Law Abiding Engineer

By Shamus Posted Saturday May 1, 2010

Filed under: Movies 39 comments

If you’ve never seen the trailer for Law Abiding Citizen, you should watch that first.


Link (YouTube)

“Tell us what we’re dealing with. A spy?”

“Spies are a dime a dozen.”

It makes me want to see the movie. But if I did, I’d just be disappointed when it was Gerard Butler instead of the Engineer.

 


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39 thoughts on “Law Abiding Engineer

  1. UtopiaV1 says:

    My girlfriend fancies the pants off Gerard Butler. I play Engineer in TF2. Go figure. Good trailer though, saw it a few weeks ago, extremely well done… for someone who has WAAAAY too much time on their hands…

  2. scob says:

    The trailer is good because the movie is good. Even for people like me who don’t fancy Butler… it was just well done, very bold, and worth watching.

  3. GTB says:

    The movie was awesome. You should see it.

  4. Danath says:

    Honestly I would pay to see this whole movie redone like that trailer. It would absolutely BLOW MY MIND.

  5. b00bies says:

    Hi Shamus,

    That’s an awesome video. We mentioned it back on EP #60. Check us out for all your TF2 news ;)

    b00bies (he of the shiny spanner)

  6. Psithief says:

    *sigh* Why can’t movies end with evil prevailing anymore? These last two decades have been pathetic.

    1. Galad says:

      because no one wants to feel depressed about it?

      *shrug* feel free to suggest a plot in which it’s both enjoyable and believable that evil wins

      1. Yar Kramer says:

        Yeah, you’d need to do something like Overlord, where the “evil” is hammy and halfway-sympathetic, and the “good guys” are all obnoxious self-important Captain Hammer-types who aren’t much of an improvement, if any, over the “evil”

        1. Joshua says:

          I’m not sure what they teach in screenwriter school, but my perception is that it isn’t about good and evil as much as protagonist and antagonist, and usually the plot is about the protagonist reacting to something that the antagonist has set in motion. Hence, why you can see revenge movies where the main character might even be a villain trying to get back at those who “wronged” them. Generally, character B(antagonist) does something to “antagonize” character A(protagonist), and release is felt by the audience when the imbalance is addressed. So, theoretically, you could have a movie where evil triumphs if good was the one who struck first.

          That’s just my perception of it though. Wonder what the actual art of storytelling has to say about this.

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            Yet 12 monkeys defies that by having the protagonist(bruce willis even)fail,and evil wins.And it was great.Then there is fight club,in which while the protagonist does get rid of the antagonist,he fails to foil his plan.Then there is memento where in the end you get to see an explanation of the beginning,so basically it ends with nothing happening.And it was awesome.

            However,those are all examples of brilliant storytelling that are hard to achieve.

            1. Chiller says:

              I think the ending of 12 monkeys is debatable (at least). I, for one, thought his mission did succeed, even though things didn’t turn out so good for him.

              (Edited: to make it clear that my personal opinion is just that)

              1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                He failed to stop the virus from spreading,which was his mission.

                1. Chiller says:

                  Well, it looked to me like the doctor chick from the future was going to stop the bad guy from doing his thing, since she was seated right next to him on the plane. (sorry, I don’t remember their names).

                2. Sord says:

                  Pretty sure that the doctor chick from the future (aka Jones) didn’t want to stop the virus from spreading. What she wanted was to cure it in the future, since that is where her power base was. She was just looking to get a sample of the original virus and then would let history take it’s original course.

            2. Joshua says:

              Well, along with any “rule” for story writing, it’s not that you *can’t* break the rule and do something different, it’s that you better know what you’re doing before breaking the rules willy-nilly.

              Fight Club is an unusual structure to begin with, but I would opine that eventually winning out over the antagonist was more important than stopping the actual plan, which is just a McGuffin in the story anyways.

              It’s been a long while since I saw 12 Monkeys(15 years?), but I thought the ending was somewhat ambiguous. The lady was on the plane and aware of the terrorist, and I wasn’t sure if they were saying that it was the original plan of for the virus to be spread or if that lady was there to take care of the issue herself even though Bruce failed. Either way, it’s a Terry Gilliam film which is guaranteed to be outside the box, for good or ill.

      2. Michael says:

        I wouldn’t have been depressed if that was the way LAC ended. I mean, the “good guy” in it is a complete a–h— anyway.

    2. Hal says:

      A very good question. When I watched the movie, I spent the entire time rooting for Butler! It was so bizarre how the entire time I felt more sympathy for him than desire to see the killing stop.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Same with me.And I believe it is because he was going against the government.Its hard to cheer for the system.

    3. Joe Cool says:

      In order to be engaged by a good story, the reader/viewer has to find the protagonist to be sympathetic. If he’s an unsympathetic character, why do we care about his goals, arc, and dramatic need?

      The protagonist doesn’t have to be a saint, but he at least needs to be more likable than the antagonist, or we’ll find ourselves rooting for the bad guy.

      So the protagonist tends to be “good” and the antagonist tends to be “evil” because that’s how we naturally side. No one roots against their own interests. Only a sick person would truly want evil to win over good, and even then, from that persons POV, the evil is actually “good”.

      Now, that’s not to say we can’t root for evil characters, or find movies with evil protagonists engaging””I know people who like Payback””but even in those movies the protagonist has to have enough to like over the antagonist that we’ll stay on his side.

    4. Amarsir says:

      The short-lived 90s series “Profit” danced along that line. It was rediscovered about 4-5 years ago with a DVD release. Although there is a background to humanize him a little, the protagonist (Jim Profit) is clearly not on the side of good. Yet the intriguing writing certainly had fans, myself included.

      Of course it was cancelled after like half a season, so maybe it’s really evidence for the formula after all.

      (re: the video, I didn’t get either of the references so it was wasted on me.)

      1. Michael says:

        Come to think of it, so did Brimstone. The main character was a murderous Cop who’d been sent to hell, and the other lead was the devil. Though, Stone was certainly a sympathetic character.

    5. Johannes says:

      Watch one of those European art house film some time. They end bad all the time. And they’re realistic at it.

    6. Agro says:

      I saw a German arthouse film called “The White Ribbon” a few months back. I truely depressing and evil film which leaves every thread unresolved such that one can only imagine evil won through apathy.

      If we are to be technical about this, no film for which there is to be a sequil ever ends to good triumphing over evil since right at the very end, sometimes after the creds roll, evil will reappear to theaten the serenity established over the supposed film ending.

      pls exuse me, I get clever when I’m tired.

  7. Jim says:

    Yeah I also really liked the movie, just don’t watch the ending. Stop the movie with like 10(?) minutes left and then either pretend it was a cliffhanger or dream up your own finale.

    A really good movie ruined by a truly awful conclusion (see also: Signs).

  8. Chiller says:

    I was expecting something… funny? This is just the trailer with the TF2 chars replacing the actors.

    1. Joshua says:

      Yeah, I thought the same. Nice technical work, but zero imagination.

  9. rayen says:

    Wow thats awesome just awesome… i would totally see that movie, with the actual TF2 models yeah i would see it.

  10. TehShrike says:

    I watched the movie, and I enjoyed it quite a bit – I would recommend it, especially to someone with any interest in biblical law.

    The movie did a fantastic job (IMHO) of highlighting the futility of man when it comes to enforcing true justice.

    Not one for the kids, though.

  11. Eric says:

    It’s a good movie, up until they take the protagonist and try to switch him to antagonist.

  12. acronix says:

    I was actually fooled for the first minute, because I haven´t seen the movie or the trailer (nor heard of it). Except for some obvious desyncronized lips, it´s very well done.

  13. Coffee says:

    Fool of a Took! He’s obviously able to kill people while in Prison with TURRETS!

  14. B.J. says:

    The movie is a bit heavy-handed it it’s setup but it turns into a pretty entertaining revenge flick. It starts out like it really wants to cram it’s message down your throat (the Law isn’t perfect) but then you realize it’s really just about this badass Chessmaster character. I liked it.

    According to Wikipedia, Butler was originally cast as the DA and Foxx was the bad guy, but he had them switch roles just before filming (Butler produced the movie). Could be why the movie tries to show Butler as more sympathetic in the beginning.

    In any case, this video is amazing.

  15. Nyaz says:

    First:
    Dear everyone who uploads stuff onto YouTube: Please read up on aspect ratios, or at least take a step back and think “Oh my, should it really look like that?”

    Okay, now: Woah, that was a really well done trailer-remake-whaddayacallit.

  16. Kerezteny says:

    I also want to see the movie. I ALSO wish it were the Engineer instead. Which reminds me, you’re aware of the video An Engineer’s Guide to Cats? I was suddenly struck that it would be much cooler if it had either the Engie or you. 3:

  17. Vegedus says:

    The engineer was also the protagonist of a TF2 story based on “I have no mouth and must scream”. People seem to like him for that role for some reason.

    1. Kerezteny says:

      Well, compared to everyone else in the game, doesn’t the Engineer feel like the Only Sane Man?

      1. Senji says:

        He is also insane in his own little way. Just watch meet the engineer again. Also that insane lough. That being said, I heart the engineer alot.

        1. Coffee says:

          At least he doesn’t live in a van.

          I want a TF2 live action movie. with William H Macy as Engie. I mean, he was an awesome Shoveller!

          1. Teldurn says:

            *Like*!

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