Passenger 57

[Cerek the Barbaric]

<font color=deepskyblue>OK...I know it is an OLD movie (by today's standards), but I was thinking about one of the first scenes and I still can't figure it out.

When we first meet the protagonist/villain/terrorist he is in a chair about to undergo plastic surgery to change his looks. The doctor is making "small talk" with him about his childhood and the villain (whose name escapes me) says that his childhood was not happy because he had an abusive father. The doctor mumbles an apology and asks what happened to his father.

"He died....violently" remarks the terrorist. (which establishes how cold-blooded he can be).

Now here is the part I don't understand - the two talk for another minute or so and the terrorist tells the doc to hurry up. The camera pans to police cars pulling up outside the building and apparantly the terrorist hears the sirens.

Suddenly, he asks the doctor what the time is. The doctor answers and the terrorist says "You're a fortunate man. Not everyone has the privilege of knowing the precise moment of their death." Then he kills the doc with the surgical knife.

My question is - what caused the sudden change of attitude? His "evilness" was already established and he appeared calm and unperturbed, even when he could hear the sirens outside (he was on one of the top floors of a skyscraper). Then he suddenly decides to forego the surgery and kill the doctor - seemingly out of nowhere.

Can anybody explain what causes the sudden change of demeanor (other than extremely poor writing)?</font>

[Night Stalker]

Not knowing the scene, it seems very clear why he'd do that. The doctor knows what the terrorist looks like. He got the surgery for a reason. He eliminated a link of evidence to his former identity. Simple.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: <font color=deepskyblue>extremely poor writing</font>

You said it yourself. That really was a crap movie. If you want to read rhyme or reason into it, though, NS has the gist of it.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Night Stalker: Not knowing the scene, it seems very clear why he'd do that. The doctor knows what the terrorist looks like. He got the surgery for a reason. He eliminated a link of evidence to his former identity. Simple.

<font color=deepskyblue>But he does it BEFORE the doc has a chance to operate!!! And the authorities already know what he looks like.

{sigh}It just makes no sense at all. The ONLY explanation I can really think of is that he thought the doc had one of his staff call the police...but that is a pretty lame stretch. It's a shame, because the plot had LOTS of potential, but didn't have the quality writers to tap into it.</font>

[Bahamut]

hey i enjoyed that movie.. hehehe

well he mayhaps killed the doc out of frustration... since it is already given he is a COLD-BLOODED killer. [img]smile.gif[/img]

but yeah i have to agree... it wasn't really developed into its full potential, the movie, but i enjoyed it a lot, and i still think it is worth my buck [img]smile.gif[/img]