He was great in the beginning as the quiet, professional killer that goes straight to the point. When he fought Gabe he started talking shit, essentially evaporating all the elegance and ruining the character by turning him into a gangsta. The less he was talking the better he would've been, and never like that. Delmar already filled the grunt role and his loudmouth antics contrasted him as less sophisticated than Kynette.
share‘Ruined’ is a bit extreme, but yeah his dialogue did detract from the sinister presence he had before he started mouthing off.
It’s funny how ludicrously psychotic all the villains are. Qualen used to work for the government, then he switched ‘to the other side’ and suddenly becomes a camp, cackling psychopath who gleefully blasts his girlfriend in the back at point blank range like she’s nothing? Ridiculous!
Perhaps Qualen was a sarcastic ass and callous even when working for the government but it was constrained. We don't really get to see how he was back then. Also when it comes to politics and intelligence agencies many times there are dubious practises taking place where you'd think it should be illegal.
It's very possible that Qualen and/or his agency were already dabbling with bad people and offering them deals. Either that or he simply got corrupted along the way by the contacts he aquired and the money that could be made.
The girl was hurt if i remember correctly and had become dead weight. We had already seen from other situatuations that the crew doesn't look out for eachother and everyone thinks about himself primarily and getting the money. Had they managed to get away with it chances are there'd be fighting over the cut and killing eachother to get more for oneself.
Krystal wasn’t hurt, Qualen kills her because she’s also able to fly a helicopter.
Basically, Qualen wants to find the rest of the money while Travers wants to call it quits and fly off the mountain, and is pointing his gun at Qualen to get his way. Qualen and Krystal can both pilot a chopper so, to secure his safety, Qualen ruthlessly kills Krystal, smugly saying ‘Now I’m the only one who can fly us out of here’.
Now Travers can’t afford to kill him and he’s back in charge again. What’s funny is how callously he murders his own girlfriend, he even toys with her before blowing her to pieces, caressing her intimately while saying ‘You know what true love is Krystal?… Sacrifice’ (BANG! BANG! BANG!) It also looks like he treads on her corpse getting into the chopper 🤣
The idea that this guy was ever able to live any kind of normal life before ‘going to the other side’ is hilarious. He’s a pantomime villain - smug, camp, and with an inexplicably British accent.
Ok i don't remember all the details. But i don't think it's missplaced or unplausible that he kills her because he has already shown those tendencies. When the crewman in the plane gets shot he tosses him overboard and he's being open about Travers only being as good as his ability to obtain the money.
Oh it’s perfectly consistent with his earlier behaviour in the film, what’s ridiculous is the notion that he used to be a normal guy who worked for the government, then one day ‘he realised it was more profitable going to the other side’ and in that moment became a camp, cackling, flamboyant sociopath who gleefully guns down his loved ones.
shareThey never say he was a "normal guy" only that he worked for military intelligence before he switched sides. Even psychopaths maintain a facade... in fact that's one of the prominent traits that they have. But as a large scale hijacker on a mountain where he's being held back by people who don't contribute value his antisocial tendencies get to flourish.
John Lithgow talked about this role by the way. He said they had the British accent purposefully, to make it coincide with his international criminal profile. They dabbled with the idea to make him South African aswell.
I recall Lithgow saying he did a ‘British’ accent just to add something different, but of course we all know they just followed the Hollywood trend of snarling British villains.
It’s hilarious that we’re asked to believe that this American government agent ‘realised it was more profitable going to the other side’ and in that moment became a camp, cackling, flamboyant sociopath with a ‘British accent’ who gleefully guns down his own loved ones 🤣
Well it might be hilarious, i don't know. It is what it is.
shareIt’s funny how ludicrously psychotic all the villains are. Qualen used to work for the government, then he switched ‘to the other side’ and suddenly becomes a camp, cackling psychopath who gleefully blasts his girlfriend in the back at point blank range like she’s nothing? Ridiculous!