Preparations, preparations
Jun 15th, 2008 by Jane Ullah
Questions keep running through my head, but after all is said and done, I know that whatever will be will be. And right now, it will do me utmost good to let sleeping dogs lie and not try to over-analyze things. Because when I do that, I end up with analysis that makes me out to be the major baddie. lol. Here’s to staying positive and having that little thing called faith, the substance of things hoped for. J & J visited yesterday and it was refreshing. She’s had a relatively smooth pregnancy for a first time mother and when it’s M & I’s time, I want it to be like hers! Seriously, she didn’t experience morning sickness. She just became really drowsy and more recently, suffered (still has) edema. That’s the worst of the complaints. I’ll bet her delivery will be just as smooth if her mother-in-law’s pregnancy genes have any effect. 
I was too lazy to ride yesterday and when I mustered up enough strength, it started to shower. That effectively sealed the deal. I put my time at home to good use though. I watched Rambo IV and man, it made me long to watch the previous 3 movies back to back! It was short and to the point. Most importantly, they spared us the standard and gratuitous shot of the leading man’s rippling pectorals. I could definitely do without the overdeveloped view. Anyhoo, I loved the point the movie kept making about people who visit war-torn places to provide relief. I believe keeping the oppressed people healthy and well-fed is obviously a priority. Also a priority is defending themselves, but you can’t do that if you are ill. So, majority of them are needed and they do this out of the goodness of their hearts. However, a few of these providers wear rose-tinted glasses i.e. the head of the relief party in Rambo IV’s case. He was unbelievably naive and actually wanted to turn Rambo in for killing a pirate who would have done them all in! This is not the first movie I’ve seen where there’s a bleeding heart in there who chooses a really bad time to whip out his moral stick (Deliverance). When I got done watching Rambo IV, I popped in “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead“. Now, I absolutely loved the plot twists in this movie and I think even M will like this movie. First of all, this movie has Phillip Seymour Hoffman who I am enthralled with since watching his performance in “Charlie Wilson’s war“. It’s got Ethan Hawke who was in “Training Day” and he pretty much plays a role where he’s someone without control of the situation. I’ll start from the top. (Spoiler alert, I pretty much talk about the entire movie. If you want to skip this and read a real review, check this succinct and well put-together analysis of the movie.
Phillip (a real estate accountant) and Ethan (a deadbeat dad) are brothers and sons of Mom and Dad (owners of a jewelry store). Ethan’s constantly broke and Phillip is apparently into drugs, pricey vacations and cooking the books at the company he works for. His department (payroll) is first in line for an IRS audit and I suspect that puts the screws on him to come up with cash fast to replenish whatever coffers he had drained. So he figures on committing a “victimless” and perfect crime: steal insured jewelry from his parents’ jewelry store. He draws his brother in and since it’s a family operation, they know the inside-and-out of the place. And we all know what happens to the best laid plans, don’t we? I should know. LOL. Long story short, fumb duck (yes, that was deliberate. lol) Ethan actually draws another person into this drama because he can’t do it by himself. I think Phillip made a major miscalculation by bringing such a weak person in on the crime. So Ethan brings this other hoodlum who is the real deal with a real gun. Phillip is confident that it will go without a hitch because he thinks neither his mom or dad actually man the store. He’s wrong and this is where I have a bone to pick with the writers: It should have been simple to snoop or ask their parents what their plans were to find out if they would be there or not, but it seems neither of them (mom or dad) had worked in the store for a long while after hiring an employee.
Anyway, the plan is set in motion and Ethan’s 3rd wheel is the one to actually bust into the store. He encounters a female there (mom). He’s doing his intimidation bit and is grabbing nearly everything in sight. He’s hellbent on cracking presumably bullet-proof casing that some jewels were encased in when he gets plastered by one bullet. He lets loose on on the old lady in the process of falling and tries to crawl outside. Before he gets to freedom, she blows him away with his own gun. Ethan peels madly off in the rental car and lets Phillip know that Murphy’s law struck. Only, he’s not as sanguine about it as Phillip is. Ethan looses his shit and I lost all respect for him.
In the end, this movie became about the domino effect and how people respond to pressure, in my humble opinion. I was able to see how characters (Phillip, Ethan, dad, etc) changed into people who did things they didn’t know or realize they were capable of. The mom lies in critical condition and Phillip pressures his dad to pull the plug on her (I didn’t understand why he was insistent on this and I suspect he was under the impression that his brother had done the deed himself and would be identified by the mother). The dad becomes obsessed with finding out the other accomplice which was not a very believable plot twist in regard to how he was easily able to uncover that his son (Phillip) was involved. Things get rapidly worse for Phillip as his wife reveals a shocking secret (she’s been sleeping with Ethan, his brother) and Ethan starts getting blackmailed. As with a lot of movies, there has to be a resolution. Phillip gets shot by the blackmailer’s sister who happens to be the wife of the 3rd wheel in the botched jewel heist. Now the tables are turned and Phillip is in critical care at the hospital. The father ends Phillips life, Ethan is nowhere to be found and the movie ends. It was rather anticlimactic and I wish I could have known what happened to Ethan or how the father lived with himself afterward. As you can see, the movie was full of dramatic plot twists and turns. If you are still in the mood for this movie after I’ve just spilled all the beans on it, please go watch it!
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