MovieChat Forums > The American (2010) Discussion > The way the ending was filmed was a mist...

The way the ending was filmed was a mistake! (spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by nasdaq311
28 replies | jump to latest

it was not clear to a majority of people who watched this film what happened during the climax of the film !!(the gun backfires, killing her) -- i.e. the gun was rigged to backfire by George clooney's character.

And... the reason a vast majority of viewers did not understand this , is the failure by the director to make clear what happened. This could have been accomplished in a wide variety of ways (slow motion close up of the internal parts malfunction of the gun, for instance) , rather than going for "the understated approach" in a such a pivotal scene

p.s.
before you try to defend how clear the ending was, get a group of people to watch it and write down what they think happened, and see the responses you get.

p.p.s.

I propose they reshoot the scene and fix it like george lucas did to his movies

[–] molypocho 11 years ago

I didn't understand how she died until reading your post, but I don't think it's a flaw. It would be a flaw if the film didn't provide the necessary scenes to support the idea that the gun was rigged to backfire. It does. The director just wants you to work for it. Nothing wrong with that.

The film just got a little bit better. Nice!

And to make it even cooler...there's that scene where the female assassin tells their boss on the phone that she's following him. Then the next shot cuts to Clooney in his car, but because of the reflections on the windshield obstructing our view of Clooney, we can't tell if he's watching her through his rearview mirror. It kind looks like it, but one can't be sure.

What a great movie!

[–] OuterSpaceNH 10 years ago

There are people who watch movies,
And there are people who understand films.

This is an amazing film, understood by people who are smart, and don't need a color-by-numbers map to follow the plot.

Good day.

[–] pjmcgill142 10 years ago

This is an amazing film, understood by people who are smart, and don't need a color-by-numbers map to follow the plot.

Very well said. And good day to you.

[–] bigmyc04 10 years ago

I'm sorry, and I try very diligently to not make derogatory remarks, but what kind of dum dum needs a clarification on that scene? Were you being sarcastic or what?

[–] kevin-cheng5 10 years ago

Weird, I thought the scene was pretty straightforward with the backfire the first time I saw it, didn't think people had trouble understanding what happened.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Sidewindr 10 years ago

The whole idea was to keep the viewer wondering if he had done something to the gun or not after he re-opened the briefcase before going to the rest stop for the exchange. I was left wondering this up until the gun actually backfired in her face, and I was most satisfied with this. :D Why do most movies have to spell everything out so obviously and have so much exposition these days. It is far better to have the viewer actually think about things rather than dumb everything down to the level of the dim witted, poorly educated moron level.

[–] DBLurker 9 years ago

It was pretty obvious what happened in that scene.

If people can't understand what happened, they shouldn't expect directors to dumb down their movies (even further).

[–] geoffrey-jackson 9 years ago

I understand what you're saying but I got the story. Perhaps the amateurish way she just seemed to have just jumped sideways off the ledge. All the other camera angles (over her shoulder, through the sights etc) seemed to work.

Re-shooting the scene not going to happen but at least we can talk about it. You never know somebody involved in the making of the film might provide some sort of explanation.

[–] Dejay 9 years ago

I expected the gun to backfire before she even shot. I thought it was made pretty obvious, especially since you had so much time to think while watching the movie :)