were they?
Some sort of huge, multinational, criminal network smuggling "blood" diamonds into the country, maybe? In other words, just how massively screwed were these guys gonna be, even if they had somehow made it all the way to the Bahamas?
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
it wasn't just diamonds, there was cash, gold coins etc....
the safe seamed to be a stash place for the at least the Las Vegas criminal top, no small time dealing.
You're right, I forgot about the gold coins.
So, warehousing the goods from a major burglary ring, maybe?
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
Just wealth in assorted currencies I guess. Probably no "hot" wares specifically, just the bank of some big criminal.
I don't get the "they'll find you wherever you are" thing though. I mean you can go to many countries with a boat and they got money so once they fenced the rest of the wares they can just vanish wherever and get new papers.
But what about the regular "deliveries" (that started the whole movie, in the first place)? AND his coworkers at the casino making sure he didn't get too close to the delivery truck. Sounds "hot" to me.
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
Well ok lol how about the fact that stuff only ever got brought in, but never taken out? That doesn't sound like a trading point for stolen goods. It's like the fort knox for the criminally rich.
shareWell ok lol how about the fact that stuff only ever got brought in, but never taken out?
Well it's always fun to speculate lol. I just like the movie as a straight up story and don't think the idea that the guy had some kind of hidden masterplan is supported by the movie.
The guy stumbled upon a jackpot, planned cleverly, but then behaves like a psychopath. All the weird things and *beep* happening is just for fun.
The guy stumbled upon a jackpot, planned cleverly, but then behaves like a psychopath.
Yeah I agree with that. Jim's character and Cage's portrait is what makes the movie interesting. I'd love to know more about how he just "flipped". He must have been a psychopath before and we kinda see that in the beginning with his unreasonable idea of computerizing evidence. Then he goes from socially acceptable weirdo to outside of the law and beyond morality. That's an enigma you want to know more about.
I'm just saying is he isn't a genius or mastermind, way too many things go wrong and awkward.
Or maybe we just overestimate what we see of criminals in movies lol. How difficult would it have been to plan and execute the heist if you take a few days to really think it through? My guess is most cops thank god for stupid criminals haha.
But David's suspicion about Jim going to kill him are well founded and he probably would have (even the "surprise" ticket points to that as incriminating evidence and leaving a trail).
So maybe Jim did plan this "conversion" and escape from his stifling life (and father) and his friendship to David as a kind of sacrificial lamb for a long time. But subconsciously. Not specific to this heist. Like he wanted to break with his life and needed to commit the ultimate betrayal (his job and his oath, his friend, his "you're no good cop" father).
So I agree with your instincts that he did plan this for a long while (in a sense) but the evidence for David's specific theory when he confronts Jim isn't there.
So maybe Jim did plan this "conversion" and escape from his stifling life (and father) and his friendship to David as a kind of sacrificial lamb for a long time. But subconsciously. Not specific to this heist. Like he wanted to break with his life and needed to commit the ultimate betrayal (his job and his oath, his friend, his "you're no good cop" father).
Thanks for the discussion - I definitely got more out of the movie now too :)
You'd have to watch the movie again and look for clues though for this theory. But imho it's definitely there and it's what makes this character interesting. As humans we constantly look for weird behavior or out of the norm stuff exactly because of *beep* like the movie depicts. It's not just about your neighbor going postal but about someone near you bringing death and destruction.
And David definitely got fooled and tried to get out of it but kind of panicked and got his reward lol.
The more we talk about it, the more I figure Dave never really stood a chance, no matter what. And one way or another, he was going to be sacrificed by Jim somewhere along the way. In fact, now that we've discussed it more, I see that Jim was actually so ruthlessly merciless and efficient in his killing, Dave was almost assuredly eventually going to end up being nothing more than "a loose end" to him.
Also, as a result of our ongoing discussion, another observation I've made: From the hotel employees break time scene, Jim was, in hindsight, quite capable of being both very charming AND utterly ruthless.
No man lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.
Bof, it's like so cliche, the manipulation of a friend/coworker, i like to think he was guenuinely looking Dave as a partner, makes the whole thing more tragicomical & interesting, also it's what awkward ppl do (i've known my fair share :), they wanna cling to/escape normality via a friendship, another self...
The scene in the hotel was just imho that he was "high" on the "masterplan" he & his "new friend" were plotting, gave him confidence, which he was obv. missing (waitresses ignoring him)... (&, funny enough, he got himself hired there after Dave told him he couln't do more surveying than going to work as a bellhop or smtg).
As for the OP, it's no big mystery, it all begins with a drug dealer getting big-ass bail posted, then said dude is seen riding in an El Camino or something in what looks like south L.A,(sry it was las Vegas, meh 270mi...) so it's no big stretch to think Cartel, as for why they were no coming & going, 1, they only staked the place out for a relative short amount of time, & it's merely a plot convenience to justify the place being chokeful of goodies. I don't see what you wanna read into it.
ps : other plot convenience : how he gets the girl to write on his hand the number (instead of just getting her to spell it aloud) so that the final scene when he reads the number from the back of the van can b prctclly filmed... they shd hav gone over the top & make the bullet go thru said hand xD
All in all good "light-hearted" movie, cinematography & mood reminded me of Better call Saul, i liked it.
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Thanks, very interesting observations. Yeah I agree that this is very intriguing storytelling. Despite the glaring "mistake" that Waters does by letting her phone in I liked it. What do you make of that btw? Did he subconsciously want to get caught / get out of it somehow?
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Yeah maybe he thought "I am *beep* no matter what, might as well not risk doing something even worse". But deep down he must have known. A death-wish kind of thing. Or maybe he expected for the guards to show mercy on him when he put everything back and play nice.
Come to think of it, it was really their two main character flaws that got them killed.
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The Vault (2016)
Jason Statham plays John Crick, an ex-CIA operative who got disillusioned with the patriotic collateral damage, when he saw a little kid accidentally killed by one of his grenades he used to kill really really bad guys.
Now he is off the grid, relaxing in Vegas with his new beautiful wife Noreen (played by Scarlett Johansson). When his wife gets out to buy a gift for her parents at a local gift store she witnesses a man being shot and immediately gets killed.
John must revenge his wife and finds out the criminals are protecting a large vault, stocked with the riches of Vegas' organized crime.
All the while the CIA is after him for his betrayal and he must fight off really really bad guys left and right....