Ex-Wives *possible spoiler*
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Zanderio — 11 years ago(November 02, 2014 05:37 PM)
If he said that these persons were his assets then the CIA would immediately look them up. But Muir didn't want that, to buy some time he said that they were his ex-wifes. The CIA wouldn't look his ex-wifes up, why would they?
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Midnight_Blues — 10 years ago(December 18, 2015 11:55 PM)
Because that way everyone assumed his phone calls and such were just private matters and didn't bother to investigate. Muir's in a room full of people he's trying to outsmart, so he pretends "operation dinner out" is just an innocuous dinner date with his wife and it takes them enough time to realize what he's truly doing.
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padzok — 10 years ago(August 28, 2015 07:04 AM)
IMHO, it just seemed like the the makers were trying to create a scene to match the end of The Usual Suspects, with the people in the room gradually realising that all the things they had been told over the last few hours were lies.
However, it does not work quite as well in this movie, because Muir was taking an unnecessary risk. His colleagues might have rumbled him by checking up at any time, and he did not need to weave his wives into the stories.
I suppose it works on some levels.
For example it shows the coldness of the work place. He'd worked there for decades, and now he was leaving without any money, without a leaving party, and without any friends (they know even the most basic things about his personal life).
It also fits in with his paranoid character (as per the comment to his secretary about Noah, and Tom's comment about how even the CIA's files did not contain Muir's correct birthday).
Finally, I imagine the makers would justify it on the basis that it was part of Muir's master manipulation. He cons Bishop in the first place into joining CIA. He keeps the one guy off balance by a throw away comment about having food in his teeth. He stops the map guy incriminating him by planting the idea that the only point of the conversation had been to issue a party invite (even though there was no party). So maybe the back story about the wives was to get his listeners focusing on that, rather than the things that could be clues to his real motives. -
philoj — 10 years ago(October 02, 2015 08:04 AM)
I think from almost the moment he walked into the room he realized he wasn't with coworkers - these were adversaries. And his training told him that with adversaries you don't give away any detail you don't have to.
Having a sting of ex-wives makes him look like a somewhat sorry, isolated man buried in his work and a bit out of touch with things. Much like the lines at the end - "Dinner out is a go? Who talks like that to his wife?" "Why do you think they keep leaving him?"
If he'd disclosed they were all assets, then he seems more like a connected, savvy operative, and they might have had their guard up more. For example, when they find out that he knew about Bishop before he came in but played dumb, they might have put someone on him that night.
Plus, he's probably told the tale of his multiple ex-wives so often it was second nature. -
DorkoTheDorkLord — 10 years ago(February 06, 2016 07:53 PM)
Why did Muir not say the 'ex-wives' in his stories were 'assets'? What exactly was the significance of saying they were 'ex-wives' over 'assets'?
Because claiming to have had a succession of ex-wives over the decades, rather than just one many years ago, allowed him to play off the phone calls as personal matters relating to his retirement. It also served the purpose of making him look slightly silly, lowering their estimation of him.
Was it because in his job he was not allowed to have assets?
Just the opposite - remember when he's initially describing Bishop and speaks of his talent at developing assets, prompting one member of the task force to clarify that point as it was unusual for a "contract agent" to be doing so? Kind of implies that such a thing was Muir's job.
It seems that, with a little digging, these assets were all known since the other CIA agents were able to determine that in the end.
None of the people interviewing him knew him all that well, and he wasn't the primary subject of the investigation (neither were any other agents or assets he ran). The Task Force's goal was to find a reason, any reason, to justify letting Bishop die in that prison - they didn't really give a damn about Muir's exes, other than it being amusing that his personal life had been such a disaster. They have a crisis to deal with, one demanding the attention of the President himself. It's only after the crisis is over and Muir's gone that they bother trying to piece together the timeline and by then it's way too late. -
jbaddock — 9 years ago(April 19, 2016 02:19 PM)
None of the people interviewing him knew him all that well
Exactly - and he's made damn sure they don't, over the years - there were seven different birthdays on file for him and I suspect that wasn't the only factual error in them either. Bishop also refers to not knowing anything about Muir. Muir has spent his entire career working in the shadows and, along the way, has deliberately cultivated an anonymous persona which enables him to walk away at the end and disappear. -
Mighty_Michael88 — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 02:36 AM)
@ jbaddock, That is a very good point. ..
Muir has spent his entire career working in the shadows and, along the way, has deliberately cultivated an anonymous persona which enables him to walk away at the end and disappear.
It is a behavioral practice that a rare # of people can develop and master.
Patience and self control are the key mental attributes.