3 plot issues which rely on pure coincidence
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Fiery_Boycs — 9 years ago(October 30, 2016 08:42 PM)
Bud White found the body first, took the wallet but left the body there.
It was Exley who called in the Coroner and had the body taken away for autopsy. The Coroner would report to Exley his findings.
108 193 23 8114 246* 47.73 22 42 -
JTGleason — 10 years ago(May 08, 2015 10:18 AM)
I'm sorry to have to put it this way, but those are not coincidences. You have to put the movie on pause, or rewind it back to the parts that explain all those things after you went to the kitchen, or restroom while it was on.
For instance, Pearce partnered with Spacey to capture the three negroes, which got Spacey back onto the TV show, so he'd be the only one Pearce might now trust to help him. "Rollo Tomasi" is the made-up name Pearce gave to his father's unknown killer, which is the reason he join the PD. "Rollo Tamatas" sounds like they were talking about women's breasts. -
ejlearman28 — 10 years ago(June 26, 2015 03:41 AM)
Well you're right that I got the name wrong but wrong about the issues with the plot holes.
You should rewind the film and come back and explain to me why the following scenes happen.
I've copied links to clips I'd found on youtube, unfortunately one of them is in Spanish.
Explain why Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey suddenly get a call about the coroner for the body Russell Crowe discovered.
https://youtu.be/vesvyPOubeo
Why Kevin Spacey who resents Guy Pearce suddenly grows a conscience and decides to help after he's already damaged his career and made enemies in the department.
https://youtu.be/0tdcuaYdTTs
Why Russell Crowe visits a bar and finds a man who tells him that his partner and the dead may have been involved in a drug deal together.
https://youtu.be/7DEyh9VNNK8?t=1h11m43s -
fredunger — 10 years ago(June 10, 2015 01:36 PM)
- Mickyfinn correctly points out that Inez admitting she lied about the timeline starts Exley on his re-investigation of the murders. That leads him to seek help from Vincennes, probably because he successfully worked with before in the original Night Owl bust.
- Vincennes didn't run into the coroner by chance. Exley specifically sent him to meet with the coroner to find out the identity of the body. Remember "You get the girl, I get the coroner?"
- White already knew that Stenzlend killed Meeks before meeting Stampanato. He only learned the motive here. Important, yes, but not game breaking. White on his own already linked Meeks to the Night Owl killing through Stenz and Susan Lefferts being there on a date.
The only real coincidence I'll agree with is White running into Lynn, Susan, Patchett and Meeks outside the liquor store. That chance meeting pretty much set everything into motion after the killings (White recognizing Susan in the morgue, learning she was Stenz's girlfriend, etc).
If that meeting doesn't occur, there's no movie after the murders lol.
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ejlearman28 — 10 years ago(June 26, 2015 03:46 AM)
Hi, thanks for your reply but I disagree slightly with my assertion that these are coincidences.
I've copied links to clips I'd found on youtube, unfortunately one of them is in Spanish.
Explain why Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey suddenly get a call about the coroner for the body Russell Crowe discovered. Why did Pearce get a call from the coroner about the body?
https://youtu.be/vesvyPOubeo
Why Kevin Spacey who resents Guy Pearce suddenly grows a conscience and decides to help after he's already damaged his career and made enemies in the department. REPEAT SPACEY HATES PEARCE, why is he helping him?
https://youtu.be/0tdcuaYdTTs
Why Russell Crowe visits a bar and finds a man who tells him that his partner and the dead may have been involved in a drug deal together. Who is this man and why does he know about the drug deal and Crowe's corrupt partner?
https://youtu.be/7DEyh9VNNK8?t=1h11m43s -
LordBhorak — 10 years ago(July 15, 2015 07:20 PM)
About the call from the coroner. Pearce went to the same house as Crowe did and heard that Crowe had gone "under the house", so it was Pearce, who called in the body and therefor there is no coincidence what-so-ever, that the coroner called him about his identity as Pearce had EXPLICITLY asked for the coroner to get to him as soon as he knows the identity of the guy. Did you even watch the film?
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terry_hurley — 10 years ago(November 08, 2015 05:47 AM)
John Grisham once said that the hardest thing about writing fiction, was to try and avoid a coincidence. He said that coincidences happened all the time, in real life, but, if you include it in fiction, people will say "Oh, that was lucky!".
In terms of a real life coincidence, that really would not have been believed in ficton, I remember a news story, about a woman, married to Greek guy, living in this country. The guy kidnapped his kids, and went to live on a Greek island. the government's of both Greece and The UK could not do anything about it (Extradition laws, or some such nonsense). The wife wanted her children back. She was talking to her best friend , who was able to help. Why? Because her husband used to be in the army, and had been stationed on the Greek island that the children had been taken too. So, he had freinds in the right places, who had the skills, to be able to grab the kids back. Put that in fiction, and no one would accept that. -
Lahiru — 10 years ago(November 16, 2015 06:15 AM)
1 - Nothing inexplicable about it, Vincennes asks what got him in to being a policeman. He wasn't actually trying to 'avenge' his father, as he clearly states, Tomasi was a made up name for the guy since no one knows who the killer was. It's a name for the guy who gets away with it.
Nothing in the film indicates that Vincennes 'despises' Pearce, if anything he's aware that Pearce is digging into a solved case that made his name, evidence of his genuine desire to get to the truth. Vincennes is at this point also having a crisi of conscience, as evidenced by the scene where he drops the $50 note after the death of the young actor. He does feel responsible, and the film provides visual cues to reinforce that fact.
Exley doesn't technically reopen the case, he goes digging on his own because the rape victim tells him that she wasn't sure what time her assailants left, that she had lied to make sure she got justice.
I'm not clear which part of this is meant to be 'coincidence'. Two characters form an unlikely alliance, but this is completely justified by character and plot, it's not some random coincidence.
2 - Vincennes doesn't 'bump into' the coroner, Exley sends him to the coroner explicitly. Vincennes actually says "Oh, great. You get the girl, I get the coroner." before the two split up. How exactly is this a 'coincidence'?
3 - There was no 'heroin deal', the two were working for Dudley to take over the Cohen empire. They betrayed Dudley to try and sell the heroin themselves - this is the information Bud White gets from the interrogation of Stampanto, that Meeks was trying to push some heroin, it was word on the street. How is it a coincidence that a detective does detective work, gleans information, and then adds the pieces together?
I suggest you rewatch the film and pay a bit more attention! -
tommyk1287 — 10 years ago(January 01, 2016 10:15 AM)
Here's a quick response to #2:
Pearce went to the old lady's house after Crowe found Buzz's body, sans ID, and took the corpse back with him to be identified. The coroner identifies Buzz and calls Pearce while he is investigating Crowe with Spacey. Pearce decides to investigate Crowe's girlfriend and tells Spacey to check back at HQ to get the identity of the body. No coincidences there, it was explained pretty well without going into exposition monologues.
The real coincidence is that the hooker's pimp knew Pearce would go question his hooker that night, and had DeVito go take pictures of them. That part I can't explain very well.