First off, the question the headline poses has nothing to do with CGI or actual advancements in filmmaking. I am asking whether everyday technology seen in movies is ruining the ability for filmmakers to tell their stories? This involves cell phones, satellite technology, wireless signals, Internet, etc.
My biggest problem over the past few years involves cellular telephones. Everyone has a cell phone now and the movies mimic this advancement in technology, but it always seems to cause logic problems or moments I simply throw my hands in the air and say, “Not again.”
One example I can think of off the top of my head — and I am sure many of you can think of others — involves the little seen thriller P2 released by Summit in 2007. In this film a woman is stalked by a crazy man in the bowels of a building parking garage. While down there she can’t get any kind of cell phone signal until she finds a closed gate she can fit her arm through and, bingo, a signal! Of course it is at this moment she drops the phone and other stupidity follows, but it is the losing and finding of cell phone signals that can be so maddening. But would audiences accept a protagonist in trouble without their cell phone? I think so and would prefer they be written out of most every thriller ever made.
Another example that comes to mind is 2008’s thriller The Strangers in which Liv Tyler’s character’s cell phone runs out of power. Wah-wah. So she decides to plug it in and wait for it to charge so she can make her call. Uh, is this the only cell phone you can’t use while you have it plugged into an AC adapter? Stuff like this just burns me up. Again, just bail on the cell phone. Don’t even introduce it into the equation.
I recently got to thinking about this again while watching the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 in which the transit command center looks more like Kennedy Space Center than what Walter Matthau was working with in 1974. Instead of simple technology and having to patch people in Denzel was operating on an entirely different system, one I don’t think those money grubbing thieves at Microsoft could even come up with, or at least won’t release to the public until 2025. What did it add to the story? Nothing but a sense of disbelief. Why is it these guys are working with systems NASA would be envious of just to run the subway system in New York City?
The other aspect was the use of Internet connectivity in the tunnels. I’m not sure what the bad guys hooked up down there, but suddenly we were up and running with a wireless connection and even had a little webcam that was then streamed online and allowed the cops to see what was going on on the subway. Such luck!
Speaking of the Internet, how about those moments in movies when the protagonist decides to do a little sleuthing of their own? Just who is my crazy stepmother? These moments inevitably lead us to a scene where Google is utilized and our lead is directed to a made up homepage where the entire story comes together. Ha, toldja he was a killer! Johnslistofkillers.com has all the details! Remember folks, when in doubt just hit up Google.
Of course, I can’t completely abandon the fact we have become a technology dependent society as no one talks to anyone anymore as much as we send text messages in 140 characters or less back and forth while meeting anonymous stalkers on Craigslist. However, I think some movies have taken it to the next level and seem to think their audience doesn’t realize how things work. They’re wrong.
We know when a signal would be dropped. As a matter of fact there is a parking garage I frequent in Seattle that basically drains my phone if I leave it on as it looks for a signal, and no matter how much I walk around I’m not going to find one. I also know if I plug my phone into the wall I can use it no matter how low the battery is. As far as using Google as a research tool… well, I wouldn’t exactly bring print-outs as Exhibits A and B in the court case.
As for these technological loop-holes such as a jury rigged wireless connection where there is no wireless signal. Sure, it could probably happen, and my local Radio Shack most likely has the equipment to do it, but isn’t there another way to accomplish our goals? Do we need to really waste any time with the crossing of wires and checking the stock tickers while we are dealing with hostage negotiations underneath NYC?
I only wonder about these things because it seems so many of today’s thrillers become instantly forgettable while so many of the older films are the ones we return to. In the days of rotary phones and drop spots there was so much more tension. Now we get a couple of characters asking if they are talking on an “encrypted line” or some higher-up telling people to get to work with a quick pan to fingers tapping away on a computer keyboard. By the way, what exactly are people typing into those keyboards that ends up solving any problems? Let’s get some mouse work set to techno music from The Prodigy and really get wild. Movies have become so redundant nothing seems new anymore.
A cell phone looking for a signal isn’t what creates tension, it’s the dude chasing the person in the dark that is freaking us out. If we came to a movie expecting the protagonist could simply dial 911 and escape I am not sure anyone would ever show up at the box-office.
I don’t know, just a thought…
