Rooting for the 'Bad' Guys
Even though I give this movie a 6.5/10 over all, I admire the ability of the film makers to move you to root for the bad guy. He was an assassin for cryin' out loud! But we're rooting for him because he has a hint of humanity.
How did they fool us?
1) His "marks" were completely unknown to us. No personal investment. We know NOTHING of the shattered families they left behind.
2) The hitman is depressed. And we feel sorry for someone who is depressed.
3) Hitman shows a "hint of humanity" as mentioned above. When the killer is not a monster and becomes a human, it's harder to hate him.
4) An innocent, flawless, nothing but pure heart girl invests in him. We don't want to see HER hurt, so in turn, we don't want to see HIM hurt.
5) Even though he has killed an untold number of people, he walks away from his girl in order to spare her. Which is quite a "gentleman" like sacrifice on his part.
These are but a few of the tactics used to make us root for even the most vile characters sometimes.
Can you think of some other famous "bad guys" that we rooted for as a result of such "trickery." ;-)
Grosse Point Blank is another hitman themed one. What are others?
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good...