Someone please explain (Major Spoilers)

Well add this question on there while you're at it -

7) Why did Douglas' character leave all of that evidence at the house and just take off? Why not either take it with him and bring it in to Breckenridge by himself (he'd already kind of gained his trust back at that point, right?) or wait around until the authorities got there. Either way, it pretty much cleared him, so he had no reason to be on the run any longer.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the movie. I didn't put too much thought into it, though - just kinda sat back and enjoyed it for what it was worth.

i can answer number 7)
if the takes the ids n guns, they will suspecto more on douglas

now can anybody explain
why in the end of the movie, he lefts the agency?
did they fired him?
did he quits?

at least he win kim basinger!

1) Did the informant try to get Michael Douglas killed or not in the mall? Or was the assasin there to kill the informant? I'm still confused whether or not he was a good or bad guy. And how did Douglas find his mother?
No, I don't think the informant wanted Douglas dead; the assassin was after the informant (see Q2).

I assume the mum was easy to find from the phone book, or else Douglas already knew because he had checked out his CI as fully as possible in the past. Douglas had never found out where the CI lived, but he did know his real identity.


2) I don't understand - if the bad guys were trying to kill the President via the rocket and pin it on Douglas, why were they trying to kill him at EXACTLY the same time? Can't think of a better alibi for Douglas than "I was in that shootout at the mall"
The timing was out of their control. They had to kill the informant before he met Douglas. Besides, the set up was that Douglas gave info to the assassins and sabotaged the protection devices on the chopper - not that he personally fired the missile.


2) Who exactly were the bad guys and how did Montrose "owe" them the favor of giving up the President?
They were hired professionals. I think it was said it was a drug cartel who funded the hit - can't remember if that was really true, or just the frame on Douglas. If it wasnt expressly said, then we can assume it was a rival cartel to the one Douglas was framed as having links to. That way the US govt would eliminate the cartel they thought killed the president, and do the rival's work for them.

Montrose had been a double agent for the KGB. The bad guys either included his former KGB handlers, or else had discovered his KGB links and were blackmailing him. Either way the implication is that he had been paid to do this, or else had said he would. They were not about to allow him to go back on his word.


3) Who took the photos of the affair? Douglas explains it was taken on a boat w/ a gyroscope to keep the camera steady (to show that they had big bucks to spend and were professionals) - was it just the 3-4 bad guys plus Montrose behind it and that's it?
They did have big bucks behind them. They were hired by people with deep pockets.

4) Where did Douglas get the kevlar? we saw him leave the house in nothing but a buttondown and undershirt?
Dunno. But we did see him go to buy certain equipment, I assumed he bought it then and/or it was with the jacket he stole off the hanger.


5) i'm confused at the whole "tell ONLY the first lady Montrose is the mole"/"the password is crystal" thing - what was going on??? Why would they only want her to know and not the 50 other agents in the room if they knew only one man was the mole? And why were Keifer and Michael running around yelling out "the password is crystal!!" at the other agents?? The hell did that mean
Only tell her because they werent sure if anyone else would believe them. If another agent was told, that person would follow procedure and report it to a superior. There wasnt time for all that and it would tip off Montrose.

The password indicated that they were to be trusted, because - in theory - the baddies could never know the password (which is chenged every day). In practice, Montrose obviously knew the password too, so the system is clearly flawed!


6) I'm totally confused about the ending - the "leader" of the villains, ie the Kevin Smith looking dude - why did he make a huge spectacle of himself and basically go on a suicide mission to kill the president in front of everyone?? And how did Michael Douglas know he was bad? We hear a voiceover of the taped threats to the president and we see a closeup of his badge, but how did Douglas know?
This was the last desperate move because Plans A and B had failed. I don't imagine he expected to survive. Either fleeing would have led to a fate worse than death (at the hands of his paymasters), or else he too had family who would be killed if he failed, just like he threatened Montrose.

I don't think any of the threats were from these guys. They were just background into the typical work of the Secret Service.

I agree that this was not a stellar movie and has plenty of plot holes. But I think the answers here have missed a few points.

(1) The plot to kill the president required an insider in the Secret Service. The investigators and others all realized that. The KGB wants to protect their mole. Hence the whole subplot of framing Michael Douglas - the blackmail was just to get him to go to the drop so that the FBI would suspect him. As weak as the plan was, it apparently was working as Michael Douglas was suspected of being the mole.

(2) The password thing is not as weak as you think. The president (and his wife and the vice president) are given daily "passwords" which are given to the security detail (some marines, some secret service agents) and no-one else. The security detail is not selected until the beginning of the day (thus the discussion of rotation and cycle) so it is unknown in advance who will be covering that day (and hence who will have the passwords). And yes, the password means "follow my orders". There are also "compromise" or "distress" words given at regular times which allow someone to communicate that they are in a compromised situation. For example, the word might be "pepperoni"; over the phone, you could say "Tonight, I'd really like to go for a pepperoni pizza" and the call recipient would realize that you are being held under duress.

(3) The Canadian police are phony - they are hired assassins employed by the bad guys to kill the president. You think only 3 or 4 guys would succeed on their own? Plus the main conspirators don't want to do it in person. In the end, the last one is desperate enough to try to finish the job himself (especially as the framing has also failed).

The movie still was full of ridiculously unrealistic scenes. The most ridiculous to me was that they had a guy who had never had a polygraph working in the Secret Service. Not possible as one must be done in the first 6 months of employment (if not before). Also saying that everyone in the room had to have a polygraph by 5 PM - they take about 3-4 hours each and there aren't a whole lot of guys available to give them. The tone of the polygraph and the fact that they undergo further review was very accurate.

this film jumps the shark in the mall. No professional is going to expose himself like that in an open place. If he'd been caught the whole unit would have been compromised.

How his informant got so much information was another thread never tied up. Who was that guy and how did he know so much?