Why did she live, and why did Braddock say "lucky girl"? Did he deliberately spare her? What happened exactly when they were fighting? Sorry if I've missed something, but she was apparantly the only person he didn't have the heart to kill. And of course, she was his undoing in the end.
Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"
Yeah they were rolling around and fighting, then he conked her on the head and knocked her out, but let her live, hence "you're a lucky girl". I guess he felt for her somehow, but I was not entirely convinced by that and him sparing her seemed out of character for me.
I liked the movie otherwise, but the ending bothered me.
Actually, it didn't seem out of character for me. It fit into the context of the movie. I got that there must be some reason that he couldn't kill her, but he took it to his grave, and the movie never gave any reasons or clues. That was one of the conundrums of the movie. It's possible that he simply fell for her. He was old and alone. That would explain partially why he only killed her boyfriend in the apartment and took her with him, which only caused more trouble for him. She was one more person to guard and worry about.
What I didn't get was why he killed Myron. That was a total shock, except that maybe Myron was just a pain-in-the-ass trouble maker and helped bring the heat down on him.
Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"
maybe I missed the point here, but I figured he was out of bullets, and probably unable to physically kill her (as an old man)
shareActually, that makes perfect sense. That's probably why he said "lucky girl".
Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"
A hit man could have killed her if he was 120 years old and handcuffed. He didn't kill her for the same reason he didn't kill her at the apartment--he went soft. Towards the end it seems like he was coming to his senses and going to kill her, but I think her fighting to stay alive unlike all the other losers he has to deal with saved her.
shareI think you're absolutely right. All of the other men he's had to execute including Willie all get scared and emotional. Maggie didn't. She threw dirt in his face and fought him tooth and nail, so in the end he let her live because she wanted it and fought for it.
shareExactly. He was touched by her will to live. (It was obviously greater than his own).
shareI agree; as someone else already pointed out in another post, in the DVD commentary Hurt explains that in his interpretation Braddock falls in love with the girl.
However, I don't think that Braddock is "old" in years (he could well be as old as Hurt was at the time, namely in his 40s). He's just prematurely ravaged by his dirty job (notice that he never eats or drinks anything, never even sleeps, in contrast to the others - his only indulgence is chain smoking; he even lights up before and after a kill) and hence past his "heyday", possibly also because the world around him has changed. Nevertheless, of course he would still have been able to kill the girl if he had decided to do so.
I think that Hurt's looks alone (not to mention his performance) bring much more depth to this than any obvious "tough guy" actor would have. He looks as if killing did a lot of damage to himself and as if he were tired of his job. I don't think that he actually wanted to die though. During the conversation in the woods, Parker even suspects that Braddock is afraid of dying, which he confirms by starting to protest but stopping in the middle of the sentence. And he does everything he can to escape - except kill the girl.
There have been a couple of hitman movies that show the emotional toll that life takes on the killer. "Road to Perdition" comes to mind.
Maybe it all comes down to his midlife crisis.
We got a job.
What kind?
...The Forever Kind.
It's called a plot hole.
Personally, when I first saw it, I thought "lucky girl" meant she was dead, and he was telling her she was better off for it.
Later, we find out she's alive.
But why would Braddock spare her? He's callously killed everyone else up to this point. He even killed his own co-worker, presumably because Myron wouldn't let him kill her, so he had to go first. He just has no reason to spare her; she formed the emotional connection with Myron not Braddock. There was just been no evidence presented of his humanity throughout the entire film. So, we're supposed to believe now he picks the time to randomly spare her?
It's a mess. I guess it's required she survive so that the plot can proceed such that she identifies him and he's gunned down.