Question: How did the Cadillac get from Clyde's mansion to the abandoned garage?
Question: Why was Clyde still activating the latest bomb when he had already taught Nick the lesson not to make deals with criminals? That was his whole point he wanted to make, wasn't it? That had succeeded, so why the intent to kill more people?
Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?
Question: What was the whole thing about Clyde's house being broken into? Was it just a home invasion or something to do with his CIA past?
Question: In court, Darby asks Nick if he's married. What's the meaning of this question, and why did he ask it? Seems a bit strange to just randomly ask someone that.
Answer: Because Nick knows this man is guilty. He says it to almost imply, "well since I'm getting off, may as well make a visit to your family next. You married, Nick?"
Answer: The answer that someone else gave to this question is misleading; indicates that Clyde asked Nick if he was married. It was actually Darby who asks Nick this question. And there really is no answer except that Darby is a menace and a scoundrel. He only asked this to aggravate or pull some kind of thread at Nick. Nick knows this, which is why he replies to him the way he does.
Answer: Probably because he was married with a child, and he wanted to know if he was also married, so he could possibly relate to his situation.
Question: Two questions. Why did Clyde think Ames deserved to die? Sure, he was involved in the robbery, but he didn't participate in the murders, and in fact tried to save Clyde's wife from Darby. Also, why didn't Darby kill Clyde during the home invasion?
Answer: Clyde killed Ames so the police could find the hidden message and go after Darby which Clyde then lured him away to kill and place him on his property to start the cat and mouse game. Clyde blacked out too so he probably didn't remember too much what Ames did, even though he did say especially Darby is guilty. Not sure why Darby didn't kill Clyde. The scene suddenly ends. Maybe they tried or thought they killed him. I thought they stabbed him in his stomach and maybe expected him to die slowly but he managed to survive anyway.
Answer: He was also guilty by association. He was an accomplice who robbed them and even though he said stop, still watched Darby try to rape his wife.
Answer: Yeah, he should've got like 50 or life. And Darby on row. But Darby was richer than Ames. So Darby got a more string pulling lawyer than he did.
Question: How could Ames have received the death penalty if he didn't actually kill Clyde's wife and daughter?
Answer: They made a deal with Darby. Darby testified saying Ames was the one who killed the wife and daughter in order to get a reduced sentence. Since Shelton's testimony was inadmissible because he blacked out it was Darby's word again Ames'.
Answer: He was a participant in a felony during which someone died. That means the felony murder rule applies. Felony murder is a capital crime.
Question: Why did Darby rape and kill Clyde's wife and daughter? Seems pointless, given that Darby and Ames were only there to rob the house.
Question: Ames was in prison for 10 years and after that time he was executed? Why after 10 years?
Answer: The appeals process for capital murder cases is long and arduous, and it is also automatic in most jurisdictions. It typically takes years for those on death row to actually be executed.
Question: Why didn't Nick and his cop buddy lock down the warehouse after they discovered the tunnel to the prison? They could have waited for Clyde to return to nab him and shut him down.
Answer: Clyde was already in the process of bombing City Hall when they discovered his warehouse. They deduced that if Clyde realises they are onto him, then he will detonate the bomb early, so they decide to let Clyde return to his cell and trap him while he is under the impression that his plan is going to go off without a hitch.
Question: What body parts did Clyde cut from Darby? Clyde only mentioned three or four pieces, but cops on the scene say that Darby was found in about 25 different pieces.
Answer: He took his fingers off with bolt cutters, and his toes with tin snips. His head was on a table, and after dismemberment of his limbs, there's your 25 pieces.
Question: Clyde says to Darby, "Now, what we don't want is you swallowing your tongue, so bear with me" and then inserts some kind of mouthpiece into Darby's mouth. What does it do, and why does he not want Darby swallowing his tongue?
Chosen answer: The devices he places in Darby's mouth is to keep his tongue in place. He doesn't want Darby to swallow his tongue (i.e. choke) because he wants him to be awake and alert for the duration of his torture. This is also why he gives him an adrenaline IV to keep him from passing out as well as tourniquets for his severed limbs to prevent him from bleeding to death.
Question: When Clyde is about to die from the bomb, why didn't he just end the call on the phone he was calling from? He could have probably cancelled the detonation.
Chosen answer: Unfortunately, that wouldn't have done it. Once the phone on the bomb received the signal there was no going back.
Oh, and you know this how?
Because that's generally how cellphone bombs work. Nobody's on the other end to answer it, so it's not triggered by being answered. As soon as any call signal is received, game over.
Question: I used to work in a prison as an intake nurse, and I am wondering how in the hell did the warden and guards who were watching the food go through the X-ray scanner not see that the bone in the T-bone steak could be used as a shank? It could be seen on the monitor, so it was obvious. Either sloppy writing of the movie or it just wanted to show the jailers were just inept.
Answer: I think you have given two good answers to your own question. Unless someone knows more about the writing of the movie, it's either a plot convenience or a subtle suggestion that the prison isn't well run.
Question: What happened to the daughter?
Answer: She is killed, and its implied from what he was trying to do with the wife that he may have raped her before killing her.
Question: I never saw it from the beginning. Does it actually show the home invasion, or is he just telling us about what happened?
Answer: The theater version shows the wife's rape and murder, but not the daughter's. When the little girl interrupts her mother's rape, Darby smiles and laughs as he tells Clyde and Ames, "I'll take care of her, kids like me." He then picks her up and carries her into another room as Clyde's wife stares at Clyde as she dies and that's when Clyde blacks out.
Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.
Phaneron ★
When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.
I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.
Phaneron ★