Did Sims feel he was just doing his job?
Did he feel he was doing his job? Because he wasn't supposed to have a gun in the plane.
shareIf you're talking about the planted DEA agent, I think that Colm Meaney's character planted the agent with the gun (against the rules).
shareI agree. So do you consider Sims a good guy or a bad guy? And yes that's the guy I am talking about.
shareGood guy.
Let's remember that we're seeing the story from the con's perspective, so we're sympathetic to them. Hell, didn't we root for Garland Greene at the craps table? This guy was a murderer who wore a girl's head as a hat. We like him because he seems to make sense about life and the fact that he didn't kill that girl with the doll when he had a clear and easy opportunity. For this, we as movie watchers are willing to call the whole deal even.
But agent Sims was just a Federale on the plane doing his job to prevent what ultimately happened. Other than Poe, the rest of the cons were hard asses who would kill anyone for any reason and in fact mostly did. That he was planted with a gun (against the rules) doesn't alter the fact that when his shift was over, he was a (okay, speculating) family man with a wife and kid who may have even read to the blind on his off hours!
Ok. So how was he doing his job if he wasn't supposed to have a gun in the first place?
shareI'm not arguing for him having a gun. He shouldn't have had one. I'm sure when the rules were written for moving violent prisoners, they would have had a good reason (a gun can end up in the wrong hands). His boss gave him the gun against the rules however. But how does that change his job?
His job was to prevent any violence or escape of convicted murderers during a transport flight. His boss figured giving him a gun would improve his odds should any violence occur. The fact that Sims was unable to prevent it doesn't mean he wasn't "doing his job", just that he failed at it. If Sims didn't have the gun, he still would have failed to prevent the takeover but he might have stayed alive (might, because they may have killed him anyway if his identity as a DEA agent was discovered).
If someone with the skills and courage of Cameron Poe had the gun instead, he wouldn't have panicked like the over-matched Sims did and may have been able to prevent the hijack.
Edit: Giving this some more thought, I don't see what good planting an agent on board would do if the agent wasn't armed. How would the DEA agent stop any sort of violence or rebellion on the flight? Probably just a writer's shot at getting Duncan Malloy to look more like a tool by giving Sims the weapon that would lead to his death.. It's a fun movie, but there's a lot of sloppy writing in this film we need to overlook.
So do you think that Cyrus had any excuses for killing Sims?
shareNot exactly sure of what you're asking, but I'll make a few observations about the character.
Cyrus was an unrepentant murderer. He was facing the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole at the least (assuming there's no death penalty where he is) and would do anything to prevent his recapture. While I think it's morally reprehensible to kill an innocent person, Cyrus would have no compunction about killing any guard on that plane, any cop on the ground, or any man woman or child he might encounter in his escape to South America. Sims had a gun and was an obstacle to his escape. What else would Cyrus do? Of all the implausible events that happened in this film, Cyrus simply giving up to Sims without a fight would be the most of all!!
Now if your question was whether Cyrus had any remorse for killing Sims, I would not only say no, I would say that I think he rather enjoyed it.
I agree with you. What do you think was the most evil thing that Cyrus did in the movie? And who do you think was more evil? Cyrus or Howard Payne from Speed?
shareIn the movie? I guess killing Sims. Torching Sandino (sp?) was more graphic, but Sandino was also a convict. From the movie goer's perspective, there wasn't a lot to like about Agent Sims. While on the side of law and order, he wasn't likeable and he was planted by Malloy, who, despite also being on the side of law and order, was a total ass wipe. So it was hard to feel sorry about either Sandino or Sims being killed.
Strange that Cyrus didn't take to well to the attempted rape of the female guard. I mean if you think about it, Cyrus was more likeable than Sims or Malloy!! LOL.
I only saw Speed once, so I don't remember enough about the movie to comment.
Why do you think that Sims wasn't likable? What did he do that made him unlikable?
shareNot unlikabe, just not particularly likable. Not quite the same thing.
shareI think the most evil thing that Cyrus did was that blew up the correctional officers in his prison cell. What do you think?
shareHmmm.. forgot about that... Definitely an evil act.
Certainly evil, but probably more diabolical, no? I mean, he did put a "do not open" warning on it... lol
To me though, it takes a certain level of evil to look someone in the eye and kill him rather than leave an annonymous bomb that may or may not explode. The two guards in the cell were told not to touch anything because of Cyrus' reputation, yet did anyway. If they obeyed orders, the bomb possibly could have been defused without hurting anyone.
Malkovich did a great job with Cyrus. About the only thing he had going for him was his sense of humor and his great vocabulary.