I rarely watch a film straight through; a viewing usually has a healthy number of disruptions, taking 10-12 hours or even two or three days. For this I did watch the opening scene where Penn picks up the guns and I was still surprised by the meeting on the subway forty minutes in. Did everyone else just instantly connect the dots or was this supposed to be a bit of a surprise?
shareWhen I looked at the back of the DVD case and read the synopsis.
Keep the change, ya filthy animal...
Just saw it, luckily I knew nothing about it. I was a bit confused about the start but finally caught on when you see Turturro at the funeral and realise hes not dead.
"No kitty! This is my pot pie!"
I never read any DVD synopsis or IMDB Summary, and it was apparent to me during the first scene, Penn was a cop.
Maybe I missed something about the "secret" part but I don't believe Penn's character being a cop was ever supposed to be a secret from the viewer.
What, just for once in your life can't you be serious?
You were paying attention. It was shown, but never explained.
shareThank you & true, it wasn't explained but the interaction between Penn & Turturro should have implied that the two were cops. Then again, the scenes with Penn & Turturro were a bit later, in the film.
When you finally did get through the entire film, what did you think of it? It is one of my favorite films, and one of my favorite Penn films & Oldman films. Albeit, the ending finale', which I would classify as unrealistic, but pretty exciting, none the less.
Jack's not dead! Jack would never die without telling me, first!
I was not paying as careful attention as you to the beginning scenes, so my brain never made the connection that Tuturro was a police officer until we saw him marching in the procession, where he trades eyes with Penn. Until that point, I thought the movie was OK, but that plot-turn worked for me, and I was all in. It really put the pressure on Penn's character, added to his depth.
Like you and others, I thought the final shoot out did not quite fit with the rest of the story. The battle was covered by the blasting noise of an Irish Day parade seems like a cliche (though I can only think of the Fugitive as a movie that actually does something like it). I've made peace with it though, and the shootout was well-executed. People have made semi-plausible excuses for Penn's almost super-natural firearm skills (the other guys are drunk, can't shoot for *beep* taken by surprise). Still. It's enough to keep me from awarding it five stars on Netflix.