Poorly Planned Cinematic Idea

            When I first heard about the new Seth Rogan / James Franco movie, “The Interview”, on Real Time with Bill Maher a couple months ago, I thought it an interesting concept, but I could foresee the dangers in a movie of this type.

            The basic outline of the film is such that Rogan and Franco are journalists who are recruited by the CIA to post as reporters to get close enough to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un to assassinate him. Just hearing this set off bad vibes in my mind.

            Number 1, bad idea to use a real leader, especially one on the level of Kim Jong Un. A fictional leader would have made a better choice. Who knew at the time if North Korea might undertake and kind of reprisals for even suggesting slaying its ruler? The cyber hacking of Sony Pictures might be just such a reaction.

            Number 2, the idea of using reporters to get to be alone with a leader in order to assassinate him or her, could lead to the end of direct interviews. Interviews may soon be held by webcams.

 

            Number 3, the methods shown in the real world either in war, crimes, gadgets or terrorism are barbaric enough. Leave Hollywood script writers to devise new ways of fighting wars, create more violent crimes, design new contraptions to carry out their plans, or more brutal and sickening forms of terrorism. One example is in the movie “The Dark Night” when the Joker had a live bomb placed into living body. A few months later we started hearing that terrorist organizations might be using this very same method.

            Number 4, would it not be considered that we are the terrorists for wanting to kill another world leader. Does this mean that we our philosophy is “We can do something, but no one else is allowed to”? Poor philosophy, at least, one to which I am opposed.

            Returning to the cyber hacking for a moment, if a warning was issued at attacking any cinema which showed the movie, does it make any sense to pull all of the screenings for fear of an attack on any one or more of the theaters? We were told rightly just thirteen years ago not to bow to terrorists’ demands in the wake of 9/11. But Sony Pictures caved in. Could you imagine that North Korea or any other foreign or domestic entity getting the scripts for new movies through hacking, hating them enough to decide to threaten the studios with reprisals if they are released?

 

            To me, this type of movie falls into the category or ‘could we’ or ‘should we’ produce it. The answer is the latter, and the answer is no, not the way it was designed. It was a decent enough idea, but with all the various parts, it was a dangerous script in today’s world.