people to have ever lived have carried our atrocious acts. It's all part of life.

To be honest i thought Leo was likeable as was the Del Toro character. In relation to PTA the character played by Daniel day Lewis in There will be blood was dislikeable for the majority of the movie but it was still a great story to watch.

you don’t have to like the characters to like the movie but every movie I love has characters your are emotionally invested in.

Making an enjoyable movie that hasnt characters that you can emotionally invest in would be a much tougher but not impossible ask.

it would need to be a visually stunning movie or have incredible acting or some kind of alternative hook like an incredible twist ending.

The character I was most emotionally invested in in this movie was probably Sean penn’s. He was a fairly unique character brilliantly portrayed

It's sad though as films like these need to be made and the next generic super here movie without any intelligence or heart will take in a billion dollars.

Also, usually when I go to cinema it's very quite (apart from IFI) and i do worry about the future.

Did you like the main character in There will be blood? I thought he was a terrible person but enjoyed the movie. I think that the general consensus on that movie was that the main character was a monster, but still alot of people enjoyed it. In some movies the audience is actively wanting the main character to get their comeuppance.

Ah i think there's a lot of films like that where the main characters are written as dislikeable but interesting and the films are compelling like Scarface, Nightcrawler and A clockwork orange. I think its brave when the writers anchor their film to a dislikeable character.

I went to see it solo in Vue Liffey Valley midweek at about 9pm, hoping to escape into an enjoyable film in an almost empty screening, comfortable seats, nice and warm. I left after about 30 minutes because of its leftist political bias. I can't remember the last film I bailed on, in fact, this might have been the first. Glad it only cost me 6.99. That's what I love about Vue Liffey Valley: cheap, comfortable un-cramped seating, and usually almost empty if you get the right screening at the right time.

I think perhaps then you missed the parts where the leftist group was criticised, shown to be mostly traitorous,killing innocent people and being mostly incompetent.

That's 2025 folks! 😂

I hate using the term, but it's proper snowflake stuff. Imagine being so sensitive that you can't even sit through a movie you've paid for, from one of the great directors, starring some of the best actors to have ever graced the screen…….. because there are fictional characters who have a different political opinion to you 😂

It really does show how social media had poisoned people. This would NEVER have been a thing in the 90s for example. People were able to function normally, consume media that showed viewpoints form all across the political spectrum and not see themselves as some sort of victim when someone said something they disagreed with.

Yup, a made up story too. Imagine admitting to that in real life and not some strangers on the internet to get a reaction...

Yeah, I agree with this to an extent but I think there is a difference between the types of films/performances. I have seen Nightcrawler, and that was one of the most odious characters I have ever seen on screen (plus I don't like Jake Gyllenhaal anyways, which doubled the effect!): I watched it once, would never watch it again, because that character is very off-putting, but seems closer to real life. Something like Scarface though, I have seen many times, because, even though Tony is another odious piece of ****, it's almost cartoonish - Pacino plays him as such a terrible human being that it's entertaining how much he wants us to dislike him. I have no problem with dislikeable characters, but I think if it's too close to reality, it puts me off.