MovieChat Forums > Switchback (1997) Discussion > Why the MO?

Why the MO?

posted 21 years ago by Flippitygibbit
5 replies | jump to latest

'Switchback' had me hooked from the moment I stumbled across it just after the credits, but ... Why did the Danny Glover character kill his victims in the way he did? The coroner in the motel room in Texas made a point of saying how 'professional' the cuts to the arteries were, which in filmspeak usually means that the killer is in the medical profession. But there was no follow up. If it was to lead the audience into thinking that Jared Leto's character was the killer, why did Glover's character kill his previous victims that way too? Did I miss some backstory dialogue that explained this choice of murder?

[–] delalluvia 20 years ago

No, it wasn't explained. One of the weaknesses of the movie.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] philip_mostyn 10 years ago

Another weakness for this movie is that it wasn't explained *why* he started killing in the first place....especially those that were his friends ('Shorty', the mechanic, for one....though I guess *he* was killed just so that there wouldn't be anyone that could potentially identify the killer)

I was watching this again recently, and the only 'reason' I could come up with, was the one used The Dark Knight....

"Some people just like to watch the world burn"

Clearly *something* happened to him to make him do those things, but alas, it was never explained :-(

[–] hotbody805 9 years ago

He killed Shorty as a last resort. He was going to kill the girl clerk down at the store, but Doc walked in on him. He needed to kill someone in Martinsburg so there would be a trail of bodies leading Frank up to Believe.

[–] hackerman6731 (89) 3 years ago

I'll bet there are scenes that were filmed, but they were probably cut for time. It's just under 2hrs, so they probably cut important scenes. Heck, they say there is a 3 1/2 hr Planes Traind & Automobiles.