MovieChat Forums > Flash of Genius (2008) Discussion > surprised to see many of the posters on ...

surprised to see many of the posters on this board did not get the point

posted 15 years ago by PersianPlaya408
12 replies | jump to latest

i am not saying this is an amazing film... but i was entertained, and i thought it was moving.... Not as well crafted liek Michael Mann's The Insider (similar premise) but definetely a story about courage and ethics

people are talking about they stopped watching after he declined 250k.... and also surprised he declined 30 mil... HELLO! did u not learn anything about the character, this guy was not after money or fame or anything... he just wanted what was rightfully his, credit for inventing something... i thought greg kinnear's performance was almost perfect.. i connected with his character.

are u guys retarded or something, u think someone who risked losing everything, his sanity, his family, his job.... would take the 30 million and forget about the real reason he started the struggle in the first place...

www.filmcritiquecentral.blogspot.com

Flash of genius (8/10) and The Air I breathe (9/10)

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] burnsw227 15 years ago

Agree with you 100 percent "he just wanted what was rightfully his, credit for inventing something" YOU HIT IT RIGHT ON THE HEAD.

Although the movie wasn't quite correct, when compared with the true story, I certainly admired Kearns for preserving in his struggle against Ford. Telling him "WE ARE A BIG IMPORTANT COMPANY, and you are JUST A SMALL INDIVIDUAL, we can do what we want and we want your invention for free"....you have to admire someone like him for taking on such a task. I don't think Ford owed him 10 million, had I been on the jury I would have wanted Ford to give him 100 million.

Kinnear's performance was great, he showed the entire range of emotions well, and it was easy for the viewers to identify with him. Anybody who says this movie wasn't worth seeing is WRONG.

I give this film a solid 8.

[–] apocalypse_please24 15 years ago

Sure, it's the principle that counts. Only in the end, was it really worth it? I'm not talking about the money he said no to. I'm talking about the fact that he pretty much missed out on watching his kids grow up. And the fact that he lost his wife. Was it really worth it just to have them admit it was his invention? The end of the film was just sad when his wife walked away from him and then at the very end when he was sitting with his kids. Sure, he was with them now that it's all over. But he'd missed so much. And like his wife had said, it's always something with him. So who knew if it'd even last.

While I very much get the point of the movie, I can't help but disagree with the decisions he made. I would've taken the first offer of money and ended it all rather than wasting so many more years just to have them admit he was right.

Big Gay Al, it has recently come to our attention that you are gay.

[–] SCY385-1 15 years ago

Thank you for stating what I would have thought was obvious. The man wanted vindication for the wrong done to him. I think the money was a consideration, but he also wanted the company to admit to their wrongdoings. The sad truth about people today is they hear large amounts of money and they think that that is justice. In some cases like this one it isn't. As a matter of fact they were trying to buy this man on the cheap. Unfortunately we have forgotten about some things called truth and honor.

[–] badwithsports 15 years ago

Yeah I didn't blame him for turning down the 30 mil, I was more blown away by Ford offering him that much instead of just admitting it was his invention, that wouldn't have cost them anything.

[–] bigwave916 15 years ago

Oh, but that could have cost them a lot. If Ford was required to pay him for every one produced at a per unit price that would have greatly exceeded $30,000,000 plus the PR damage done.......................I'm thinking 30m looked pretty good to FoMoCo.

[–] alvshill 14 years ago

Totally agree with you Op.

Every time he turned down Ford's attempts to settle out of court he explained exactly why he was doing so, and it's a principle I agree with. The size of the settlement was way secondary - Kearns was fighting primarily for acknowledgement.

He was eventually compensated to the tune of almost $30 million anyway... $10.1 million from Ford, and then a subsequent $18.7 million from Chrysler (didn't anybody read the postscript?). That a total of $28.8 million PLUS the all important acknowledgement that his invention was stolen. To me that is a better deal than being given $30 million by those Ford thieves and being legally required to keep his mouth shut. If he had taken that settlement, it would have curtailed his opportunities to sue Chrysler or any other users of his invention. He would have succeeded in suing others too but for missing some filing deadlines.

From the moment Ford stole his invention, his marriage would have died either way. If he'd not fought, or accepted the lesser $250-$400k settlement at the behest of his wife, he would not have gotten over it and they would likely have split up through the stress of it anyway. Fighting Ford was his destiny - he made the right call, and bravo to him.

[–] tom-1356 14 years ago

Sure, and it should have been obvious to him that if Ford was willing to part with $30M on the eve of the closing arguments, they also felt reasonably sure that they were going to lose. Even to Kearns $30M was probably more than he would be awarded for winning, but is there really that much difference in lifestyle between say $15M, an amount that he might have figured to collect, and $30M? At that point, when the $30M was offered, Kearns had to feel pretty good about finally getting the recognition and having Ford publicly chastized for stealing.

[–] Edwin_Phucker 13 years ago

"Fighting Ford was his destiny - he made the right call, and bravo to him."

-i like this line.. and this sentence brings it to my attention.. This whole Dilemma was his DESTINY he WILL be remembered in history as a significant figure, he will prob be forgotten as the inventor of the intermittent wiper but be framed throughout time as a single man with no backing but that of his children, who took on Corporate America (at the highest stage/authority) at a time when no one dared even consider the notion.

he is a hero for the little guy.

[–] Noir-82 14 years ago

No, we get it.

But just because we get it doesn't mean we agree with his priorities. Not everyone is willing to lose their family for a sum of money and bragging rights to say one invented so-and-so invention.

Like others, I was in the camp that this film was painful to watch that every step he took to achieve his goal of claiming rights to the intermittent wipers, was a step away from his family.

[–] joshlong79 13 years ago

i just got to thinking of this film, and came to read some of the comments....

i think that the people condeming the posters who think it was all about money are right, but they're also as clueless as those they're criticizing. when i think of the guy's pursuit of a principle, i can't help but think of our politics today, and how it's identifiable by those who are ideaologues - people who need other people to agree with them. to say the guy was only after recognition is to ignore that recognition is a sort of fame. this was a man destroyed by getting what he wanted, which also demonstrated his inability to live in an imperfect world. to be so pursuant of a moral code that you not only need to live it, but force others to live it at the expense of the people in your life is a disease, even if it's one that is easy to admire somehow.