Killing Emmitt was justified
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — 10 Cloverfield Lane
skat1140 — 9 years ago(July 11, 2016 09:13 PM)
Killing Emmitt was justified
Sorry, no. Howard could've tied him up, shackled him, kept him in Michelle's room. The death penalty was in no ways justified or proportionate. (He could even have 'exiled' him and sent him out of the shelter.)
Instead of somehow trying to remediate the situation he just executes Emmett. (All the more cold/cruel in that, with the Martian invasion, its very unlikely they're going to see another human being for years.) -
jpkrunch — 9 years ago(July 12, 2016 05:00 AM)
You don't have to apologize. You are free to disagree with me. But I'm guessing I would survive in that situation and you would be dead. The rules change when the world is coming to an end. Tie him up for how long? The rest of his life? If not, once he was untied what do you think he would do? Of course, we as the audience knew he was lying. But if Howard took what he said at face value, he had no other option.
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morph85 — 9 years ago(November 27, 2016 10:51 AM)
Sorry, no. Howard could've tied him up, shackled him, kept him in Michelle's room.
Why? So he can consume your limited food, water, air, electricity etc. for months, and never be able to fully trust him?
He could even have 'exiled' him and sent him out of the shelter.
As far as what they know, it's the same thing as killing him, only more painful and inhumane. And he would never agree going out, you would have to drag him out and eventually shoot him for not going. He might try to fight you. Too many risks, for the same outcome.
Instead of somehow trying to remediate the situation he just executes Emmett.
There was nothing to remediate. If he plotted against him he was too much of a threat. Even if you keep him around and build up the relationship for a few years, he can always go for your jugular when the time is right and your guard is down. -
foxyrabbit — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 10:34 AM)
Emmett grew up in the same small town, that's how he recognized the missing girl, and presumably that's how he also knew that Howard's wife and daughter moved away. Apparently he's known/known about Howard for a long time. If we can say anything about Howard, it's that he loves his daughter to an insane degree, so I doubt he would've killed her.
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mike_bike_kite — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 12:16 PM)
If we can say anything about Howard, it's that he loves his daughter to an insane degree
I think you're the only one saying that. All we really know is that there must of been some fallout and now the daughter and wife have disappeared. We know what happens when Emmett he apologised to Howard (shot in the head and dissolved in acid). We also know what happened to the girl he kidnapped. We also know what's likely to happen to Michelle if she stays in the bunker. She knows this as well and that's why she's willing to risk the chemical poisoning outside to escape.
I don't think I can put it any clearer than that but I guess you it's up to the viewer to guess what really happened to the wife and daughter. Perhaps they really are in Chicago. -
registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 04:43 PM)
Based on what Howard said, which may be a simple lie or be truth only in his head, I suppose he was trying to "protect" them in a way very very protective, and the wife decided to leave him and take the dauther with her.
It could really had happened that she managed to move, maybe while he was away and he was unable to stop them. But as I said in another post, he could have killed them when they tried to flee, or even before when he just felt it was gonna happen.
With his issues, after killing them, he could pretty much just have believed they moved to Chicago, as maybe the wife was threatening to do. They didn't actually move, but in his mind, their "betrayal" still happened, they sill left him, he still missed them. So it all actually happened to him, with the "single" difference that he killed them. -
registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 04:30 PM)
I agree. Maybe his wife and dauther were mad on him and decided to move, then he killed them, but in his mind they still traveled away.
We don't know if Emmett acutally saw them or if Howard just told him. He could even had seen them, then they were killed and Howard said they were gone.
The issue here is when did he kidnap the girl and killed her. It was years ago if I remember, so the bunker wasn't still there. But, if it wasn't there, how could her help message be there?
I could accept that that room already existed before the bunker and was he place were she was locked, and the bunker was built on the side of that room. But how could the whole construction happen and the room remain intact, never cleaned, the message never seen, the earring never found? -
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registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 04:19 PM)
It's that symdrom where the captive starts loving the kidnapper, when any small sign of affection surpasses all the horrible things she'd done.
Yes, Howard had a bunker, and yes, the girl was alive thanks to him. He also had full power over her and could have done worse things while she was there. He could have kept her locked, could have killed Emmett way earlier. The character seemed to have a will to "make things work right".
But still, he shot Emmett's face while he could just have locked him. He was able to handle the body and put on acid. It's most probable to me that he captivated the other girl and got her killed, and that he provoked the car accident on purpose to kidnap the main girl.
He's just the combination of the random conspiracy theory guy and the paranoic who builds a bunker and stocks food, added to the psycopat who kidnaps people to force them to live with him.
We could even consider that he didn't lock the girl because he wanted to earn her trust so he could have a better relationship with her. He could feel better to have her as a feeling-free friend who talks and eats on his side than a frenetic locked girl who screams the hell out of his ears all the time. -
TheMisanthrope — 9 years ago(June 25, 2016 09:27 PM)
Brittney was the girl in both pics. Notice the small mole in between her mouth and nose. The second pic looks like someone whos being forced to have their picture taken, but if you pay attention, the picture was taken while theyre sitting on a plaid couch with books behind it - this is the couch in the bunker.
Implication is pretty clear.
IMHO Howards wife and kid took off and Brittney was kidnapped to replace his daughter. Loosing his family,ddep depression, coupled his extreme paranoia, which to his wife seemed to defy reason. Doing what Howard did with the bunker,being prepared is one thing, what he did would have taken years it reveals a pretty severe psychosis.
Killing Emmet was done out of self preservation since Emmet basically admitted he was scheming against Howard. If opening the door and kicking Emmet out isnt a option (contamination) and you cant trust someone youre holed up with really what choice do you have?
"God Hates Us All" -
Ceephax — 9 years ago(June 27, 2016 04:18 AM)
Brittney was the girl in both pics. Notice the small mole in between her mouth and nose. The second pic looks like someone whos being forced to have their picture taken, but if you pay attention, the picture was taken while theyre sitting on a plaid couch with books behind it - this is the couch in the bunker.
Implication is pretty clear.
IMHO Howards wife and kid took off and Brittney was kidnapped to replace his daughter. Loosing his family,ddep depression, coupled his extreme paranoia, which to his wife seemed to defy reason. Doing what Howard did with the bunker,being prepared is one thing, what he did would have taken years it reveals a pretty severe psychosis.
Very good analysis. -
comprakash — 9 years ago(July 09, 2016 02:39 AM)
Howard had intentionally kidnapped Michelle. Here is my theory.
When Michelle stops at the gas pump, a person is shown to be following her.
That's person was driving a truck with similar headlamps and orange indicators as Howard's car. Even though it is blurred, the placements of lights and its shape can be identified. Howard knew of the attack and rather than going alone to the bunker, he thought of kidnapping Michelle. Just like Brittney. Why else would Howard tie/lock up Michelle when she was unconscious. He wanted to first check if she recognized him from earlier encounter at gas pump and accident. But she didn't so he set her free. A person with good intentions and who just saved another person won't lock that person up. -
registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 07:19 PM)
That's very nice. Yes, she had hurt her leg, but he still locked her.
Script writer tries to mess with us by alternating actions of bad and good guy on him. When we're certain he's one thing, something happens and it all changes to other direction.
I think Howard was just lucky that an attack actually happened. He was paranoid, built the bunker, lost/killed his family, kidnapped the other girl. Then he was just trying to do it again. Maybe the blackout news alarmed him, maybe he was just trying a simple kidnap and it was the perfect moment and he realized it when Emmett came asking for help. -
JolenesClover — 9 years ago(June 27, 2016 07:42 PM)
Plus..when they were all playing that game with the timer,he kept calling Michelle a girl,child,princess etc. But he couldnt come up with the word "woman". Howard didnt see michelle as and adult, but as a replacement daughter.
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chopperman — 9 years ago(July 16, 2016 10:27 PM)
Plus..when they were all playing that game with the timer,he kept calling Michelle a girl,child,princess etc. But he couldnt come up with the word "woman". Howard didnt see michelle as and adult, but as a replacement daughter.
yeah that was basically hitting you over the head with what this guy's deal was. it was a good movie so i can forgive how heavy handed that bit was.
Larry Gaylord: "a billion people come in on a day off, and they don't flip out!" -
surajkrstha — 9 years ago(June 29, 2016 02:33 AM)
Why Howard has shaved his beard just after killing Emmet when we see his body still i acid later. What's so hurry or care to shave at that time, he could have done it any time early before killing happned or later any time. Who goes to shave after killing someone? What's director was implying with this?
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registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 06, 2016 02:16 PM)
Killing him was a tough action, plus now he was alone with Michelle.
Either of those were a big milestone, and they were reached together. Shaving helped visually show that Howard's emotions were heavily touched.