MovieChat Forums > Surveillance (2008) Discussion > what twist? *SPOILERS

what twist? *SPOILERS

posted 14 years ago by spielbergos
13 replies | jump to latest

everyone is talking about 'knowing' the twist.
if you didnt get the DVD and expect some twist, the experience was different.
a director has control about what information is portrayed. if there are any 'real' clues, it is usually to throw the viewer off. (see 'the perfect getaway')
the film had a most definitely 'weird vibe' to it, and that weirdness is not necessarily meaningful.
two partners romantically involved? doesnt seem unusual
pulman acting outrageously weird? yes, but also able to deal with/control officers, and ask astute questions to witnesses- even moreso was his questioning of the coroners report.
the chief, the hyper officer, the raging officer, the psychotic patrolling officers- all over-the-top.
why,when collecting equipment from car at the beginning, would incriminating pictures be available, or ignored?
the female fbi was the most 'normal' character, and seemed well trained.
the beginning murder scene- why would 2 fbi agents be in the same bed together?
they didnt seem like agents, or react as if they were well trained. the fleeing woman definitely didnt seem to be mentally or physically capable of being a fbi agent.
most hilarious was the family taking a vacation drive in a underwhelming landscape!
in the sea of peculiarity, its amazing how astute people can be.
sure, you may get a feeling for the conclusion, but you should slap yourself for feeling you think you 'know'.
i enjoyed this movie more than disliked it, i wasnt looking for a twist, but everything was sooo messed up, truly anything could have happened.
i was really expecting more characters, but i guess the budget was pretty limited.

[–] spielbergos 14 years ago

u suck!

[–] scrapmetal7 14 years ago

One of the most annoying things someone can do is say, "oh, I figured it out..." like that makes them some kind of genius. If they are so busy picking a movie apart and sorting through all the movie cliches they know just to supposedly "figure out" a movie then they aren't enjoying the movie itself or the director's story or style choices, and they're missing the whole thing.

Personally, I try to take in every possibility, but I don't settle on one until it's over. Like you say, with this move the whole thing was so bizarre that it could have ended in any number of ways.

[–] mgkrebbs 14 years ago

Agreed, scrapmetal7. This ain't no IQ test, it's a movie.

[–] SquirrelBot3000 14 years ago

Mmm, no. The real trouble is that the movie tried to be clever in their subtle tells from the start that it forgot to try and throw some red herrings or even a cover for the tells.

No, the real annoying thing here is that Jennifer Lynch simply ripped off her dad's work and tried to pass it off as her own Blue Velvet or Lost Highway or what have you. It was a plainly bad twist thriller that sounded it's horn 10 miles back before it got to the railroad crossing.

[–] Otkon 14 years ago

The enjoyment of any theatrical art-form is based on suspension of disbelief. Does the internal logic of the film hold up to scrutiny? Was it well-crafted? Can I get emotionally involved in the fictitious world created and presented to me? That involves buying into the plot, following it and making sense of it. It can be abstract, it can be ambiguous. But if it is obvious or poorly rendered, that is what makes for boring, predictable or bad cinema.

This movie wasn't boring or bad. In fact, I liked a good deal of the audacity. Even if highly derivative of her father's work. It was just predictable. It didn't identify itself as surreal, so a lot of the plot issues could not be explained away. They must have been from sloppy execution. I wouldn't even say it was that bizarre. It presented itself as a thriller with a twist - and a not-completely successful one.

[–] UberNoodle 14 years ago

Picking endings is the the new ego boost for basement dwellers and creativity-dead media-grazers. They can't create anything so they glory in ripping others' work apart. And with the Net, everybody "knows everything now" so it makes being 'smart' quite a competitive business. Puts the insecure ones on 'prove I'm smart' overdrive.

[–] artistathome 14 years ago

There was no twist.

I figured it out in the first 10 minutes. Everyone in this movie was scum tho.

[–] dustyp-1 14 years ago

To me it didn't play out like they were even trying to pull one over on the audience. It was pretty clear early on what was going to happen, but it was still interesting to how it played out. I thought the real shock of the ending was just how easily they both got away. That's the twist....the fact that they didn't fairytale ending this movie up like most hollywood flicks.

I enjoyed it.

[–] mithril_19 14 years ago

The people killed at the start of the film weren't the FBI agents, they were a couple, and after they were killed the FBI is sent to the town to investigate the serial killers.

Also when the FBI agents are found dead they find the ID badges and there were actually 3 agents, all killed in the hotel room, which is why the guy who was there asked how many agents were there supposed to be.

[–] illiniba 14 years ago

"Also when the FBI agents are found dead they find the ID badges and there were actually 3 agents, all killed in the hotel room, which is why the guy who was there asked how many agents were there supposed to be."

I believe what the officer on the scene said was something to the effect of "we found the missing woman and two FBI agents"

[–] Vamp_Slayer 14 years ago

I liked both this film and the perfect getaway, they were good, not great, but I guessed the twist to both about half way through gor both of them. However it was still exciting to see it play out since I didn't KNOW for sure, I just guessed that's what would happen.

Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet - Freddy Kruger

[–] AtemAtomAnt 14 years ago

Good call on the female FBI agent murder victim. Garden-variety screamer. First hint for me... the offenders front up at the police station... and neither produces identification! (I.d.s found back at motel room at end movie.)
Neither are they asked for it!

[–] jnic7594 13 years ago

I'm sorry, but The Perfect Getaway was a cheap copout at a twist. It was almost like they just threw in a "twist" at the end that didn't really fit. This movie isn't much better but still.

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