MovieChat Forums > The Gift (2015) Discussion > Cowering on the ground...*Spoilers*

Cowering on the ground...Spoilers

posted 8 years ago by jdlexus
5 replies | jump to latest

Saw this movie earlier today and some things bothered me:

1. Apparently, the only thing the army teaches you is how to make helicopter noises with your mouth? If he served two tours in action as he said, wouldn't Gordo have the skill set to defend himself? Which leads me to....

2. If you're an uptight, manipulative, career oriented yuppie like Simon, with a wife, job and kid on the way, do you really start a physical altercation in a dark alley with a veteran that you screwed over earlier in life, who has NOTHING to lose? Where is Simon's situational awareness that this guy Gordo might "snap" and slit your throat? Which leads me to....

3. If the bully that you think screwed up your life wants to start a fight with you and you have the chance in that moment to defend yourself and beat the living hell out of your tormentor and square things once and for all, you react by falling to the ground, cowering. Why? So possibly, you MIGHT contribute to break up his marriage if you show his wife that you were hurt by hubby? Huh? Big deal, who doesn't know people who have divorced and gone on to live happy lives marrying someone else. Gordo would rather continue to live a perceived life physically subordinate to Simon's dominance?

Not buying it from a reality point of view, but then again, it's just a movie.

The movie portrayed Gordo's life as a train wreck, but he has this calculating master plan? Huh? A stalker, with criminal tendancies that was drummed out of the army. Sure.

[–] RoxxieB 8 years ago

I don't think Gordo wanted to fight back. I think he wanted Simon to beat the crap out of him so he could show up in the wife's hospital room all banged up so she could see what a bully Simon really was. Beating him up wasn't the revenge Gordo was after, he wanted to destroy Simon's life.

As to why Simon had no fear in that scene, I noticed that, too, but I attributed that to the fact that apparently no one had ever stood up to Simon, so he likely assumed Gordo wouldn't dare step to him either. If someone had just kicked his ass in high school, maybe he wouldn't have continued to be such a bully his whole life. That's my theory anyway.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 8 years ago

I don't think Gordo wanted to fight back. I think he wanted Simon to beat the crap out of him so he could show up in the wife's hospital room all banged up so she could see what a bully Simon really was. Beating him up wasn't the revenge Gordo was after, he wanted to destroy Simon's life.

As to why Simon had no fear in that scene, I noticed that, too, but I attributed that to the fact that apparently no one had ever stood up to Simon, so he likely assumed Gordo wouldn't dare step to him either. If someone had just kicked his ass in high school, maybe he wouldn't have continued to be such a bully his whole life. That's my theory anyway.

This.

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

[–] lulupalooza 8 years ago

Roxxie is totally correct.

That was part of Gordo's brilliant strategy in order to expose the sociopathic, lying, bully side of Simon to his wife Robyn. He figuratively kicked Simon's ass and got payback using his cunning mind. That's why he also makes Simon question if the baby is even his own; Gordo knew, in tandem with the wife calling it quits, that Simon was now a broken man. The slow closing of the nursery curtain in the hospital was very symbolic, along with Gordo removing his arm sling to walk away with a smile.  Revenge is complete.

Gordo did not have to kill or rape anyone. It's even questionable how the fish died. It was either a problem in their new environment (e.g. pH balance, bacteria) - or - as others have suggested, Simon killed them in order to manipulate his wife's empathetic feelings for Gordo. Also, the dog was likely just lost within his new neighborhood (they mentioned his previous predilection for running off).

I love that these "red herrings" had us thinking that Gordo was the bad guy, when in the end we see it has been Simon all along. Bravo!!


"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

[–] neerood 8 years ago

Some of the ambiguities were revealed definitively in the deleted scenes. For example, Gordo definitely did kidnap the dog.

[–] toto24522 8 years ago

Thank you, Neerood. Deleted scenes -- how does one go about finding those?