MovieChat Forums > Fallen (1998) Discussion > Why didn't Hobbes just leave?

Why didn't Hobbes just leave?

posted 18 years ago by Cronopio-4
87 replies | jump to latest

I found this question about the ending elsewhere on the forum but I didn't find the explanation very convincing.

As I understand it, Azazel can transfer to another body by touch while his host is alive, and through the air over a short distance (500 cubits) when his host is dead. So after Hobbes shoots Jonesy/Azazel, he can simply find his car keys and drive off to a safe distance. Jonesy will bleed to death because as Hobbes says, no one is around for miles. Problem solved, no suicide required.

Any reason I can think of why Hobbes wouldn't do this, is convoluted:
-He wanted to be sure Azazel's dead. To do this, he could come back the next day to check.
-He didn't want his buddy to die a slow and painful death. A valid point, but not really worth killing yourself over.
-Hobbes would rather die than spend the rest of his life in jail for the killings he did. That actually makes sense, but then why didn't the movie makes this point directly?

My guess is that it was simply a mistake in the movie.

[–] Mullah_Omar 17 years ago

I agree that the end doesn't totally add up, but I like the film overall.

However, a better plan would seem to be for Denzel/Hobbes to use the poison on a crippled and bound Goodman/Azazel and then just drive away. That wold have fit within the logic that had been established. The cat would have still come out of nowhere to save the day, but Hobbes didn't know that. He *should* have known that there are ways to slowly but reliably kill a man without being present, and that killing himself wasn't needed to do achieve his goal.

[–] oversplayer 17 years ago

No one came up with the most obvious explanation - dramatic license. All of the endings mentioned would have been more logical, but there wouldn't be five pages of discussion about alternative endings with most of us wanting to watch the film again to look for additional clues that we might have missed the first or second time around.

Why were the original "Twilight Zone" episodes so good? Mostly because the endings left you pondering, such as "To Serve Man" and "The Eye of the Beholder." So does the ending of "Fallen."

[–] Gray_Wolf_11 17 years ago

I am among those who were dissatisfied with the ending.

How about if Azazel transfers himself to the cat and the cat strolls smugly down the highway (naturally, he would have been looking for a human host as soon as possible) to a point more than 1/6 of a mile from the house, where it gets smashed into a pancake by a speeding car? The driver swerves, trying to miss the cat, and runs into a tree, being killed instantly. There would be no living body into which Azzie could transfer within the alloted amount of space and time, so he perishes.

The ending then could be that it turns out that Hobbes had not smoked enough of the poisoned cigarette to kill himself, although he believed that he had and Azazel when in Hobbes' body thus would have thought so, too. Hobbes recovers from the effects of the poison and drives back to the city to sort things out.

The alternative to me would be to have a sequel in which Gretta toughens up and, with the help of some of Hobbes' former colleagues and his nephew, finally defeats Azazel when he returns to the city.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] kevdor 16 years ago

because he watned to make sure that Azazel dies, lets say he would have left Jonesy bleeding to death, there's no garantee that he couldnt have crawled to the car and make it to a hospital or something..

I think it really sucks and is unfair that the spirit could travel trough animals too, u gotta feel sorry for Hobbles that makes all theses efforts (and dies) for nothing!

[–] ironmanstark2000 16 years ago

I be the kid wit da goldenarmz!!!

But how can a fallen angel die?

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[–] LargeTuna 13 years ago

Another thing you might have missed is Hobbes' life was absolutely screwed at that point. He had just killed his partner and it would be really hard to cover that up. It was much cleaner to just end everything to have the best chance of killing Azazel.

[–] hoboboxerjoe 13 years ago

You got a great point. I think an even better ending which I didn't put in my post is summed up great here.

[–] madmax17 13 years ago

Loved the movie first of all. In order for Hobbs to do things properly he should have done the following, tie Azazel firmly onto a tree, have a camera record that tree and Azazel (he installed the camera previously), plant C4 with a timer close to the tree let's say 30 minutes.

About the cat they are known threw history as devil's beings or that the devil can take the shape of a cat, they are also known to be witches helpers (love cats). Hobbs, knowing this, then should have checked the cabin and surroundings for cats and shoot them in the head, poor cats.

Now he turns the timer on, gets in the car and monitors Azazel threw the camera on his phone or whatever. In half an hour he's miles away, he monitors the explosion and sees Jonseys fat ass get blown away.

That's how you do this properly, it involves some technology and explosions and is more sophisticated than just poisoned cigarettes.

Personally I don't think Azzazel makes it either way, a cat wondering at night in the woods has a very good chance of getting snatched by owls, seen this in a documentary, we are led to believe the cabin really is in the middle of nowhere and a cat on foot has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to reach any civilization and humans, odds and time are not on his side. Also Azzazel can only enter cats this is 100% and not any other animals, so while getting his guts opened by an owl he would need another cat to be close by in order for him to survive, not gonna happen.

Also there are probably foxes and other animals in the woods.

[–] Zerose 12 years ago

There is a problem with your idea: the murders of his brother Art, Stanton, Jonesy, Noons and the Russki. All these point at Hobbes as the prime suspect with no way of proving it isn't him.

So if he leaves the place after killing Azazel/Jonesy, how can he prove he didn't kill these guys? He'd be locked up for life. His life at that point is completely destroyed.

Secondly, wouldn't you think it makes more sense to put up a camera at the start and leave it to film the interaction between him, Jonesy and Stanton. The camera would record Jonesy killing Stanton. Escaping with this tape, Hobbes can perhaps clear his name somehow. The fact he didn't do this, the best way is to die.