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Reviews
The Rig (2023)
Another show where characters do things to things so things happen.
The Rig is not good, so let's just get that out or the way. Specifically the characters are all stereotypes with incredibly predictable development arcs, Worse, the most common departures from the stereotypes are when the characters espouse completely out of character green moral lecturing. The writers are so lacking in confidence in their green eco-thriller narrative (with good reason, as it's a nonsensical mess) they can't stop themselves from injecting jarring commentary. Here's an idea: get the story right and none of that is necessary.
Furthermore, character motivations don't seem to matter, as they often just do things because the plot needs them to. This is one of the worst aspects of lazy modern-era writing because, as is often the case in this show, character actions and behavior are highly inconsistent with basic common sense.
But those problems pale in comparison to the biggest issue: the story is stupid. I'm not going to spoil it, but this show stinks of JJ Abrams style mystery-box writing. It starts off strong, with a genuinely creepy and engaging first episode. However, very quickly the show starts presenting mystery boxes galore - and what's inside them is pretty damn lame. When the show isn't inventing contrivances and melodrama, it starts plundering the depths of rejected Star Trek scripts. None of the later episodes live up to the setup from the first episode. This is in stark contrast to something like "The Terror" which delivers its story with measured chapters, careful plotting and excellent writing. With "The Rig" we get none of that. Instead we end up with something that's utterly ridiculous and unbelievable.
The end of the show, in typical modern-era binging nonsense, leaves the door wide open for a second season. However, I couldn't care less, and I'm annoyed I've invested time in this show. It truly says something about the quality of direction and production, when a Scotsman is putting on a ludicrously stereotypical Scottish accent. Give this show a strong pass.
Moon 44 (1990)
So bad it's... weird?
Roland Emmerich doesn't make good movies. At his best he makes entertaining movies (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow), at his worst he makes extraordinarily bad movies. This movie falls into the latter catagory.
First, this movie comes from that brief period from 89-91, when every aspiring sci-fi movie maker was hiding their budget restrictions with darkly-lit sets, steam effects and claustrophobic field of view. And corridors - you can never have enough corridors with lots of PVC conduit.
Second, Roland Emmerich saw Alien, Blade Runner, Blue Thunder (yes helicopters) and Star Wars and decided it'd be a great idea to smash elements of each of these into his movie. Oh, and he saw RoboCop too, so he borrowed a bit from that movie also. He also likes prison rape, so he threw that in (yeah, really).
The result is a movie that makes zero sense. People, nowadays, confuse unexplained plot elements with plot holes, when plot holes are actually elements of a movie that make no sense and aren't reconcilable. This movie is the perfect example of Roland Emmerich at his most swiss cheesy, because the movie is so full of holes that virtually nothing makes any logical sense.
Why do the "heroes" fighter aircraft consist of helicopters in the same future where every other vehicle is powered by far more advanced technology? Why does everyone just allow the rape to occur? Why does everyone seem to be oblivious to what happened (including the victims best friend) when it's convenient in the moment (but not the next scene). The entire setup with the "navigators" makes absolutely no aeronautical sense and does nothing but convolute when is essentially a bare-bones story.
If reading the above paragraph makes you think this might be a terrible movie, you'd be correct. This is a truly dreadful, cliche ridden mess of awful dialog combined with some of the worst acting you'll ever see committed to film. Is it worth watching? If you like bad movies, yes it is, but you have to be quite the masochist to subject yourself to this steaming heap.