How it should have ended...


So, a lot of people are disappointed with the illogical part of Clyde leaving the tunnels unguarded - and thereby allowing himself to be outsmarted.
And I agree.

Here's what I feel would fix that, and a few other illogical things:

Clyde does his thing at City Hall, cops do theirs - they find the bomb, they realize it's a huge friggin' super bomb that will take out several floors, BUT it is booby trapped and can't be moved. Also - because Clyde is so clever - they are unable to disarm it.
Basically they all just sit there, waiting.
All except Nick, who rushes back to the prison.

Clyde returns to his cell, via the tunnels, and after closing the door behind him he says, still with his back to the rest of the cell:
"Hello, Nick. I'm glad you're here."

Nick steps out from the shadows - NOT armed, annoyed that Clyde knew he was there. The two have a conversation that basically runs along the lines of Nick trying to convince Clyde not to kill everyone, and Clyde saying that "he will do what needs to be done".
This could go on for a few minutes, as it adds tention. It could - or perhaps SHOULD - be intercut with clips of the officers at City Hall pacing around the bomb, at a loss.
The important part is that Clydes statements NOT be phrased any less vague, and that it ends with him saying something along the lines of;
"This is too important, and it doesn't matter what deal you offer me this time, Nick."

He dials a number on his phone, lets his finger hover over the call-button, looks long and hard at Nick and says;
"What have I taught you?"

Nick answers;
"Never make deals with murderers."

Nick exits the cell and close the first door, the bars, whith Clydes unflinching stare following him out.

"Then this will not have been in vain." He says, and presses the call button.

We hear the phone dial, we see Clyde close his eyes, we see the phone screen in the City Hall Bomb come to life, we see Nicks hands grip the bars really tight, we see the City Hall phone screen flash the word 'REDIRECTING CALL', we see Clyde slowly drag another phone from his pocket, we see that he has wrapped the 'DADDY'-bracelet around it, we see him clutch it to his chest, we see the display on the new phone light up....and then a "picturesque" - but much smaller - explosion (similar to the one already in the movie).

The point of the suicide is that Clyde had gone too far, and he MUST have known it.
So - with him him being super clever - he also knew that the cops/lawyer would eventually find his tunnel, and that his time was soon to be up. Hence the huge, very real (but works excellent as scare tactics) bomb, and the subsequent, much smaller and more realistic-sized suicide bomb.

It could also be implied, somehow, that had Nicks final answer been different Clyde might actually have blown up City Hall.

I might take heat for this, but I kind of like the idea of Clyde ending his own life, and also the idea that Nick did NOT outsmart him, and that he had the upper hand all the way through to the very end.

reply

I like it

reply

That would have been a totally EXCELLENT ending! The screenwriter should have thought this one through!

reply

An alternative ending could have been when Foxx brought Gerald in the first time, if he'd said "okay, I was wrong to cut a deal 10 years ago, I admit I didn't feel good about it at the time, but you've had your fun and now it stops... off you go and don't do it again!" then they go for a beer, shake hands, <roll credits> <play the golden girls theme tune>...

reply

Great ending!!

reply

That would be a good ending, but I don't know if I'd like it better then the movie one. I don't like the idea that Clyde can't be outstmarted. That was one thing that kind of bugged me. All of Clyde's plans kept working too perfectly. Boring invincible heroes are a problem in movies, but sometimes boring invincible villains can be the same way.

I actually liked Clyde getting a taste of his own medicine at the end.

reply

That would have been a Brilliant ending.


Libera te tu temet ex inferis.
pro ego sum diabolus, pro ego sum nex.

reply

I rewatched this movie some time ago and I really like your idea of the ending. It presents his condundrum in the first place that the justice system allowed to make deals and they continued to make deals with him even though they knew he was guilty.

I find it better that he actually never wanted to kill anyone but Ames and Darby but made himself a villain to portray what happens when we don't take villains seriously and then allowed himself a suicide to show that District Attourney (who it looked like he genuinely wanted to understand Clyde) that he knew he went of the rails.

Considering Clyde's skills, he could have easily killed Ames, Darby and then continued to work for DoD/CIA, they might even have given him protection given how useful he was but he didn't really want to live anymore, he just wanted payback and the world to know it.

reply

Works better than the film's version, that's for sure.

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in." -- Will Rogers

reply