Made an account to reply to this...it's understandable to be confused, as the movie totally loses its way in the 2nd half, slips into ridiculous ideas the writer-director only had half-developed in the first place, and on top of that he has some important scenes where the dialogue is almost inaudible. ANYWAY, here's the deal...
The FBI agent/minister part, it's a lame attempt at representing a classic "conspiracy theory"...the minister is making the black community too strong by giving them hope and unity, whereas the "evil government" wants to keep them down with drugs and violence so they are easily controlled. A variation on the classic "the government invented crack, and released it into black neighborhoods to keep them controlled" conspiracy. Anyway, they want the minister killed so they can regain control and maintain the status quo, and they offer to wipe Tommy Bun's record clean if he'll do it.
Now, the reason they need TOMMY of all people to do this, is on even shakier ground than this ridiculous idea is in the first place. The FBI agent just says that they need a black guy to kill him, "For publicity"...which actually implies Tommy is supposed to get caught for doing this? But then I guess Feds help him disappear? Again, this part of the movie is not well thought out.
The minister is not dealing drugs or doing anything immoral...the FBI agent is the one driving in the car with Tommy, he doesn't meet the minister until the very end...but the FBI agent gives Tommy drugs to plant on the minister before he kills him, as "It's very important he's found with *beep* (drugs) on the premises". They're trying to set up an elaborate framing of an innocent man, for some reason using a random NYC thug...as someone (sort of) mentioned earlier in the thread, the whole conspiracy is supposed to be like a JFK thing. "Oh no, guys changing society too much, must kill him". Lemme know if you have any other questions, I've watched this movie ALOT, considering how ridiculous it is
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NewportBox100
9 years ago
Great reply! It all makes sense to me now.
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HOKfilms
8 years ago
I cant believe you needed this explained to you. lol
Reading your initial replies, you were way off.
Unless youre responding to me, dont hit reply to my post
I <3 Emily Blunt
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movie_nazi
8 years ago
The FBI agent just says that they need a black guy to kill him, "For publicity"...which actually implies Tommy is supposed to get caught for doing this? But then I guess Feds help him disappear? Again, this part of the movie is not well thought out.
Not necessarily. I think they're meant for him to get killed publically or at least with a few witnesses to see that it was indeed a black man.
However I agree with your assessment. Plot is completely rediculous.
My Vote history:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1914996/ratings
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NickyCee
8 years ago
Really nice job on explaining this plot section. I finally saw the movie last night for the first time and while there are many negatives, I enjoyed it. Compared to the majority of movies I see, it was a masterpiece.
You are 99% there in your explanation but I would like to make make one change: You say, "The FBI agent just says that they need a black guy to kill him, "For publicity"...which actually implies Tommy is supposed to get caught for doing this"
No, this isn't correct. the FBI agent (an uncredited Vincent Pastore -- who also played Phil Leotardo on the Sopranos) needs Buns because only a black man can get this close to the Minister this quickly. Remember, it's October when they meet on the basketball court so Buns has just two months to get into the Minister's inner circle before he gives his new year's day speech. That's not a lot of time to get close enough to the Minister -- and have a gun on your person to boot. Buns has no choice in the matter. Well, he does. He can spend his life in prison or go for this deal. Buns is supposed to cap the Minister then get out. the FBI will then relocate him and give him a new life. The FBI is now able to "keep the black man suppressed" as many black people think actually happens.
By the way, this is so far from reality. The FBI would and could never do this - despite what some inner city folks might think.
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mywhychromosome
8 years ago
Gotcha! Yeah I should've definitely included that, as that at least makes some remote sense. But there IS still a line (I'll try to find the exact quote and time) where he says, "We need a black guy to do it, for publicity"...or so I thought. Maybe he just meant it had to be someone from inside his organization, which, by definition, would be a black man.
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