MovieChat Forums > Eye of the Needle (1981) Discussion > ***SPOILER*** The Last Act Was Fire ***

SPOILER The Last Act Was Fire ***

posted 3 years ago by HelpMeRhonda (1155)
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From the moment the woman, Lucy, I think, sees David's body on the rocks, I was on the edge of my recliner. I truly didn't know who was going to win this battle that lasted only days and yet was as intense as Kathy Bates and James Caan in "Misery"; like a wanton's bird, that lets it hop a little from his hand like a poor prisoner in twisted chains, the Needle seems to be so much in control for the entire movie, and he pulls the wool over Lucy's eyes for a time. I don't know about you, but I thought he might actually kill the woman and the kid, and I'm glad that wasn't the case. I suppose he went out like he did because of a tragic flaw, when he finally displays a shred of decency by letting her live, even though she puts up a great fight. There is no way I could REALLY root for the Needle (I mean, how many times do we see him shank somebody with that stiletto?) but then again I'd spent the whole movie with this guy, so either way, I was going to be interested in what happened to him. I could tell he was kind of detached from everything on earth, and while I don't think he got much attached to Lucy, he felt enough about her to cut her some slack.

[–] db20db (16209) 3 years ago

Pretty good assessment. It was apparent her first red flag was when he told her about the hero of his nonexistent novel killing his love interest. Also, I had a bit of a problem with what appeared to be an almost implausible tolerance to pain on The Needle's part, e.g., the scene where he seemed to be very calmly preparing an accelerant to create the lighthouse fire in the immediate aftermath of having had several fingers cut off with an axe. Nevertheless, this is a taut, well paced spy thriller.