I’ve just finished watching the movie based on the novel “Män Som Hatar Kvinnor” (loosely translated: Men Who Hate Women), the first part of the so-called Millenium-trilogy.
Now, I admit that I have very low expectations of Swedish film, but to my own surprise this one managed to engage me, and I’m actually looking forward to the next part. Not really interested in reading the books though, but who knows?
Anyhoo, one thing in this movie is the same thing that always annoys me when it comes to movies: Magic Computers.
I grow tired of movie-makers who use computers as a simple device to not have to explain their plot-advances. It’s literally a Deus Ex Machina where the director, writer and producer simply have to say “computers” and the audience goes “aaaah, right” and asks no more questions.
As a self-proclaimed hacker and computer-enthusiast this annoys me to no end. Sure, fine. I’m okay with scifi-movies in the far distant future which might bear little resemblence to computers today, but every time I see a brand-new Mac or PC or whatever that doesn’t behave like an actual computer it annoys me.
Especially if a contemporary computer appears, yet has been dressed up with magical abilities and sound-effects. $DEITY, does it ever annoy me! If I had a US$ for every time I see a magic computer in some movie, I’d probably have at least fifty bucks by now. They’re everywhere. If I ever make a movie, I’ll make damn sure to not include magic computers.
Rather than having the spunky yet mysterious heroine tapping away at a keyboard then triumphantly deliver a crystal-clear picture of the perpetrator, or calling in some low-life with “hacker skills” and less-than-impressive social skills who can break the [whatever], I’ll have her sigh in resignation and report to the other hero that it’s [whatever] and simply cannot be broken by hammering away at the keyboard.