He stood there looking at the burning ammo bag even after Corporal Hicks told him to "come on".
It was a dumb way to eliminate that character.
he was just a grunt.. can't blame the dude
shareI'm pretty sure he wasn't looking at the burning ammo bag. He was looking at Frost, who had just plummeted to his death - a normal response to watching your friend die. Frost just happened to have the bag of ammo.
Also, another movie magic note, but cookoff doesn't look like that. Ammo on fire does not go up in one big giant explosion. It's more like popcorn.
Thanks, Your explanation makes sense.
The way it was edited though. They show him looking down, then they cut to the burning ammo bag. They even do it again after Hicks tries to pull him away.
I always saw this sequence as a demonstration that he is in shock, looking at the spot where Frost was last seen - so he literally did not see the immediate threat right in front of his eyes.
So the cut to the burning ammo bag is not a cut to be interpreted as "this is what the character sees" but as "this is what he should pay attention to, but doesn't".
After 30 some years of thinking it was a dumb movie moment, it blows my mind to hear that there is a reasonable explanation after all.
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