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How did they know that Michael would follow the truck? SPOILER

posted 8 years ago by RynoII
4 replies | jump to latest

Basically Michael goes to the payphone his gf was last alive at, and thinks what could have happened. A truck then drives by that he thinks is mysterious, and so he decides to follow it. We later on then find out that it was the villain's plan for him to follow the truck.

However, how did the villains know he would follow the truck? It is just a normal looking delivery truck driving down the road. You see dozens of these things on roads all the time. There is nothing suspicious looking about it, and it felt completely implausible that:

1) Michael would find this truck suspicious

and

2) why the villains would think he would find this truck suspicious

It was just a really bad plan that worked, when it wouldn't have. Unless I am wrong?

[–] dtlendvaj 8 years ago

Part that bugs me is that seems like their plant was to get Micheal into FBI building (or whatever that building was).
That scenario was not something you could predict of even think of.
He had to follow that truck. Then he had to get inside the property. Seems like it would have been easier to have someone with a bomb inside that F(something) truck with a bomb.

Or is it just me?

Aside that movie was quite solid.

[–] dtlendvaj 8 years ago

Part that bugs me is that seems like their plant was to get Michael into FBI building (or whatever that building was).
That scenario was not something you could predict of even think of.
He had to follow that truck. Then he had to get inside the property. Seems like it would have been easier to have someone with a bomb inside that F(something) truck with a bomb.

Or is it just me?

Aside that movie was quite solid.

[–] ElDee3 8 years ago

Yes, I agree. That point is a bit of a stretch. It's too much and there's too little explained.

Weirdly though (just saw this for the first time) this movie is sooo much better than the current films of the same genre. It works, not only as a genre thriller, but as a social/political piece that was ahead of its time.

I mean, imagine if someone tried to make this now...everyone would laugh at it for its lack of realism and sensationalist tone. But watching it now, it has a surrealist feel that speaks volumes on the pulse of America. Quite a gutsy piece for a formulaic genre thriller from the 90's. hard to believe we're already encountering these time capsules of the pre 911.

My, how time flies

[–] Predasaurus (9) 5 years ago

I think there are a few moments in the film where you have to suspend your disbelief, but that by no means makes the film bad or the events completely impossible.

My take on ending was that the original plan was to drive the terrorist van to the FBI building and get in undetected, which is reinforced by the fact Oliver Lang discouraged Michael Faraday from pursuing any further as he then couldn't 'guarantee the safety' of Faraday's son. So the way I see it is Lang was actively discouraging Faraday from interfering, but as soon as the truck realised it was being followed by him, they had a change of plan involving Lang intercepting Faraday and giving the people in the truck time to plant the bomb in Faraday's rental car.

If the original idea was to enter the FBI building using the van, they must've planned it around the time a van was actually scheduled to arrive, except they would bring in the terrorist van instead. After the change of plan however, they let the scheduled van get there so that Faraday would follow it in.

Again you have to suspend your disbelief for this a little bit, but it makes more sense than letting the plan hinge entirely on Faraday finding a van suspicious and following it. It would raise questions about why not have two bombs - one in the van and one in Faraday's car - to double-down on their chances of succeeding. Anyway, this is my take on it.