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Shannon's effort to prove Jessie wrong (SPOILERS)

posted 12 years ago by Trajanc
3 replies | jump to latest

This is probably old news to many but I only just now saw the full director's cut with the extra scenes between Shannon (Walken) and Jamie (JoBeth Williams). And wow, what a difference that makes. Puts a whole new spin on everything that happens afterwards. She accuses him of being impulsive, irresponsible and unreliable. She basically accuses him of being childish and ditches him to continue taking care of her alcoholic father.

Everything that happens afterwards shows a Shannon acting completely contrary to her accusations. He is shown to be a careful planner, supremely dedicated to his task and in the end recognizes his greater responsibility and (we have to assume) takes some risk to fulfill that responsibility by installing a hopefully decent man as president. The rest of the movie is him basically proving her wrong and that he is worth something more than what she and his employer presumed him to be.

Interesting that he runs into his Jessie substitute, Gabrielle, her being the other seductive woman who has tied herself to a monster. Tho her monster is decidedly more monstrous.

Glad I finally saw the director's cut.

The Survivor Funny 115:http://funny115.com/

[–] stevekaczynski 9 years ago

As a mercenary he is a careful, intelligent and methodical planner, and may well have manifested these traits in previous mercenary campaigns, but she is unlikely to see that aspect of him of him anyway. She is going to judge him by his behaviour in civilian life. I think he was trying to settle down and lead a "normal" life with her but could not. You get some sense of his trouble with the ordinary banality of life early in the film when he switches on the TV and it mentions a woman who will sing a song for people's dogs.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] jmartz11 9 years ago

How long is directors cut? i just watch it on MGMHD and it was 115 minutes?

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

I just watched the director's cut. It's 118 mins.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried