officialheroesofolympus:Just watched space sweepers and one detail that made me so profoundly,…
Just watched space sweepers and one detail that made me so profoundly, inexplicably happy was the casual way the characters all interacted with one another regardless of what language they spoke. I mean this is the first sci-fi themed movie I can remember where people of all different languages just casually talk to one another in their own respective tongues?? Like?? Maybe that’s the nerd in me but that’s so cool I loved that
Agreed. There’s a lot that’s fun and amazing about the movie, but the thing that’s the most original is the way they weave together polyglot dialog. I assume there’s a version of this experience for Korean speakers (or whatever), but for an English speaker it quickly establishes that in this world there are many languages being spoken, everyone has real-time translation devices to help them keep up, and it WORKS. I mean, not just in-world. It works as a storytelling device. It fixes one of the most persistent artifacts that pulls me out of nearly every sci-fi future I’ve ever seen: language that hasn’t believably evolved. The future almost always has everyone speaking late-20th/early-21st-century American English, even when there’s no reason for them to be doing that.
But in the English version of this movie everything non-English is subtitled, and characters have their own specific languages they use. And in the middle of a scene you’ll realize that besides all the Korean you’re also hearing English, Spanish, whatever, and everyone just rolls with it. It’s not explained via idiot lecture; it’s just shown in the first scene when Tae-ho is bartering at the morgue and the person he’s dealing with is complaining (in English) about her broken translator.
It’s really great as science fiction. And yeah, it’s still space opera. The movie descends directly from things like The Fifth Element and Star Wars as much as, or more, than 2001. Space is still crowded and noisy, and the physics in the action sequences are more about what looks and feels exciting than about making sense. But I don’t care. The characters are lovable rogues and I was totally invested.
A+ would recommend.
Reposted from https://lies.tumblr.com/post/643320046755758080.
Tags: space sweepers.
