I wonder why is that Kenneth betrayed Mallory knowing that she would come after him. I guess he thought by manipuating Paul into doing the dirty work, that it wouldn't come back to him but Alex knew that Kenneth went rogue and had to be stopped.
shareThe set up is clumsy.
If Kenneth knew how good she was, he would have gone heavier.
Fassbender didn't seem to be bringing his character's A-game in this one...
She was going to kill him and he was like...Meh...
Bad films are a crime against humanity.
The way I perceive the film, it wasn't Kenneth, but Rodrigo. So far as we know, he is the one who approaches Studer and helped set up Barcelona. It also seems contrary to both the IMDB summary as well as wikipedia that far from being manipulated, Paul (Fassbender) is in on the betrayal. The flashback scene shows Kenneth explaining to Paul how Mallory would be framed AND instructing him to plant the broach after killing Jiang before finally taking out Mallory herself at the hotel. It is clear Kenneth didn't count on Mallory escaping the trap and coming after him.
The character I don't get is not Kenneth but Alex Coblenz. Is he in on it? Certainly he is coming across to Mallory as an ally interested in Kenneth's true motives, offering her the gift of legitimization at the end of the film. But I am not so sure. In the beginning, he is the one pressing hard for Mallory to be part of Barcelona. Is it because he was knowingly maneuvering her into a trap? Or was he being manipulated by Rodrigo to request her? We are to believe that he intentionally lured Kenneth to pursue John Kane so that Mallory can corner him. But when he confronted Kenneth in the garage, he spoke as someone infuriated as having paid for a job that left messy loose ends. Did he expect Mallory to be framed and killed as planned by the other conspirators? Did he expect Kenneth to successfully find and eliminate Mallory at her dad's place?
I find the scene between Mallory and Alex toward the end hard to interpret. What is the reference to the "halo effect" supposed to allude to? Also, is there any other indication that he is genuinely interested in Studer as he said during the phone call to her in Dublin when he instructed her to keep digging? If you buy his interest in Mallory for Barcelona as genuine professional respect, it makes sense his offer at the end of the film. But it seems all ambiguous, perhaps intentionally?
I've just watched this, so my theories are fresh but obviously I haven't had a lot of time to think about them.
Rodrigo hears that Jiang has been causing Studer trouble and is in a safe house in Barcelona. He approaches Studer with a plan.
He knows (somehow) that Mallory is leaving Kenneth's (her ex-lover) organisation and will take his clients with her which will put Kenneth out of business.
So he convinces Coblenz to insist on her being part of the team that helps "free a hostage" in Barcelona.
We never actually know whether Jiang knows what is going on since he doesn't seem to speak or understand any English as far as I can tell, but he's just a means to an end to set up Mallory.
She frees him and then Kenneth sets her up to be framed for Jiang's murder during the Dublin job.
Studer plants her broach on Jiang's corpse, and Paul agrees to kill her in "self-defence" after they get back to the hotel in Dublin.
Mallory finds the broach on Jiang's body, realises that she has been set up and kills Paul.
Then she goes back to the US via Canada and arranges to meet Kenneth at a cafe in upstate New York, but he sends Aaron to collect her. Aaron and her are also ex-lovers and she doesn't want to fight him but has to in order to escape.
She then calls Rodrigo to find out who gave her the Barcelona job and he calls Coblenz who traces the call back to her cell and calls her.
When they initially talk then neither trusts each other but Coblenz works for the government and thinks that he may have been shafted by Kenneth.
So he challenges Kenneth (basically sets him up) to talk to Mallory's dad, knowing that she will be there.
After that (I'm tired) then it's all fairly simple.
Coblenz realises that he actually has been shafted by Kenneth and offers Mallory a job working for the government. We don't know what branch he works for. Could be FBI or CIA or another three letter acronym.
She decides to go after Rodrigo who was behind the entire scheme and...
The end.
Cheers, Will
If the opposite of Love is indifference, what's the opposite of Hate?
"The way I perceive the film, it wasn't Kenneth, but Rodrigo. So far as we know, he is the one who approaches Studer and helped set up Barcelona. It also seems contrary to both the IMDB summary as well as wikipedia that far from being manipulated, Paul (Fassbender) is in on the betrayal. The flashback scene shows Kenneth explaining to Paul how Mallory would be framed AND instructing him to plant the broach after killing Jiang before finally taking out Mallory herself at the hotel. It is clear Kenneth didn't count on Mallory escaping the trap and coming after him.
The character I don't get is not Kenneth but Alex Coblenz. Is he in on it? Certainly he is coming across to Mallory as an ally interested in Kenneth's true motives, offering her the gift of legitimization at the end of the film. But I am not so sure. In the beginning, he is the one pressing hard for Mallory to be part of Barcelona. Is it because he was knowingly maneuvering her into a trap? Or was he being manipulated by Rodrigo to request her? We are to believe that he intentionally lured Kenneth to pursue John Kane so that Mallory can corner him. But when he confronted Kenneth in the garage, he spoke as someone infuriated as having paid for a job that left messy loose ends. Did he expect Mallory to be framed and killed as planned by the other conspirators? Did he expect Kenneth to successfully find and eliminate Mallory at her dad's place?
I find the scene between Mallory and Alex toward the end hard to interpret. What is the reference to the "halo effect" supposed to allude to? Also, is there any other indication that he is genuinely interested in Studer as he said during the phone call to her in Dublin when he instructed her to keep digging? If you buy his interest in Mallory for Barcelona as genuine professional respect, it makes sense his offer at the end of the film. But it seems all ambiguous, perhaps intentionally?"
Cycleplumber, I concur with your post. I have a lot of questions about Coblenz, and I'm still not sure what he's about. Also, it was never clear to me why Mallory decided she could trust him.
I have a lot of questions about Coblenz, and I'm still not sure what he's about. Also, it was never clear to me why Mallory decided she could trust him.
Don't forget Alex Coblenz/Michael Douglas could always get the ones who did/botched the Mexico job.
All kidding aside, for a 92 minute movie it was very unclear in some of the characters true motives.
Another thread on this board wondered if Mallory might have been married to Rodrigo? What with Kenneth asking over a cellphone if the divorce was final and later Rodrigo saying he was getting a new wife.
All in all, I liked HAYWIRE/KNOCKOUT and Gina Joy Carano's minimalist acting style.
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Sig Line:
Many cynics and skeptics mistake their hubris negativity for actual intelligence.
@cycleplumber - excellent questions, and precisely the ones I came here hoping to find the answers to!
In a similar vein - if Mallory's inclusion in the Barcelona mission was the entire point of it from Kenneth's perspective, why did he try to put up obstacles when Coblenz asked for her to be included?
This all seems incredibly tenuous from Kenneth's perspective. He's relying on Rodrigo to push Coblenz into coming to him, AND on Coblenz insisting on Mallory so firmly as to push past Kenneth's initial refusal, AND on convincing Mallory to accept this random Dublin assignment even though she was leaving his company and it's an unusual role for her, AND on Paul succeeding in his mission - just so there's a vaguely plausible self-defence explanation for her death!? Surely a man in Kenneth's position would have a dozen more straightforward options for doing away with one of his own employees!
Frankly this film makes far too little sense for my liking...