The parents of little Benjamin abducted the wrong prisoner.
The wrong prisoner genuinely had amnesia and all because he recalled Benjamin's name does not detract from this fact.
The real killer was living rough near by and used the medicine that was stolen from the ambulance prior to the prison van crash.
The wrong guy ended up killing himself because he had amnesia and genuinely thought he was the paedo-killer of Benjamin.
End of!
I think people are confused about the ending because it is hard to believe. The prisoner did not have a pen or piece of paper, and it was too dark to write a note. Also, the couple was at the trial the whole time, so they would know the face of the killer too well to make such an egregious mistake.
shareI can buy they mistook the person and the twist (good). More problems with how he never noticed 2 people in the back of the van and that the husband even survived the van flipping over and over down a cliff with no apparent injuries (did he have a seat belt on?) or why he flipped the van in the first place.
I find it really hard to buy the bloke wrote an articulate suicide note and killed himself so quickly though. Even if he was convinced he'd committed the crime, which I believe they had convinced him he had.
Maybe he was so utterly broken through his torture he could not believe he could get away and could not stand any more torture - still doesn't explain the articulate note before killing himself, I guess that was an extra (rather unrealistic) dig at the 'vigilantes'.
That was why he killed himself - he couldn't stand anymore torture - it was in the note. He didn't know they had realised their mistake by then, but what nobody else has mentioned I don't think, is that even if the police hadn't come, the couple weren't going to torture him anymore anyway and were planning on just leaving the next morning. So he killed himself just too soon on two counts!
shareThe van got flipped because a deer ran across the road as he was speeding away. You must have blinked.
If you want to reply to the OP, please go back to the OP's message to Reply, thanks!
That's what i thought had happend. But that is the dumbest thing ever. How the *beep* would they mistake the face of the person who MURDERED their son? Are the husband and wife that *beep* stupid? They were at the trial, and no doubt knew what he looked like, from news reports, pictures shown by the police, Oh and did i mention.. they were AT THE TRIAL, i mean, just.. what THE *beep*. This movie would insult even a complete retards intelligence. It's like the writer realized he'd written a piece of crap and just pulled a twist out of his ass and stuck it at the end of the film with nothing to back it up.
shareWell did any of you thought the guy being tortured wasn't the right guy? His face was bloody, I didn't think otherwise.
But as a whole that movie was a stretch.
I was enjoying this movie up until they took the prisoner back to the house to start the torture. As soon as we saw him laying on the table I knew it wasn't him. To me it was so obvious it was someone else that I couldn't enjoy it from that point on. The fact that I am familiar with the other work of actor Bill Moseley would be one of the main reasons I could tell right away, and I could not believe that this couple did not realize that he looks and sounds different. The idea of the movie and twist wasn't bad, just that its execution was painfully obvious.
shareI guess I'm really dumb too then along with many others because I thought the guy on the table was the killer of their kid. The guys face was bloody and messed up from the van crash so pretty sure it wouldn't be completely obvious that it wasn't really him. The husband didn't know that there were two people in the van because when he looked back he just only saw one person. I bet you didn't know right away that the guy they took wasn't the real killer...Also you saying "This movie would insult even a complete retards intelligence" is insulting actually.
shareHis face was all *beep* up from the crash. They probably just couldn't tell and assumed it was the same guy. I noticed but I was expecting there to be some sort of twist and was not blinded by bloodlust for my dead child.
By the way, I am right behind you.
I understand what you're saying, but the film just wasn't executed well enough to suggest this to the viewer.
"That, - Captain Bligh, - that is the thing; - I am in hell, sir - I am in hell."
I haven't seen the movie but just by reading the synopsis my brain said "I bet they capture and torture the wrong guy" -_- Sad that this thread proved my suspicions. If writing for Hollywood is this easy maybe i should switch careers.
sharei think everyone understood the ending it was just rather silly. The wife and husband would know the face of the killer there is no question I saw a 5 second glance and even I knew the man on the table did not look anything like him.
Another thing how did the man on the table know the sons name was benjamin when they had not said it around him? Unless he had heard it before but apparently he actually had amnesia so he would not remember. Even with amnesia I highly doubt that he would be convinced he did this.
What many viewers are missing here is the mental and psychological state of the parents once they've decided to set their plan in motion. It is absolutely normal and should go without saying that when tragedy occurs, such as the death of their son, regardless of how long they spent in the courtroom or viewing the man's face is that THEY ARE SO BESIEGED by pain and trauma that, in their minds, the guy MUST PAY. You have to be open to their psychological trauma and the necessity at all cost to make the guy pay. Viewers who say "why can't they see it's not the same guy???" are completely over-looking this. In their mind, THEY HAVE HIM. And HE WILL PAY. Do not let reason fool you here because our mental make up and fragility in the face of something so horrendous will lead us to psychological/emotional/physical breakdown. What occurred, imo, is exactly that. It was him, and he had to pay. The mind, our psyches, can play tricks on us and since no one here has (hopefully) ever dealt with a situation so extreme, it is ENTIRELY PLAUSIBLE, if not EXACTLY what happened. They had the guy, whether consciously or subconsciously, and any "what...doesn't he look a bit different?" argument or stance is thrown out the window. I feel that's where the writers were going and it is the answer that makes the most sense, especially for those who have studied psychology, psychiatry, mental health, duress under trauma and so forth. It isn't black and white...their views were grey whether they knew it or not.
I grieve for the strength to wake up each day with a blank canvas
and paint it to my liking.
So, the wrong prisoner (with amnesia mind you) just guessed the kid's name? Sorry, that whole part lost me.
If you want to reply to the OP, please go back to the OP's message to Reply, thanks!
Well my thought is that even though amnesia, your memory can remember certain things after a while. I think the real killer prisoner probably mentioned it at some point to the other prisoner before the couple began torturing him.
shareIt's been a while since I watched it, but the man with amnesia being tortured didn't just guess their son's name. The woman mentions their son's name while torturing him and then she angrily tells him to say the name. The amnesia man just repeats the son's name that she has already mentioned.
share* SPOILERS *
The so-called "thickies" most likely didn't get the ending, because the movie took so many ridiculous liberties to keep the viewer in the dark regarding the true identify of the man taken hostage, ranging from some incredible timing to completely miss the second prisoner on the van... to grossly incomplete news reports that don't even mention the second prison... to a convenient bout of amnesia... to a final incriminating confession of the boy's name somehow by the prisoner taken hostage... to the inability of the parents to recognize their child's killer, only inches away from the wrong man, ostensibly due to some blood on his face.
totally agree with your post. the ending is genuinely insulting and left me feeling angry. Its impossible to suspend your disbelief with this film. I mean truly, the face of the man who killed your son would be burned into your mind after going to court everyday and obsessing on killing him. Suddenly he has some blood on his face and you can't tell the difference between him and someone else? As said it was also awful hard to swallow the man had complete amnesia but remembered the name of the son....So he actually had amnesia and they were convinced he didn't...selective amnesia is usually just known as lying? And also for the guy to run only to go and kill himself is nonsense, I did not buy for a second that they had convinced the guy that he had killed the child (which is what the absurdly quickly written long suicide note said). terrible writing and entirely implausible whichever way you look at it.
shareHis face was more than just a little bloody and the other guy resembled him enough to make it plausible not to mention, they had NO inkling that there would be someone other than the killer in the van to even make them consider that it wasn't him. Also, he could have written the note before he came up from the basement where he would be a lot more likely to have found pen and paper. As far as the other guy in the van, they only knew about the killer being transported plus the husband shut the rear window almost immediately.
I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!
[deleted]
So what happens next (after they credits)... the couple get home, turn on the nightly news and find out that the escape child-killer has been captured and returned to prison. They look at each other and think, who the heck did we torture?
share