So, what happened to Lentz, they say he was killed in a car crash, but Kimble implied at the end that Nichols killed him. Does anyone think Lentz was set up?
Also, could it be that Lentz also found out about the damaged livers and wanted to say something but was silenced, there is that awkward moment at the party where he looks shocked when he's introduced to Kimble, almost as if he wanted to tell him something?
I think Lentz was nervous when he meets Kimble because he's in on the whole plan. Lentz is helping cover up that Provasec is actually causing liver damage and Kimble may be on the brink of discovering that. I bet Lentz knew that they were going to kill Kimble to cover up the drugs problems so Lentz would definitely be nervous knowing Kimble's going to be killed later that night. I think they said Lentz was killed in when a car crushed him into a guard rail outside his tennis club. That's probably the same club we see Kimble go to find Nichols. I always felt it was Nichols who killed Lentz to continue the cover-up and eliminate anyone who could have blown the cover-up. Since Lentz knew the samples were false, he could have turned them in to save himself so Nichols kills him or has Sykes kill him.
shareLentz was not involved. This was revealed when Kimble discovers that half the samples were signed/approved by Lentz on the day he died. This implies that Nichols was behind the approved samples.
shareI don't know if that complete exonerates Lentz or not. Yes, Nichols signed Lentz name to a bunch of phony samples the day he died but those weren't all the samples that had been approved. I still think Lentz was someone involved, why else kill him under suspicious circumstances when they mention the hit and run? Either Lentz was in on it, or it's possible he was about to uncover the truth, like Kimble did, and was also killed, like they tried to kill Kimble. It'd be interesting to hear from the screenwriter if there were other scenes written or possibly filmed but got cut that would have answered that.
shareGreat response and better questions, and this was the part in the whole movie which intreged me the most.
Definately a Huge piece of the Puzzle, and I too would like to know the answer to this question regarding Lentz.
Could it be that Lentz knew about the dangers of Provasic, and never warned people of the coverup about it, yet did not know Dr. Nichols and co were after Kimball and about to frame him? Yet, maybe Dr. Nichols suspected Lentz did know, even if he really may not have?
Then theres another side to me which believes Lentz knew of the Coverup, yet knew hed Make out Big at the Bank and in order for Dr. Nichols and co to split eqaul share or profit off the Provasic, they had to Kill Lentz before Murdering Kimballs Wife and setting up Kimball.
First, I think its pretty obvious that Lentz was murdered. Lentz was not in a car when the accident happened, he was walking, near Lake Michigan. In the movie when Cosmo is reading the report, "an unidentified car swung around a curve and slammed his body into the barrier". Either that was a freak accident, or the driver was aiming for him. And why is the car still "unidentified"?? This supposedly happened almost a year ago. Why was there no info about the car or the diver?? Because the car mustve fled the scene before too many people had a good look at it. So either...
(a) it was a freak accident and the driver got scared when he realized he killed somebody, and fled the scene
OR
(b) the killer accomplished his task and had to flee before there were witnesses.
I'm willing to bet on (b).
Secondly, I think Lentz was in on the coverup. Lentz was switching the tissue samples as directed by his boss, Nichols. He also probably knew about the plan to kill Kimble the night of the fundraiser event. As others have noted, when he was introduced to Kimble at the fundraiser, he did hesitate to shake Kimbles hand, and he gave him that look like he recognized him or heard of him before. I think Lentz knew about the plan, and looked at Kimble like "yea you're the guy that they're supposed to kill later tonight, heh heh". Why was Lentz killed then? Simple, I think there is no honor amongst theives. I think Nichols killed Lentz (or ordered a hit) to tie off loose ends.