Jim's Superpowers
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TexasBEAST — 10 years ago(May 08, 2015 04:29 PM)
They came from within. They were always there to begin with.
But it took seeing the monsters that the soldiers had become toward the women, and nearly being executed himself, to unleash it.
We should be clear as to exactly what was unleashed, though. Don't overestimate or overstate exactly what he accomplishes there at the end. Jim became a reckless crazy man. He just blazed through the camp like a whirling dervish. He did not become a super-ninja or spec ops one-man army. He crazily threw all caution to the wind and dashed through their defenses because he had run out of options. His back was pushed tightly against the wall, and he decided that he was mad as hell and he wasn't gonna take it anymore.
And then he got himself shot, for his troubles.
We could all do that, more or less. It's just that some of us would end up accomplishing the getting-shot part a little earlier than others -
watcher101 — 10 years ago(November 18, 2015 09:23 PM)
I pretty much summed up Jim's brutality and stamina to pure adrenaline and survival instinct. In some traumatizing or life and death situations, our instincts can just take over and we do very violent and amazing things to survive. And when you're completely jacked up on adrenaline, you'll be surprised what you can do. Ever see that video where a mother lifted and entire car off her child that was crushed underneath it?
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hipkat333 — 10 years ago(November 22, 2015 05:02 PM)
If you have to ask this question, then you have missed the main driving point of this film. Although to be fair, I cannot blame you.
A rational person would look at this situation as ask the questions you have asked, but only a small amount of the population have truly been in a fight for survival. Those of us that have, understand the juxtaposition of both losing control and mastering it, in a single instance to defend ourselves, or the ones we love. The strength, speed and focus which accompanies these moments are unparalleled by anything you could imagine feeling in life. While military and fighting experience go a long way, unless it is coupled with this will to survive, it basically means nothing in comparison.
I cannot recall a movie that has so brilliantly and terrifyingly portrayed this raw, primal instinct. It's an ugly, brutal ending and it is perfect in conveying what it is trying to tell. -
crissttigaldames — 10 years ago(December 02, 2015 07:14 PM)
Yep, it's really just silly. And the whole thing with the soldiers went on too long the women being made to wear those red dresses was just ridiculous.
I thought I remembered this movie being better lol. -
Qsera — 10 years ago(March 26, 2016 04:18 AM)
Yeah I thought so too. The first part of the movie was great, but with the death of Hannah's father logic seems to vanish.
I spend the second half of the film with my my mouth open in disbelief that I hurt my jaw. After the ending I banged my head on the wall and went to hospital to get treatment. I'm OK now. -
E_nineteen — 9 years ago(April 23, 2016 12:04 PM)
It was a bit of a silly Hollywood-y scene, but not that unrealistic. I got the sense that two things made Jim really switch - the first when the soldier said he wanted to rape 'the black one and make her squeal' (you saw his entire attitude and stance change after he got up off the ground) and the second when he saw the plane in the sky, and realised what the other man had said was true - the rest of the world was still out there, there was a future worth fighting for. In the end, he planned it well - that's all. He didn't even engage in that much hand-to-hand combat - he let the infected do a lot of that for him, up until the end, when he was faced with the man he REALLY hated.
I wish he had been wearing a shirt or something, the nudity felt a bit ridiculous.
As for the bit with the kid? Whacking a kid with a baseball bat? We could probably all do it, if we had to. It took him a moment to muster up the courage, too - standard Jim. -
grizzly228 — 9 years ago(June 10, 2016 12:15 PM)
I agree with you on most points. Having his shirt off showed that he could be just as barbaric and vicious as the infected. That the rage is always present within us. The virus just unleashed it.
The way the final sequence was shot, like an infected, and him being so brutal and removing his shirt, it signified the theme of the movie. I thought the ending was perfect.
Granted once the soldiers show up, it does hunker down a bit and borders on clich territory, but the ending is worth it. Even when he goes to rescue the girls, they almost mistake him for an infected because he was moving so fast and so brutal. Of course the woman hesitates because she has feelings for him; hesitation was something she told him not to do and was shown when Mark was attacked at the beginning.
Overall this is my favorite "zombie" movie. Not without flaws, but his "superpowers" weren't super. They were a personification of the theme that the rage is always in us to be brutal; just like the commander says, looks the same as ever, "people killing people." -
GreyHunter — 9 years ago(September 09, 2016 10:56 PM)
Adrenaline does crazy things to a person. As do terror and a sense of self-preservation. And never underestimate the element of surprise. These people were on watch for creatures that growled and snarled and ran recklessly straight ahead, not some guy sneaking around and popping up unexpectedly.
Also, Jim was a bicycle courier. Not exactly hard labor, granted, but it still requires more stamina and fitness than, say, your average retail or office job. He would have been in shape. Certainly in better shape (generally speaking) than somebody whose profession kept them behind a desk all day.