MovieChat Forums > The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) Discussion > Jump to save prisoner that injured his b...

Jump to save prisoner that injured his back

posted 15 years ago by silentmovie
26 replies | jump to latest

That scene at the beginning with Nicolas Cage and Val Kilmer in the flooded jail was poorly done and confusing. First, they walk in and the prisoner is in the cell, nearly drowning in the rising water. Then, Cage and Kilmer torment the prisoner (for reasons unknown) and threaten to leave him to die, and then all of the sudden Cage starts to disrobe, and jumps into the water (a stupid and unnecessary thing to do, particularly if he doesn't know what he's jumping into, or upon), and then the next shot is of a doctor examining an X-ray of a presumably injured back that leads to his addiction to painkillers and illicit drugs.

It's not at all clear why the jump injured him, or why it was necessary to jump. Poor directing and editing. Just another example of how cheaply shot and edited this film was.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Even ruined his swiss cotton underwear. Hahahahahaha.

[–] Grizzly101 15 years ago

I agree, the scene in the flooded jail was bizarre. If anything, Cage should have taken the stairs down to the prisoner's level and then waded through to him. But after all the talk of his $50 underwear, the last thing I expected was for Cage to jump in the water! Oh, well. At least this movie will help him start paying back his back-taxes... and we might have a bargain movie at the Dollar Store down the road, too! Look on the bright side! ;-)

There are no problems that cannot be solved with a can of brake clean and a lighter

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

"Should have taken the stairs". Know Ripley from Alien? She should have stayed home. Hahahahahahaha.

[–] silentmovie 15 years ago

Not only that, but what the bleep happened to him? Did he slip and fall? Did he land on some furniture underneath the surface of the water? Was he drunk or stoned -- or did he develop his addiction AFTER he injured his back? The scene made no sense.

Also -- no real chemistry between him and cocaine-sniffing hooker Eva Mendes, but that's another topic...

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Incidentally, how often do you want to repeat yourself exactly? We already understood that it made "no sense". To you.

[–] jamasian_man 15 years ago

It sets up the whole movie, and allows the ending to come full circle. The movie begins with McDonagh saving Chavez, and it ends the other way around.

Most likely what happened was that after he jumped in, his feet went straight down into the cement floor and he hurt his back due to the force of the jump.

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

You're explaining it on a way too abstract level. "Did he slip and fall? Did he land on some furniture?" Those are the massively important questions the regular Sesame Street viewer needs to have answered.

[–] jamasian_man 15 years ago

This is one of those movie where you have to watch it again. there are a lot of plot details that are literally told in some scenes or barely mentioned by characters. Then when the plot line is resolved, people complain because they weren't paying attention.

Example: The sexy motorcycle cop (Fairuza Balk) mentions why Terrance wouldn't go to her to solve the speeding ticket thing. So after he rebuffs her advances because he was so high, she obviously took care of the tickets off-screen. This plot line is closed when the bookie appears in the police station and thanks Terrance for the speeding ticket problem being resolved.

[–] viritim 15 years ago

The scene is illogical for me. If McDonnagh was so badly injured during the jump, how did he rescue then prisoner. He, surely needed the rescue himself.
Not to mention the fact, that the prisoner was locked in the cell. Who had the keys than?

Anyway, I liked the movie pretty much.

I know your deepest secret fear...
J.M.

[–] lorem_ipsum_dolor_sit_amet 14 years ago

A couple years ago, I moved a couch one Saturday afternoon. My back didn't spasm till the next day.

So it's not illogical.

[–] Sun_Showers 15 years ago

The entire film was cheap and poorly directed/edited, and confusing. I enjoyed it, despite these things...

Sun_Showers, are you ready to post?
I was born ready *beep*

[–] jamasian_man 15 years ago

Lies and illusions. They show Terrance and his buddy driving up to the house after he plants the crack pipe. They never show them finding it. Does that mean that they never do?

No, but they show him holding it at the station in an evidence bag. Instead of having two or three scenes of him finding it, they compile it all together. We can assume they found it because he's holding it. Its in an evidence bag because he's in evidence. We can assume Big Fate is going down.

So at the very beginning, we hear a splash. Next shot, a doctor is telling him his back is hurt, and he gets an award for his bravery. He probably wouldn't get the award unless he saved the guy. Injuring himself also gives him another reason for promotion.

Without these two elements, he's not a bad lieutenant and has no drug problem. The opening sets up two important elements to his character, and in a surreal way let the story come full circle when the trapped prisoner saves him.

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Also, we hear Chavez saying later in the hotel that Terence saved his life.

Point is that is doesn't really matter how it played out exactly. One could imagine for example that Terence hit bottom floor and went unconscious, so Stevie pulled him out, called an ambulance and let Chavez out as soon as he had a spare moment. Because that's why his partner took that risk and got hurt in the first place. In this scenario, it still would have been Terence who saved Chavez life, because it would have been Terence example that motivated Stevie to do that. And anybody would recognize that, including Chavez and Stevie.

But all that is just uninteresting details the film makers obviously left for our imagination to fill in. I understand though that people don't having any would be struggling there.

[–] silentmovie 15 years ago

I have plenty of imagination. I'm just saying it was a poor job of storytelling and filmaking. My opinion. Werner Herzog is overrated and did a s h i t job with this.

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

No. It's just you missing all the details gluing the stuff together. Saying that you wouldn't even recognize good story telling where you see it.

Example from your OP: "and then all of the sudden Cage starts to disrobe, and jumps into the water". How is that "all of a sudden"? The reason they went down there was because they found papers about prisoners in the locker, and Terence said one wasn't accounted for. So they went to check basically because Terence cared to see that nobody would be drowning there. And them teasing Chavez in a typical manner doesn't contradict in the slightest their original motivation.

So what's "all of a sudden" to you is in fact the expected thing to happen, in terms of how the whole sequence was set up story telling wise. And you missing that tells more about you than anything else.

[–] shortbread226 15 years ago

How is it bad storytelling if you understood what happened?

It doesn't explain how he hurt his back? Why does it matter, the point is he does

It doesn't explain why he has to jump? People do completely unnecessary, dangerous things all the time for god sake. People dive into water without checking the depth and break their neck. Have you never done something without thinking it through before and then the moment it goes pear shaped think "whoops, shouldn't have done that"?

Basically what your saying is this movie would have been better if Nic Cage for some reason HAD to jump and then the doctor said "when you landed on the desk after jumping in the water..." which to me is just overkill. He jumps in the water because he is making a spectacle of saving the prisoner and we know he hurts his back because... in the next scene the doctor says he does!!! what do the specifics of what he landed on matter at all?

------------------------------------------
What you just read was probably a bit of a rant. Sorry

[–] UberNoodle 15 years ago

Sheesh. The comment above about Sesame Street viewers wasn't far off. There was nothing wrong with that scene, or at least worth making a thread over.

1) - obviously his back was not injured to the point where he would have passed out or been unable to save Chavez. It makes me wonder how many of you have had back injuries? I have and unless it is serious, the moment of the injury and the manifestation of pain and inflammation, etc, are usually quite far apart. DAYS apart, quite often.

2) - why the heck do people need every single detail spelt out? Why is it important WHAT hurt his back? He screwed up. He jumped into water without checking the depth. The floor, a table, ANYTHING could have injured him, REGARDLESS, it would have injured him in much the same way!

3) - why should he have 'used the stairs'? Why does anybody DO ANYTHING in a movie? Are you nitpickers completely stupidity and accident free? Oh please tell us your secret. You'd be indignant if we jumped on your case about your latest act of shortsighted stupidity (called YOUR LIFE 'badly made') - oh wait! We are!

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Yeah. Plus it is in accordance with his character portrayal. He's obviously a bit of a show man. The man with the gun just doesn't cautiously lumber down the stairs, he makes the jump. At least as long as there is an audience.

[–] subase 15 years ago

Yep the literal cinema form of the adage 'Look before you leap'. In the murky brown new orleans water you can't see crap and it was his unusual faith (that nothing dangerous was under the water) and lack of fear that got him injured.

They didn't even have to save him because the fire department would do it for them. It's just that Terrence is a 'hero' and 'good guy' and doing good deeds is what he does. That's why he's a cop. Sort of a modern day knight, but more assholish. The scene where the black woman begs him to help find her families killers establish that he is a defender and helper of the weak ie he's a knight.

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

The funeral sequence is darn powerful. The sister of Yasin, how he's showing him the photos of the "dead" and begging for help, and how he's looking at her in response. He's also picking up the vital grocery store clue there. Beautiful detective work.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] wooodenelephant 15 years ago

I thought he decided to jump when the prisoner started praying.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] gorgsharpy 10 years ago

I don't know what kind of school you went to. The first couple of minutes are masterpiece movie story telling by WH. It's about analysing his personal character.

Lets go thorugh what happens.

It's starts abruptly - in medias res.

1. He decides to go looking for the prisoner - make him sympathetic.
2. He threatens not to save him because it's too troublesome and he has lingering morals - unsympathetic.
3. He jumps in to save him - humanistic
4. He injures his back - and has pain getting up from the chair to be promoted - creates empathy.
5. Arrives at a crime seen - takes drugs - reaffirms the immoral part of his character.

There you have it - in two minutes - the viewer is tossed from one moral standpoint to another. So what is he - good ? bad ? A little of both ?

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several