5 Stupendously Dumb Moments In Roland Emmerich Movies
Pop quiz, hot shot. Who killed the summer blockbuster? Was it Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich? Of course, I kid. Despite what some surly fan-boys think, neither of the two slam-bang disaster masters have ruined popcorn movies, although it can be argued they have significantly lowered the IQ level of the average blockbuster by several points. Bay goes above and beyond in the cretin department, so far in fact that his films occupy a universe that is uniquely his own; a world of orange-hued women, farting robots and oil drillers who take on rogue asteroids, a savage land where the cinematic man-child is undisputed lord and ruler. Then there is Roland Emmerich, who has always seemed more content to make dumb movies with an auspicious sense of event and faux seriousness surrounding them. No matter how ridiculous they got, I always suspected he secretly thought he was making Spielberg-level entertainments, a few of which (The Patriot, Anonymous) might actually turn the heads of Academy voters in categories not labeled visual effects or art direction. This is mostly delusional, because at his best Emmerich makes upgraded versions of 1950s B movies, and when the dumb hits its either sweet or devastating, standing out sharply because the surrounding films rarely support it. Without knocking Roland too muchafter all, he was instrumental in turning Hollywoods gaze back towards science fiction as a lucrative markethere are five moments of uncommon stupidity that either elevated or destroyed the movies they were in. Before that, though, lets take a moment to single out one movie for stunning achievements in idiocy, one that I couldnt rightly put on the list proper because theres no one single moment that stands out above the rest and because it would have likely overwhelmed all the other choices....