Quote: "these bikers should be more concerned with racing and staying on their bikes... I just can't see the point of getting on a motorcycle to beat up somebody; you can do that anyway without the vehicle... but to also wield a sword with one hand on the handle bar and take such risks at such heights without even a bike helmet on is quite an interesting idea of logic."
It's absurd, it is supposed to be absurd. I'm fine with the ridiculous violence because the whole situation is ridiculous. These are not fleshed out characters with heart-warming back-stories; they are cartoon thugs who perform crazy stunts and beat the snot out of each other for entertainment. There might as well be screen captions saying "POW!" and "SMACK!" etc.
The only times I'm bothered by violence in media is when it is either portrayed in a way that doesn't suit the tone of the narrative/game, or if it is drawn out and needlessly gratuitous.
I was watching 28 Weeks Later a while back and was getting quite into it.
There was a lot of detail in the post-apocalyptic world that was believable and made you relate to the characters: families trying to find each other, people struggling to adapt to the new world. (pretty gross spoilers)
A woman is found to be a carrier of the zombie virus, but she doesn't suffer the symptoms. She is taken in by the authorities to be examined (and strapped to a bed for some reason), her husband shows up and for some reason is allowed to visit her unsupervised. They kiss and he becomes infected. He starts going crazy, bashing his head around and hammering on the glass (the whole room is a perspex box) but apparently no one is paying any attention. Then he goes over to her, puts his thumbs over her eyes and pushes into her skull as she writhes and screams in pain. It was shown in grotesque detail and the whole scene went on far too long so I stopped watching. It totally ruined the film for me. I don't understand the need for all this explicit violence, especially in a film that had quite a mature and empathetic style up until then. If we'd just seen him place his hands over her eyes and then cut to her legs writhing and her screaming we'd have gotten the picture and the scene could have been over in a few seconds.
Compare that to The Deer Hunter, the most harrowing film I've ever seen: I sat in silence as the end credits scrolled and felt like a friend had just died. That film uses violence very specifically and intentionally.
Has anyone seen Deathproof and Planet Terror? I much preferred Planet Terror because it was sillier, so the violence also seemed silly. Deathproof had quite a dark and twisted undertone to it and the violence felt more sinister and real; but it was still a good film.
The difficulty in learning is not acquiring new knowledge but relinquishing the old.
