I was surprised how good this was, but it was not great, especially the ending and the whole opal stone story were missed opportunities, and went nowhere.
Especially the whole plot with the african stone had sooo much potential, for plot twists interesting side stories which weren't explored.And just ending the movie with that "zooming into the wound, to make it loop to the first zoom into the stone shot" felt EXTREMELY cheap and made it feel corny and shallow.
and what was the point of the colonoscopy?
shareVery good question actually, it seemed to be somehow related to the stone , since the first shot of the movie begins with a zoom out scene from his rectum
shareAt first, I thought that he had swallowed the gem to smuggle it in and that was why the colonoscopy was in there, but no, the scene seems pointless, unless someone else has some insight.
shareI think it was just to add to the already growing stress he was under, and when he got the call form the doctor with the results i was expecting it to be bad news but it turned out all clear, that's when it all seemed like it was all going to work out for him with the bet going his way, back with his gf getting the money etc but obviously then the end came!
shareDo you have an example of a plot with the stone you would have liked to have seen? I thought that it handled the story very well.
shareDid I imagine the whole part concerning Garnett having a psychic vision of the African stone? And further, it was Ethiopian Jews mining for the opal at the beginning. It should've been way more spiritual and mystic. But maybe that was the point, keeping the mysticism at bay.
shareGood point, it could be that he had a psychotic episode, and the opal was just a manifestation of that, but why did the basketball player win all games when he had it? Just coincidence or a placebo effect?
shareI think the beginning tried to give you a "Indiana Jones" atmosphere/feel. There is magic in the air, but you cannot exactly touch it or see it. The magic and mysticism is very faintly in your reach. It is barely there, but still existent.
shareI believe it was meant to highlight the superstitious nature of professional sports players (i.e., Michael Jordan and #23), so something as seemingly trivial as a gem could be seen as a performance influence.
shareOpportunies !