MovieChat Forums > Meeting Evil (2012) Discussion > I don't get it (Spoilers)

I don't get it (Spoilers)


So was Jackson's character actually hired by the guys wife to kill him? Or was that a lie? Because if that was true, surely she would have said something to him when he went to the house before her husband got home and not played along as if he was a cop.

Everything about this movie seemed so... pointless.

Also, when the police are holding Wilson's character as a suspect and don't believe Jackson's character is real, why don't they just check CCTV at the bar and gas station?

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Yeah... I was thinking the same thing. She invited him in, he asked about her kids- she asked him if he was allowed to drink on duty and all that as if she had never seen him before.
And either way, he killed multiple people but left Wilson's character alive, for what?
The detective asked Wilson what other explanation he had for all the killings. Seemed like a pretty sh!tty detective because her hiring a killer wouldn't explain anything whatsoever.
I don't really get it either lol.

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well, Samuel Jackson mentions that he'd never met her directly. He murmurs something about her sending someone else to hire (pay?) him. Stupid movie either way.

I also don't understand why Samuel Jackson is always going around killing people randomly. He's a serial killer AND a hitman? I guess it kind of makes sense that he's turning his passion into a career..

But I think that the wife did hire someone to kill her husband. They established that she's tough and also how would Sam Jackson have known she took the kids out as soon as her husband got home.

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Jackson was the hired killer but he couldn't help himself, he just loved playing games with Wilson's gutless character so much that he kept dragging him around, also some of the people he killed maybe one of them he was hired to kill so he just killed em all, his character is a complete psycho who knows maybe that day he just totally flipped his lid and went 100% insane where nothing mattered to him whatsoever, IDK that's all I could possibly think of.

My Identity's been stolen,I'm waiting for another one

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If she'd never actually met him and hired him through someone else then I suppose that makes sense.

I was 50/50 on whether it was the truth or a lie to confuse Wilson's character.

Still not a very good film though. I know that Jackson is supposed to be "The hardest working man in Hollywood" but he needs to pick some of his roles a bit better. I can't think of anyone else that gets A-list roles as well as Z-list ones. I suppose he just loves acting.

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I'm pretty sure HE hired the hitman. I think he hired him to kill him so his family would be okay.
there's the scene near the beginning where he has his eyes closed and he's intense standing in front of the pool. I got the impression he was waiting to die.
there's also the scene where he says something along the lines of being able to do anything to save his family.

just an idea.

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I have a hard time with th s one. First off, the house sale failed that morning so had he been planning it if it didnt go through?

Also, why would he hire a hitman to kill himself for hi verys family tob\ be ok when as a general rule, life insuranc does pay out for suicide despite what you see in movies. At the very least, he could have killed himself by a car "accident" which is nearly impossible to prove if something ran out in front of him and caused him to swerve in front ofthe telephone poll in hte off chnce his insurance did not cover suicide

I also think the fact the weife was having an affair and she showed her true colors to the officer msde it much more likely that she did hire someone to kil him. However, was she supposed to run off with the pool guy??

The one thing I dont really get is why at the end that he started whistling the same tune as Jackson's characer? I a not exactly sure if they were trying to implu. Had he turned into Jckson's character after killing him? The movie just did not make a lot of sense.

Smauel L Jackson can carry a movie (See Unthinkable) but he phoned his one in for some quick cash IMO.

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valid points, just an idea. but for the record, sucide is covered by some life insurence, plus if he hired the hitman, it wouldn't be suicide. also, it's possible he could have hired him after he lost the house. I think we're all putting much more thought into this than the director did.

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I did see that this is based on a novel. I would like to hear what these people have to say about the motivations andthe characters. I am sure the Novel went into a great deal more depth.

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I was wondering the same. hopefully someone will come on and let us know

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I made a point to read the novel before watching the movie. Unfortunately, not a whole lot transferred over faithfully, so I am also lost as to the motivations the director/screenwriter tried to give Richie in the movie.

In the novel, Richie has no previous connection to John or his family - he's not hired by anyone to do anything, but simply has car troubles in front of John's house that morning. John is a realtor, but not struggling to the extent as the character in the movie. His entire entanglement with Richie comes from his clothing getting caught in Richie's door after he helps get the car moving and hurting his knee after being half-dragged by Richie's car, which is why once they finish at the gas station he agrees to continue accompanying Richie (despite at this point being totally frustrated and annoyed with him) simply for the ride back home because of his knee injury.

As John and Richie converse more over the course of the novel, and in the general background about Richie after the two of them part ways (right after Richie lets John out of the police car, then threateningly says he's planning to give John's wife Joanie a visit), we see that Richie is simply crazy. He spent time locked up, in psych hospitals, was possibly abused/molested in his youth, cares little for anyone or anything except himself, and is easily aggravated (a scene where he envisions killing an annoying waitress; another scene where he checks into a motel and pees on the bed because he's annoyed with his room). But he also cannot recognize that John's statement of "yeah, sure, it's totally feasible that I'd have you over to my house for dinner some day" is placating and insincere, and spoken by someone on edge and frightened, and shows up to John's house at the end like he's a real dinner guest. We also see him enjoying the "perfect family" scenario with the wife cooking and serving up drinks, and later becoming extremely agitated when John and Joanie begin arguing because it breaks this idyllic setting he's immersed himself in.

So in this context, I "get" why so many others were killed (the massacre at the gas station, the lady at the cell phone store, the truck driver on the road, the police officer who shows up while they're holed up in a house) because it's related more to him being psychotic rather than this "half-spree killer and half-hitman" vibe. The movie just convoluted things with this addition, in my opinion, like how technically Richie is there to kill John, yet for no discernible reason also comes to John's defense and is outraged on his behalf (killing John's former boss in the bar) - all of Richie's "favors" to John in the novel are based instead on his interpretation of their relationship: a combination of "cat and mouse" and what appears to be a delusional sense of "we're best buds and we've got each other's backs because see, I didn't kill you earlier when I could have." They actually wrestle over a gun at one point and once John realizes he's beat and gives up struggling, Richie simply chuckles and commends him on his display of strength.

By the time the police believe John's story about "this other guy" who caused all this mayhem and allow him to go home, he finds Richie there under the guise of having just purchased a home from John earlier that day but having forgotten to sign some papers. Joanie has no clue that Richie is anything but John's client, and John feels forced to go along with the story because of his fear that if he tries to go for a weapon or summon the police to his house, Richie may explode into violence and involve Joanie and/or their children. Joanie happily plays hostess, fixes them a steak dinner, orders wine delivery from a local shop, and serves up ice cream for dessert, never once suspecting that Richie is crazy and never knowing the truth about what he and John have been up to all day.

So again, the book had nothing to do with murder-for-hire. Richie knew nothing about John before that day, Joanie knew nothing about Richie, and John's quick thinking wasn't about deflecting a cheating wife who wanted him dead, but about keeping Richie calm enough to not erupt into more violence.

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I got the impression that the guy was just a complete psychopath who liked playing with people. He probably stalked the family first.

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"I suppose he just loves acting."

I suppose he just loves to be paid for it.

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She could have very well hired Richie: surely she wanted her husband dead, since we even see her trying to stab him with the knife (which he caught between his palms!) -at the dinner table scene, when Wilson's character pinned her to da wall after hearing Richie saying he was hired by her to kill him.

And, again: SHE DID NOT SAY ANYTHING TO RICHIE, BECAUSE SHE NEVER SAW HIM BEFORE, even though she hired him to kill her husband. And we know that because of Richie's answer to her "I have never seen you in my life!", which was: "Yeah, that's true. You did send someone else to meet me" and it did not seem a bit to me like he was lying.

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I agree with you on some points and this movie does seem a bit pointless at times.

What I believe is that, Richie was not hired by anyone (he was just a psychopath), although he did know a lot about them. In the last scene at the dinner table he says that, "I tell it the way I see it, and I see it the way it is", so its his perception that the wife wants John dead and he makes up rest of the story.

And unbelievably, when John's wife is calling Richie(Samuel) "A liar", Richie also says that "John you can vouch for me there". The guts on this man to make John believe anything. (Samuel just pushed him to the limit and definitely his intent was to change him)

Richie, said things whatever he believed them to be. He was a hypocrite and a coward and he hated the same people. (He says that in the movie and kills such people). He is completely insane as seen with his killing spree. No one knows Richie's background, but he hates people with the same flaws like himself.

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