Like when he timed how long the restaurant fight would take. It's been a couple weeks since I saw it, but it seems like several times he was timing things. What was the point of this? Did I miss some explanation about it?
shareA habit one grows when he is obsessed with control, to check my time is awareness, to be behind time doing the same thing I used to do over and over is being sloppy.
Well put. I love the OCD stuff too. It made the character seem more authentic. Door open, close, open, close, open, close, lock, assess, kill!
shareThe door (closing/open) symbolism is widely mistaken here, as OCD people do really tend to do that in normal situations, but in that particular scene he was trying to make a decision; the scenes before it are explanatory; at home, dining table; in the park looking distanced all are pre-storm scenes.
He went there with a full intention to *uck'em up :D but as with the entire over all theme he might have had a different plan and decided in the last moment 'why the *uck wait?!, let's do this $hit right now!'
But that's just me, my only view; if you agree with me; good for ya, if you do not; well ... you don't :D
Cheers
I thought too it was him debating in his mind over to do it, or not. To go out of hiding, or not. To take a stand, or not. In the end, he decided to risk, or give up in a sense, his comfortable life that he built in secrecy, for a girl that would most certainly die if he did nothing.
~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~
More to that, his wife's memory {
-I've done some bad things in my life,
Nicolai.
-Things I'm not proud of.
-I promised someone
that I love very much...
-...that I would never go back
to being that person.
-But for you...
-...I'm gonna make an exception.
}
He already made the exception, or else why he would go to Slavy and offer him something inconvenient like 9800$ he would collect even before the month is over 😂
To cut it short, I think the only risk he took was at Slavy's office; my theory is he was just seeing his battle ground; evaluating his opponents; trying to get a reason for leveling them.
Now he took the risk of *not* planning it over like he always do "lot's of scenery's point that he is a *lead* man; pre-planned; managed environment, no room for surprises.
He never thought it would fire back, hence the scene when he was off-guard and caught his key chain moving before Teddy approached him.
After that, he rolled like the old days of his work; taking the lead; a step ahead of every one giving them false feelings/ideas of where he is at 😃
I just loved this movie 😀
At the outset, mr-mohamed-salah, I will say that I enjoyed your comments a little way down the page.
I am nonetheless amused how readily and how swiftly commenters here slip into "insider" terminology when it comes to military and espionage films, for example "as OCD people do really tend to do".
As an ordinary bloke who lives in a spartan apartment and who regularly visits his local coffee shop, with a tea bag wrapped in a serviette and a good book to read, I have absolutely no idea what or who is a "OCD people" person. Why would I know such things?
I wonder if in the USA there is a special subject they teach at school which brings film enthusiasts and home hardware employees up to date with the latest CIA jargon.
Perhaps it is even closer to home than that - are you all "OCD people" secret agents sitting at home wiling away your time reading IMDB as you await a call from your handlers to launch a vital mission in Rawanda or Brisbane, Australia?
I did see some of you in the Bourne films, crack snipers lying about in hotel rooms waiting to be summonsed. I did wonder then - what happens to such people if no-one bad ever flees to the city in which they are waiting? Do they serve 20 or 30 or 40 years lying about in international hotels, retire and take their FBI pension, having never shot their rifle in action?
👋 Hello
Well, I will be a little chaotic answering your inquiries 😃
First when we say OCD people we usually mean those with professions or none other than with a military background as those later tend to be more organized due to the nature of their life/work.
You got a point noticing that McCall's behaviour tend to be a little extra for being OCD "if I understood you correctly", perhaps he is building a routine daily theme in order for him to notice the slightest changes, hence the pretending worker was sent to take him in.
CIA jargon
are you all "OCD people" secret agents sitting at home wiling away your time reading IMDB as you await a call from your handlers to launch a vital mission in Rawanda or Brisbane, Australia
I did see some of you in the Bourne films, crack snipers lying about in hotel rooms waiting to be summonsed. I did wonder then - what happens to such people if no-one bad ever flees to the city in which they are waiting?
Just in case you missed it OCD means "Obsessive compulsive disorder". Afaik can range from simple ticks or strange habbits to doing strange things like turning the key three times. Typical OCD person is Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.
I don't think the equalizer was OCD though.
The door (closing/open) symbolism is widely mistaken here, as OCD people do really tend to do that in normal situations, but in that particular scene he was trying to make a decision
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Assessing strategically while minding time and space is one way to stay "consciously" focused on a situation.
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Technology has caused many of the 20 and 30 something kids who spent their time looking at their mobile phones and tablets. Is that OCD?
There are different degrees of OCD. I am sure that you can research that matter by yourself.
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Being an quiet observer of people's behavior, I have always noticed people's concealed OCD.
An ordinary person that I knew, loved to leave her flavor of the Japanese paper crane (origami) where-ever she went.
Successful architects that I have read about and a few who I have known are almost always clean, neat and tidy. General Patton was also a neat fanatic.
Tesla, a famous scientist and engineer was obsessed with the number three.
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Fwiw, certain famous and smart people who have their own type of OCD.
One famous pro football coach loved to neatly draw football play diagrams and strategic ideas on yellow-colored legal notepads and back of envelopes.
He was overly obsessive with writing out his ideas and taking notes.
I am not going to mention that person name out of respect for his legacy.
One near famous "SoF" person/book writer loved to sharpen his knife under the table during meetings.
I have also met people who knew a certain famous Chinese martial artist/film star who was obsessive with banging his body on a wooden dummy for many hours, for many days in a row. Another one loves to gamble at Vegas. He loves the energy of its flow.
Beethoven, the classic music composer was known for rewriting his sheet music continuously until it looks symmetrically pretty.
Bobby Fischer the late and famous Chess champion, was famous for studying certain chess openings from the MCO book and studying games in his hotel room for many days in a row.
I could go on. ...
/***/
In my case, I still write my software apps on pads of engineering graphic paper or lined notebook paper before typing the code into my laptop while spinning a mechanical pencil with either hands and listening to Mozart and Bach.
I still look at my watch, rarely my phone before, during and after a meeting.
In summary, I viewed some of these proclivities as a way for one person to maintain a perspective of self control.
We all have our own unique habits. ☺
Not a chance...he opened and closed that door very quickly, very deliberately, as if he was counting, and no hesitation whatsoever as if he was unsure what he was going to do.
This went right along with all of his other mannerisms throughout the movie, such as fastidiously organizing his book, napkin, etc...perfectly on a table.
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
I was wondering if he was being OCD when he aligned all of the skull paperweights on the table at the restaurant. Maybe he used it as a distraction while he assessed the surroundings, sized up the men in the room, and visually located some items suitable for him to use as weapons.
shareI thought he was aligning the skulls to face the men in the room as an indirect way of letting them know, 'This is your last chance ...'
shareHe was doing it as way of saying, "see this skull Im turning toward you? Death is coming". At that point he wasnt giving any more chances.
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http://letterboxd.com/blakkdog/
He's meant to be slightly OCD.
Unfortunately we see a random grab bag of different OCD which isn't necessarily realistic. An OCD person might for example be concerned with lining up the skull figurines, but wouldn't also necessarily have to open/close the door three times, and use the same spoon everywhere he goes, and be time fixated, and so on.
It's like they wanted to include every example they researched on OCD without realizing that not all sufferers have all such symptoms.
I thought it was a hold over of his training and needing to be precise and planned and plotted out?
shareHe is not remotely OCD. He is precise and efficient in everything he does. That is not he same thing.
shareWrong. Neerood is right. Denzel wanted to make the character OCD to contribute to the backstory of the character since there wasn't one really written in the script. So, for research, he visited with various people who live with OCD so that he could try to portray the trait properly. Unfortunately, like neerood said, it is not realistic that one person would display that many different compulsions. Most people with OCD tend to have one or two specific compulsions.I thought it was cool for him to at least try to add a little nuance tho. Cool movie.
shareProvide a link where Denzel says this.
shareIts right on the main page for the movie. look again...
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http://letterboxd.com/blakkdog/
Because a sundial is too bulky to carry around....
Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
It was OCD, that simple. He also open and closed the door to the russian mafia place three times as he went to 'leave' before finally locking it and taking them on. I'm not sure why he's developed OCD, sometimes it's a control thing - you feel as if you're in control by doing those things; other times it's nothing more than a compulsion because you feel your life not going to remain as it is if you don't.
Of course I could be misreading the situation - my husband thinks its just his way of ensuring he doesn't take too long over each situation/kill and so is less likely to be caught. But, personally, I like my theory better - either way, McCall was extraordinarily cool. Dangerous, terrifying but very cool.
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“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born – and the day you find out why…….” – Mark Twain
don't get your panties in a bunch now
sharehe forgot to tape Wheel of Fortune and was keen to get back in time to catch it.
shareDenzel said in an interview Question: I think one of the really interesting things about your character in this is that you’re dealing with OCD, which is not typical for someone showing physical prowess in movies, at least I haven’t seen it. Can you talk about that dynamic?
DENZEL WASHINGTON: We added it so he’s just not the action guy. He’s troubled, flawed and we don’t finish the story- it’s not like suddenly at the end he’s fine [laughs]. It’s been an interesting development as we’ve gone along. We started talking about it and adding things, opening doors five times. We obviously did a lot of research about it. I was surprised to find- it’s just obsessive behavior, it could be anything. In fact I read a book “I Never Wash my Hands”, so it’s not necessarily about someone who always washes their hands fifty times.
Is there something about that obsessive behavior that’s related specifically to the characters propensity for violence? We saw the clip where you go into confront the Russian guys in the office.
WASHINGTON: They cut that together already?
We didn’t see you fighting, but we saw the conversation and how you kind of go to the door and look at it a couple of times and open and close it.
WASHINGTON: They do it five times [laughs] yeah, okay.
Is that a prep thing for him?
WASHINGTON: Not every time, not every time just whenever I feel like it [laughs], because the movie would be twice as long if I did it every time. But that was one of the times. You never know when it’s going to rear it’s ugly head.
He is assessing how long the 'situation' (conflict) will take to resolve. he makes an estimation, sets his watch, does his stuff and sees if he was right and how sharp his skills are. He is staying game fit even though he's retired.
share[deleted]