Originally posted by Octavian
I found it disappointing but I never finished it, will need to re watch.
I didn’t think the ending was particularly special. Although I did like how it showed Quell attempting to playfully “process” a woman in bed. As if the time he spent with The Cause, and what he learned about processing, was all just a big silly joke to him in the end, like everything else. Just another thing he steals and corrupts as he grifts his way through life. His nihilistic mindset and unpredictable behavior is so much in opposition with Dodd’s restraint and fanaticism, and yet they both get along so well in private because Dodd is ultimately a conman and a scoundrel himself.
The film manages to depict Quell as a rampaging drunken lunatic but also a sensitive and thoughtful man. Same with Dodd, albeit Dodd’s outbursts are more tempered as he has much more to lose. The differences between each man remind me a lot of the differences within myself over the years, and I think that’s why the film really hit home for me. If somebody couldn’t relate to the film on that level, I could see how they wouldn’t really think much of it.
I also enjoyed the noir aspects of the film, the dialogue, pacing, cinematography, and how there wasn’t any discernible hero vs villain dynamic.