I love DeNiro and this film was and is great. But the finale was a damb squib, IMHO
Personally, after all that went on (ie. brilliant but 'busy' gunfights in the street and famous head-to-heads), I wanted more from the ending - a dark two-man shooter on a runway?
Couldn't there have been, I dunno, a tense hotel shootout with deNiro dying in the street in front of Eady?
Wrong. The ending is perfect. The two are isolated in a true mano-a-mano duel to the death, and the whole film was rewritten to accommodate that golden final moment when Hanna takes McCauley’s hand as he dies - the predator has slain his prey, his greatest adversary and the only person who truly understands him is dead and now he has nothing to live for.
Ehhh.... I actually would have ended it when he comes out of the hotel. Sees the chick in the car, sees Pacino coming down the street and decides to just blend into the crowd and high-tail it out there because the heat was on. It would have been consistent with the character, tying up loose ends and honoring the code he lived by.
I thought the shootout at the end in the airport was extraneous and kind of over the top, especially given that DeNiro had Pacino in his sights and there's no way he could have turned around and got off the shot that fast when he was dead to rights. Kind of cheapened it a bit.
But, I do admit the hand holding and the stillness of the dark within the scene at the airport did help make the moment feel epic in scale, especially with Moby's "God's Face Over The Water" playing into the credits.
Just… no. The whole point is that McCauley breaks his cardinal rule because his desire for revenge overwhelms him, and it tragically costs him his life - a life that now had meaning bc Eady. He starts to feel alive and it gets him killed - brilliant, tragic.
The tension during the final hunt is excellent, and the way Hanna spots McCauley’s shadow is both ingenious and perfectly plausible.
You’re right to commend the excellent final moments.
>Sees the chick in the car, sees Pacino coming down the street and decides to just blend into the crowd and high-tail it out there because the heat was on. It would have been consistent with the character
Errr... He did do that, mate.
Yes... but then somehow instead of staying blended in, he darts off running, and Pacino gives chase, and it's how we end up with the less-than-satisfactory airport shootout.
shareNah it was ridiculous that they could just run around an airport shooting wildly lol.
Also DeNiro can only move in slow motion where it's quicker to notice his shadow from a Jet's light ... Lol that was stupid.
I think the confrontation was the right way to end it, but what bothers me is that the victory for Pacino is too one-sided in his favor. I would have preferred a duel where they both went down, the last of their kind dying in a final confrontation. I really didn't like the airport setting for the gunfight either.