Best crime movie questions of 2008

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The Dark Knight picture

Question: In the scene where Batman shows Lucius his giant sonar thing, why is he talking in his big scary voice? Lucius knows who he is, so why does he bother disguising his voice?

Answer: It's habit, and a sensible one at that. When he's in the mask, when he's being Batman, he uses the voice, even if the person he's with knows who he is. If he drops back to his normal voice with some people, it sets the precedent for using it while wearing the cowl, which means that he's more likely to slip up and use it around people who don't know, potentially revealing his true identity. If he sticks rigidly to using the voice when kitted up as Batman, regardless of situation, it minimises that possibility.

Tailkinker

Answer: At the bottom of his cowl Batman has devices designed to keep his voice at that level. The director revealed it, of you look at the right screenshots you can see speakers.

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Hancock picture

Question: I'm not sure if I was seeing things but during the fight between Hancock and Mary, when it goes all windy and stormy, at one point it cuts to some people who are screaming and running away. I thought I saw a figure that appears to be made out of rocks or similar material and about 10 foot tall, it wasn't our hero or heroine as they were not in that scene so what on earth was it?

Answer: I saw it, too, and wondered. He's a street performer in L.A. that just happened to be around during filming. See: http://io9.com/5023487/hancock-giant-robot-mystery-++-solved.

johnrosa

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Saw V picture

Question: I was wondering why the man and woman in the last trap didn't use the woman from the bathtub to give the pints of blood? They could have carried her into the room because the door stayed open for about forty seconds.

Michelle Ferris

Chosen answer: Assuming the woman in the bathtub was able to be moved safely the amount of blood gained from her, while still being helpful, would probably not be enough to save the final two survivors from self harm. Without the heart pumping blood you would only get the blood that was in her arm at the moment. You would have to lift her or raise her so gravity would get other blood moving to get enough. Which the final two possibly could have done, but stress of the situation clouded their judgement.

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Taken picture

Question: What would have eventually happened to Marko after Bryan left him in the basement? Would he just have died and continued to have current surge through him till someone found him? Would he eventually burst in to flames? Would his heart explode? I know he dies, that much is obvious. Just curious as to what happens in the longer term.

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: Depends on how much current is actually running through him. Since it didn't kill him right away, even after a few jolts to get him to talk, it's unlikely it was enough that he would ever burst into flames or that his heart would explode. Most likely, he just slowly cooked until he dried up and burnt like a turkey left too long in the oven.

Phixius

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Chosen answer: The film credits Hamilton Watches. Since Jason Statham uses a Officine Panerai Watch, I think, the villain uses a Hamilton. It's a nice watch, but I can't find that model on Hamilton's web site.

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Untraceable picture

Question: It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but I remember a scene in which the FBI gives a press conference urging users not to log on to the website, as they then become accessories to the murders. If that's the case, why not say that anyone who accesses the site to watch someone be killed will be charged as an accessory to murder since they can presumably identify the IP addresses of those who watch? It definitely would be a lot of people that would be charged and would cause its own separate and long investigation, but it could have deterred a lot of people from watching.

Phaneron

Answer: Most people who log onto a website know they can be traced through their IP address. Also, this is a movie, and plot details often are not logical or realistic.

raywest

For sure. But I guess to expand upon my question, is there any reason in particular in the real world why the FBI wouldn't threaten to charge people as accessories to murder? As in, are there any legal loopholes that would prohibit the FBI or any law enforcement agency in the U.S. from charging people if the extent of their involvement is driving up views which hasten the victims' deaths? I wanted to submit this as a mistake, but I didn't know if there were extenuating circumstances.

Phaneron

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Changeling picture

Question: Was Mrs. Collins' son ever found?

Answer: No. He was murdered at age nine. The movie uses creative license to bring up the suspicion that he could have somehow survived to create a dramatic hope in the end. Moreover, the killer was very unstable and retracted his testimony more than once. There is no solid proof of the boy surviving the killings. The police even found partial evidence of Walter Collins at the burial site. See the Wikipedia article for more information.

Earthling

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Vantage Point picture

Question: What was the significance of Rex's cameraman being in on the assassination plot?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: It's not stated in the film, but if I had to make an educated guess I'd say his job is to make sure the news channel doesn't get any footage of any of the terrorist agents or the window the shots come from.

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Slumdog Millionaire picture

Question: Why does Salim sit in a bathtub surrounded by rupee notes of various denominations before shooting at the mob boss and getting shot in return?

Answer: People have said that it may possibly be a metaphor in that the rupees he is surrounded by is actually "blood money" that the mob bosses had amounted, and he was intent on staining the notes with his own blood. But there is no correct answer to this - it's something that you need to interpret for yourself.

Hamster

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The Bank Job picture

Question: If so many famous, high-ranking people were involved, and many of the records of the heist are classified, how did the complete story become known? It would seem no one should have known about the photographs and such.

Answer: The complete story isn't known. There was a bank robbery, and after a few days of press coverage there was a gag order put in place to keep the press from talking about it. No one knows for certain why other than the people who were involved. This film is speculation, a possible reason for why there was a gag order. The producers of the film claim to have been working with an inside source who knew the truth for the gag order and cover-up. Whether the producers really did have an inside source, or that the source was telling the truth, will likely never be known for certain.

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21 (2008)

21 picture

Question: If the 21 game is still played in casinos, there could be hundreds of geniuses who can count and cheat the system as shown in the film. Is this a possibility, or have casinos adopted extra security measures or something?

Answer: Casinos have always looked out for people counting cards, even before the real events that inspired this movie.

pross79

Answer: Yes, most casinos have now upgraded to the automated card shufflers, which constantly shuffle the cards after each deal, so there is no way that counting cards would be possible.

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Appaloosa picture

Question: In the scene where they cross the bridge with the train, and Allison French is being held by those two guys with a rope around her neck, so that if they would shoot the guys, the horse would run off and break her neck, suffocate her or whatever... They were with 4 against 2, so why didn't one of 'em just shoot that horse?

Answer: There's no explanation. It could be that no one thought of this. Also, even if they shot the horse, the girl could still be injured or killed. If the horse was only wounded, it could have bolted, reared up, or fallen and then rolled on top of the girl. There's many different scenarios that could have played out.

raywest

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Max Payne picture

Question: Was this the first PG-13 film to use the F word? If not, what movie was the first?

Answer: Hardly. The word "fuck" has been allowed, subject to certain conditions, in PG-13-rated films ever since the rating was introduced in July 1984. Prior to that (and even occasionally afterwards), it was not unheard of for a film rated as low as PG to get away with using the word, with the first use in a PG-rated film being in All The President's Men in 1976.

Tailkinker

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Punisher: War Zone picture

Question: This gets described as a reboot rather than a sequel, but why? Nothing directly contradicts the original, as far as I'm aware, the only real change is the title character being recast - hardly unusual for a franchise.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: I haven't seen this movie in several years, but one contradiction I distinctly remember is the Punisher having a deceased daughter in this film, whereas in the 2004 film, he only had a son. The 2004 film had the Punisher's wife and son (named Will here) murdered in Puerto Rico and buried and Tampa. This film takes place in New York, and the cemetery the Punisher goes to has a gravestone for his wife, daughter and son (named Frank, Jr. here). There is also a brief flashback in this scene of the Punisher sitting on a picnic blanket with his dead family around him, which is closer to the comics origin where his family were collateral damage in a gang crossfire. The 2004 film depicted his family as being the deliberate targets of a mob hit and were run over by a truck on a pier.

Phaneron

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The Machine Girl picture

Question: I don't fully understand how Ryugi dies. He simply runs away after the gun ejects itself and is impaled by about a half-dozen rods. What happened and where did the rods come from? Are they the gun-barrels?

Answer: I will have to answer my question after another viewing of the film. The gun is shattered by the "special" bullets that Miki gave to Ami, which were too powerful, causing the gun to fragment when it was yanked off her arm. The gun barrels fall of and impale Ryugi.

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