MovieChat Forums > The Veteran (2011) Discussion > Three Spoilers that make this movie grea...

Three Spoilers that make this movie great



1. The first grand evil guy gets shot mid-sentence.
Granted, he was given enough time to explain the evil plot, but at least there was no silly "let me transport you somewhere else and give you the chance to fight me before I finally kill you dramatically" stuff. Ramble ramble and just as I was starting to yawn bang down he goes unceremonially.

2. The good guy is shot by a kid.
OK we've seen in City of God and elsewhere that kids shoot people but the way the guy's hope to steer the kid back on track just vanished, and the realisation that, despite all your training and skill, half an inch of well-placed metal and 5 seconds of loss of concentration can destroy you - these are simple and very realistic elements that differentiate this movie from the bulk.

3. The second evil guy and the killer kid get away.
It could have been too easy and unoriginal for the good guy to kill everyone, achieve the perfect catharsis, and then reach his limits and die. Yet here he fails midway. Again a dose of realism that does not diminish in our minds his tragic-hero status.
Notice also their expressions after their victory - not celebratory but rather regretful; perhaps some self-awareness settling in, and implicitly some hope for potential redress.

Also loved the gunfight scene, very realistic with timely recharging, shifting positions while pointing the gun, committing around corners and obstacles, and missing more than hitting the targets.

Refreshing movie with great political and social commentary.

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Yea it was a great movie. Most of the people who gave this movie a bad rating did so because of the ending.

The ending really was depressing. The hero died and the corruption of kid was complete.

He survived a warzone in afghanistan only to die in another warzone(of life) in his home country.

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I had a buddy who was an MP all over the place. Came home, became a cop, and got killed in his patrol car.

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[deleted]

When the good guy shoots an unarmed mother as she is opening the door and then hears a baby crying. He sort of shrugs and moves on....

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Just my opinion, but I disagree.

I thought that he appeared upset about accidentally shooting the woman, and that the audience was supposed to infer that his lack of a complete breakdown was due to the amount of death he had seen in combat...those of enemy combatants, fellow soldiers and innocent civilians.

At that point in the movie, he was at war. His training and experience took over, as well as emotional blunting because of PTSD. In the final scene, he might as well have been back in Afghanistan, as far as his state of mind and emotions were concerned.

Plus, he wasn't allowed time to process what he had done as he was fired upon by another person almost immediately after shooting the woman, and had to react to that threat.

Hospitals, jails, brothels...these are the universities of life. - Charles Bukowski

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3. The second evil guy and the killer kid get away.

Sure, it brings something original to the story. But as far as storytelling goes, it was a piss poor decision to have it end like that. It just turned the whole movie from a story to a massive waste of time.

There are no happy endings in real life. Do we really need movies to repeat that?

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Defenseless = Safe

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Agreed. It's hard to justify watching it again, because of how terribly this movie ends. What a shame, because the shootout was absolutely brilliant.

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