MovieChat Forums > The Drop (2014) Discussion > Bob isn't a sociopath, you simple-minded...

Bob isn't a sociopath, you simple-minded idiots.

posted 10 years ago by giygas-12533
63 replies | jump to latest

Bob is not a psychopath, nor a sociopath. He killed that actual sociopath Eric Deeds because he deserved to die. Before killing him, he offered him a way out so he wouldn't have to.

Bob is a good person. Eric Deeds was a bad one.

Bob displays:
affection for Nadia; a desire to protect her
affection for the dog; a desire to protect it
affection for his cousin, Marv, even though he knows he isn't necessarily a great person (displaying forgiveness as well as loyalty to family)
Loneliness and a desire to be free of it
Guilt over the first life he took. This is important, because he honestly explains to Eric that Richie Wheelin (sp?) didn't deserve to die. He was involved in a mafia lifestyle at that time and was younger. He realizes now in his older age and at this different time in his life that it was wrong. He doesn't engage in communion at church, a sign of his guilt (he doesn't feel he deserves God's blessing.)

Many of you seem confused as to what a sociopath actually is. A genuine sociopath is someone who does not feel any emotions. I have personally known a real sociopath and can attest to this from experience in addition to knowledge regarding psychology. Sociopaths feel no real emotions and so everything they project is fake- they use normal people's emotions against them to manipulate them. They have what is known as "the gift of the gab", meaning they can spin a beautiful web of words to make people think whatever they want them too. They may act like a friend to someone's face and then actively attempt to sabotage them behind their backs. They will say and do absolutely anything to get what they want, and at the end of the day they only truly care about themselves. A murderer is not automatically a sociopath simply because he is willing to take another person's life. I'm sorry to the PC do-gooder idiots out there who's bubble this might burst, but it's not. I guess that's why none of you seem to get it- you're all so caught up in that politically correct nonsense that you do not see the truth.
Bob feels and displays a wide range of emotions in the film. He knows the first time he killed it was not morally right, and has felt immense guilt for years because of it.. The second time he kills it is justified, and the guy completely deserved it. I'm sorry to anyone that offends, but it was.
Having been personally victimized in the past by an actual sociopath, I can say with 100% certainty that Bob is not one.
Also, just for your consideration, the Law and actual morality are very rarely one and the same thing, and only an idiot thinks otherwise.

[–] Gabe1972 10 years ago

He may not be a psychopath in that he does not fit the full definition of such, but he certainly does exhibit some of the qualities of a psychopath.

Secondly, you don't have to be a jerk to get your point across. It's not needed. That says a lot about you.

If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - George W. Bush

[–] nosxman 9 years ago

Very well said giygas-12533. Thank you. It's not easy to put thought into proper words.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

This is one area I feel the American mental health community fails in educating the population on mental health disorders. Bob is not a primary psychopath. His cousin Marv is. Deeds is. The Chechens definitely are.

Bob would be what most psychiatrists consider to be a secondary psychopath. He knows how to recognize emotions. He may even feel them to some degree. But it's the difference between logically knowing that someone is suffering and emotionally sympathizing with that suffering.

Bob does NOT display a wide range of emotions. He's very, very reserved.

Sure, if you had to be friends with a psychopath, I'd choose to be friends with Bob. But his brain doesn't work like 96% of the rest of the human population.

He leads a very risky lifestyle. He doesn't bother with Nadia's safety, he commits murder right in front of her. She could have been wounded or even killed in the gunfire exchange. Hell, even the dog is there. He doesn't try to prevent his cousin from running afoul of the Chechens. He doesn't let the Chechens deal with Deeds. He wraps up body parts as if they're not human remains but salami. He is incredibly detached from his emotions.

Straight up psycho. Just a secondary pscyho rather than a primary.

[–] TamPalm 9 years ago

He leads a very risky lifestyle. He doesn't bother with Nadia's safety, he commits murder right in front of her. She could have been wounded or even killed in the gunfire exchange. Hell, even the dog is there. He doesn't try to prevent his cousin from running afoul of the Chechens. He doesn't let the Chechens deal with Deeds. He wraps up body parts as if they're not human remains but salami. He is incredibly detached from his emotions.

I think you should re-watch the movie. A lot of what you state is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what occurred. You say he "doesn't bother with Nadia's safety." He killed Deeds and lied to the Chechens about Nadia being with him FOR Nadia's safety. You say "he doesn't try to prevent his cousin from running afoul of the Chechens." Did you miss the ENTIRE scene when he went to visit Marv and his sister right before the Superbowl drop? The WHOLE purpose of that visit was to caution Marv to not "do something we can't get out of this time." You say "he is incredibly detached from his emotions." Does bemoaning loneliness the entire movie constitute "detached from emotions?" What about being upset that he upset Nadia? Is that also evidence of being "detached from emotions?"

I'm really not sure how you missed all of that. 

"If it doesn't make sense, it's not true." -- Judge Judy

[–] justwrite3 9 years ago

A lot of people seem to confuse the way that Hardy plays the character, with an outwardly flat emotional affect, as being detached from emotion, but he's not. There's a lot going on emotionally inside Bob. The clues are all over the place throughout the movie, from the start of the film when he pays for the drinks when the bar crowd toasts Richie Wheelan, to the end when his expression changes ever so slightly but significantly when Nadia returns from her house to go for a walk with him.

What Bob does -- letting the old neighborhood lady drink for free, going to church, rescuing Rocco, developing a relationship with Nadia, covering for Marv not shoveling when the Chechans show up, going to Marv's house to try to convince him not to rob the Superbowl drop -- these are all actions based on emotion. Just because he does these things without outward displays of emotion doesn't mean the emotion isn't there. Someone who was emotionally detached wouldn't do any of these things in the first place.

[–] TamPalm 9 years ago

Very well said. 👍

"If it doesn't make sense, it's not true." -- Judge Judy

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

Once again, you guys just really don't understand what a secondary psychopath is.

Look it up.

[–] justwrite3 9 years ago

I have looked it up. As I said in my prior post, I don't think it applies to Bob.

You based your "diagnosis" on your opinion that Bob is detached from emotion, and I explained that he appears to have a flat emotional affect but that his actions show that he is driven by emotion. The fact that he doesn't display emotions in the same way as most people -- and in the way you want him to -- doesn't mean that he's a secondary psychopath. You're missing or unwilling to see all the signs of what's going on with Bob under the surface.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

No. Detachment is the wrong word. Bob isn't detached from emotions. He doesn't feel them. But he realizes that normal people should, and he intellectualizes why it's important to do so. Detached people FEEL emotions, they just don't act on them.

Stop it. Just stop it.

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

I have to respectfully disagree with you. He clearly genuinely cares for both Nadia and Rocco. He feels emotions from what I saw, and quite deeply at that. He's just scared to act on them because he was obviously burdened quite heavily by guilt for his past, and probably thinks he doesn't deserve happiness. This is why he just keeps his head down and lives a quiet life until those idiots held up the bar. What he did in the end was to protect both the girl and the dog from someone who could've eventually killed the three them. Someone who doesn't feel emotions won't typically take home a pathetic wounded puppy, nurse it back to health, and keep it for a pet when they could've just as easily walked away and left it where he found it because they wouldn't care if they don't have emotions. But Bob clearly cared for the dog (Rocco) and was protective over him, because he has feelings of affection for him.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

Actually, most psychopaths feel a very close kinship with animals. Remember that not all psychopaths are raving lunatic kill-machines. Granted there are those that torture animals in their childhood. Those are serial killers. Bob is a secondary psychopath. Again, he's not "detached" from people or relationships. He can't feel emotions the same way that normal people do. That doesn't mean he can't like someone, or be pleased by caring for someone. He just doesn't feel empathy.

You really should read more about the difference between primary and secondary psychopaths.

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

Still disagree. I think he shows a great deal of empathy. He first allows the lady at the bar to basically drink for free, not charging her for her tab until Marv makes him, because he feels compassion for her in that she can't afford it. He then doesn't say anything to Nadia about the scars on her neck because he recognizes that it could be a deeply personal subject for her and knows that he wouldn't want someone bringing up his own personal sh!t. He is also empathetic to her about her relationship with Deeds, because he knows what it's like to have regrets. This is pretty apparent to me when he reassures her by saying "We all have a past". He is truly relating to and empathizing with her in that moment.

Bob is a tortured soul that just keeps a low profile. He attends church every morning out of guilt. He has strong remorse for his past. Someone who doesn't feel empathy won't feel remorse either. His last voiceover monologue about being alone indicates to me that he is a person with great emotional depth who desperately craves a true connection to someone, which he finally finds in Nadia, which he couldn't have without empathy. Bob is socially awkward and very reserved, but that doesn't make him a sociopath or psychopath.

[–] PattyGJones 9 years ago

CarpeDiemO_O, I think you, of all the posts I've read in this thread, captured Bob accurately and with a great deal of empathy of your own. I think you must be a very nice person.

Only in Show Biz by injection

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

Thank you. It actually doesn't surprise me that so many see him as a psychopath/sociopath because many people don't pick up on clues and nuances as easily as others will. Especially if they've only seen it once. As other posters have pointed out, Bob is like Rocco in that he can be "a dangerous dog" in the wrong circumstances like under Marv's influence or being backed into a corner by Eric, but in the right circumstances like when he can just be at peace around Nadia, he's "nothing but sweet".

[–] PattyGJones 9 years ago

Just adding something re 'nuance', of which Tom Hardy is the undisputed heavyweight champ, the most recent little bit I noticed was the shot of Bob's eyes just after Eric told him he would beat Rocco's head with a rock. What Tom does with eyes alone is better than Brando. They could have done a subtitle or voiceover -- "I'm going to kill you". But the dangerous dog only comes when called.

So many people throw the term around "psychopath" or "sociopath", having barely a clue what those terms mean. Bob committed one sin, and he did it because Marv (who probably bullied him from early childhood on) told him to. Killing Eric was self-defense and the defense of the only loves he knows in life -- Rocco and Nadia.

Only in Show Biz by injection

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

Yes, Tom does have a unique attribute with those eyes. He does so much with them.

[–] PattyGJones 9 years ago

One other tiny thing, and I don't know how he does it. At the very end there's a barely perceptible smile IN his eyes when he hears Nadia coming back. There's some kind of sorcery going on with those peepers (joking).

Only in Show Biz by injection

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

I see where you are coming from, but you're making a very serious error in judgement.

Bob is not a good guy. He's not a hero. Bob is a stone cold killer. You think he's going to church because he feels guilty. I say he's going to church because he thinks that's what people are supposed to do when they should feel remorse. But he doesn't feel any.

He isn't a Catholic. He doesn't involve himself in fellowship. He doesn't take communion. He doesn't seek guidance. He doesn't go to confession. He shows up. Sits in the back. Doesn't talk to anyone. Doesn't really sound like he's searching for redemption.

He killed Deeds because Deeds was a cheesedick amateur who stole credit for Bob's hit. He certainly didn't feel any remorse for killing him. In fact, he was very angry. He could have beat him. He could have held him there until the Chechens arrived. He could have called the cops. He could have just made a fool out of him and let him go (There was no way Deeds was going to press the issue once he learned how bad news Bob was).

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

I guess we can agree to disagree. That's just one of the great things about some movies, is that they can be interpreted in different ways. For the record, I don't think he's a "hero", I think he's a person who's a darker shade of gray than the rest of us. I don't think he would've bothered going to church if he didn't really feel remorseful because no one even seemed to notice or care until the detective came along, so what would've been the point of him trying to seem like everyone else if no one was even paying attention? I also think that the whole purpose of Rocco and Nadia was to show that he is capable of having deep connections with others, and who very much yearns for just that. I think the reason he doesn't talk with anyone is because he had built up a wall that didn't come down until he met Nadia. I think the church he's been attending and turning to all these years being bought out to turn into apartments is metaphorical for his life being turned around and him having a new beginning. I don't think that part of the story is there for no reason.

[–] MrJJay 9 years ago

Oh just stop it, will you? Before making an analysis of someone and making a pseudo intellectual claims like 'he is a secondary psychopath' you must understand that person's inner self which it seems you clearly didn't, at least in Bob's case.
Watch the movie again and try to concentrate more especially on Bob this time or just don't comment like you understand and know the very fact.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

Bob isn't a real person. He's a character. You can't get to know him. You only know what the director wants you to know, what the director puts on the screen. There's no way for us to know his inner self. Based on his actions, his callousness, his lack of empathy, his history, and what other people say about him, he exhibits all the traits of a secondary psychopath.

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

Bob isn't a real person. He's a character. You can't get to know him. You only know what the director wants you to know, what the director puts on the screen. There's no way for us to know his inner self.

If you say there's no way for us to know his inner self, then you can't say for certain that he's a psychopath any more than we can say he isn't. Let's just all agree that it's open to interpretation, and neither opinion is right or wrong.

[–] ricoliv 9 years ago

Excellent! You have really nailed Bob's character with this analysis. In addition, your post serves as a response to those who failed to grasp the nuances of Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bob or to the deliberately slow pace of the film.

[–] JunkyardHounds 9 years ago

Well if we're gonna be honest wrapping salami is also a pretty psychopathic behavior if you ask me. We may be more used to it that's for sure but we're still killing something that feels as much as us and treating it's body parts like objects.

So we're all psychopaths.

And yes im THAT guy

[–] cheezbaalz 9 years ago

There's no reason at all to call the entire board "idiots".

[–] nfaust1 9 years ago

Hey giygas-12533, it does in fact boggle the mind sometimes reading IBDB comments. Am glad you laid the facts out this time. Often find myself functioning in that role.

Your thoughts on the film are terrific. I have to add, that Tom Hardy gives one of his best performances in THE DROP, which is saying a lot because … well, when has Tom Hardy ever NOT good?

SPOILER.

After he killed the guy and told the Noomi to leave, I wasn't quite sure about him, and I'll tell you why. The detective's great line, "they never see you coming, do they Bob?" was ringing in my ears all through that last scene. But at the end, when he visits Noomi and says "you gotta tell me …", she looks down at Rocco, then back up at Bob. Rocco brings Bob back to life; he's the reason Bob's forced to engage with others on something more than just a superficial level. Bob had every intention of paying that guy ten grand to keep the dog safe. So Rocco, when it was all said and done, is there for his boy Bob: the sight of Bob's happy little puppy convinces her to take a chance. Writing it down like this makes it all sound so sappy. Amazingly, it's not at all. Tom Hardy walks that character through the movie on a tightrope, at times scary but always ambiguous - until the very end. Hardy brings Bob to incredible life. The movie couldn't possibly be better.

[–] nffc77 9 years ago

Ooh look at me, I know the definition of a sociopath and you're all idiots.

Bell end.

[–] Dragonsouls 9 years ago

He's the opposite of a sociopath, he's a hypersensitive.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

Hypersensitive people do not shoot other people in the face.

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

Shooting Deeds doesn't necessarily make him a psychopath either. Eric pushed him to his absolute limit. From my perspective, Bob genuinely intended to pay him off and leave it at that as long as Deeds would go away and leave them alone. He brought the gun just in case Deeds wouldn't let them go. I think Bob held this intention right up until Deeds grabbed Nadia and asked how much he'd pay for her. It was clear to Bob at that point that Eric was never going to go away, so he decided to act. Deeds on the other hand, was a psychopath. He beat a helpless puppy and mocked Nadia's suicide attempt which implies that he quite likely was the primary factor in her cutting her own throat because he was that horrible to her. Bob didn't want to kill him. He tries to avoid violence and conflict throughout the movie. But Eric put him in that position, and Bob knew that there wasn't much, if anything the police could do.

[–] Rycor 9 years ago

I'm pretty sure Bob enjoyed killing him.

[–] CarpeDiemO_O 9 years ago

I really don't think he did because he tried to avoid having conflict with him throughout the movie. If it came that easily to him, I'm sure he would've found a way to do it sooner. He could've killed him in his house the first time he came over to confront him. People who enjoy killing and wants to kill will generally go looking for someone to kill, but he tries to shake Eric right up until the end.

[–] IcySpoon 9 years ago

Now, that's over-stating it just a wee bit ....actually a lot.

"Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." Norman Maclean

[–] jrneptune 9 years ago

Loved your post so much that I saved it for future reference. Thank you for taking the time to explain it giygas-12533. Sorry that so many are taking the title of the post personally but at least it did get attention.

[–] blubird-1 9 years ago

It is a misconception that Sociopaths don't have feelings for people. They can actually love and have deep feelings, but for few people rather than a lot. They chose the people they love and when they do they can be very loyal and loving. Do agree that Bob in no way was a sociopath, he was a guy that probably grew up rough & broken and dealt with things like the way he grew up. Would describe him more stoic than anything.