SPOILERS:
Sorry, but the whole FBI chunk of the film was bad.
I was sort of just taking it for what it was up until that point...and then all of a sudden you jump to another place with new characters, snapping at each other over nothing!
You're right, the FBI agent starts off with an attitude out of nowhere, and stays like that the entire film...it's really bad over acting, and looks all the more over the top compared to the type of acting of the two stars you've seen so far,
Then, you have the fact that she was sent alone. Why on earth would they send one female FBI out into the field alone?! Completely unrealistic. Especially when we've just been told she's emotionally fragile after a difficult case.
I just thought nothing of any aspect of the FBI stuff fitted the rest of the film, not the set up, not the acting, not the story device. I think it would have been a better film without an FBI presence.
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zaphod1957
11 years ago
I think this isn't a really bad movie except for the FBI part and that could have been fixed with just some simple script work and couple of extra scenes. For example:
Early on they should have introduced the Deatherage in a short scene. Perhaps one where she talked with the department psychologist about the rape of the little girl and tracking down the perps then killing them in a gunfight. She could be guilt ridden because she got to the girl too late to keep the attack from taking place.
In the scene with her boss I would have had him unhappy with her because on this last case instead of following procedure and waiting for backup she went into the perp's house alone. To this she replies that she thought that if she didn't take action immeadiately they would have killed the little girl. As it was she was too late to prevent the rape. Her boss agrees that might be true, but tells her that he won't put her back on duty if she agrees to follow procedure and wait for backup in the future. She reluctantly agrees.
This would establish why her boss it confrontational and that she has a history of breaking the rules and going it alone if she think it will help the victim.
He finally tells her that he will start her with something simple and gives her the case of the missing girl. She is to consult with the Sheriff and see if it looks like this is just a girl who ran away, or whether there may actually have been a kidnapping (which would trigger an FBI investigation).
I think the idea of this being just a easy consult with the sheriff would explain why the FBI is involved at all (they don't do missing persons) and why they didn't send a whole team (which they would if they knew for sure it was a kidnapping).
I would have had a scene where she meets with sheriff and he voices his opinion that he thinks this is a string of kidnappings. He tells her one month before this most recent kidnapping another teenage girl went missing coming home from a bar. She and her car simply disappeared. Deatherage asks if there is any connection between the bar and this most recent girl. The Sheriff doesn't know, so Deatherage decides to take a photo of the most recent girl over to the bar and see if anybody recognizes her.
This would give her a good reason to show up at this bar and ask questions. As it is she just seems to pick someplace at random and she happens to hit the bar the bad guy hangs out at. It makes more sense to do it this way as it requires some investigative work for her to find the bar.
It also makes little sense as the movie stands that after getting the drop on JYD she doesn't cuff him and wait for backup to search his junkyard. However, if we know she has a history of taking personal risks to save victims, and especially if she still feels guility about her last case, her decision to diregard procedure is more understandable.
Just a few thoughts.
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