John Goodman's character is sick [spoiler]
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civ-e — 9 years ago(June 14, 2016 08:44 AM)
he displayed too many signs of being a bad guy (yelling and threatening) from the get-go to make me believe he might be a good guy. i think they should have made him seem more nice in the beginning to make it really ambiguous or even surprising that he's a bad guy.
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caprittarius — 9 years ago(June 15, 2016 08:08 PM)
I see where you're coming from, but I kind of liked that we knew he was bad news right away. With Emmett corroborating Howard's story about an attack, we are left to decide if Howard is crazy/evil but telling the truth and Emmett is in on it, or if Howard is just a sicko and Emmett doesn't even realize how deep the crazy goes. I thought it was very well done. All three performances were pretty damn good, IMHO.
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cozmogrl1-1 — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 05:32 AM)
I never saw him as a bad guy. Thru whole movie I knew he was right about the aliens n he was helping them. He was a littles nutso, but shooting emmet was actually a rational thing because they are in a place they cant leave n someone tells him they were making a weapon to steal his gun. Id shoot him on the spot too, u cant trust him, n he cant open the door to let him out. Michelle showed herself untrustworthy to him many times, so he watched her like a hawkI would too if someone tried to burn my bunker down. Think of the situation thru his eyes. I think there are too many ambiguities to say he killed that other girli just think hes off but a good guy overall.
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activista — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 06:53 AM)
Seriously? He didn't have to do what he did to that other guythat was some real psycho s*** there. Dude was sketchy from the get-go, and Michelle was smart not to fully ever trust himhe seemed like a good guy at first, then gradually revealed his true colors. He was more like the movie's real monster than any aliens he claimed existed.
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JackTorrance1980 — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 05:00 PM)
I see your point, but you have to put yourself in Howard's place. It was his bunker, and he was keeping Emmett and Michelle alive. He wasn't lying to them about what was going on outside. When Emmett made up the story about trying to steal Howard's gun, Howard only had two options.he could either kill Emmett, or he could try to discuss the matter with him. To Howard, killing Emmett was the more sensible option, because he was a threat to his and Michelle's safety, since Howard thought that staying in the bunker was their only option for survival.
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Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 05:33 PM)
When Emmett made up the story about trying to steal Howard's gun, Howard only had two options.he could either kill Emmett, or he could try to discuss the matter with him. To Howard, killing Emmett was the more sensible option, because he was a threat to his and Michelle's safety, since Howard thought that staying in the bunker was their only option for survival.
Was Emmett
planning
to steal the gun more of a threat than Michelle
actually
stealing (and almost using) the keys to open the bunker?
By your logic, killing Michelle was the most rational option after her actions because she posed a threat to the people in the bunker. She continues to plot after that part and anyone looking at their faces during the bathroom confrontation could see she was in on it with Emmett.
Howard just wanted an excuse to get rid of Emmett and as soon as one presented itself, boom. Another user tried to argue that Howard's line after he kills Emmett ("Now it's just you and me, the way it was always meant to be") is a reflection of Howard believing in predestination. But I don't buy that. I think that Howard was sick, wanted Michelle all to himself (for whatever sick reasons), and he jumped on the first chance he got to dispose of him.
Howard was controlling and possessive in a way that goes far beyond just keeping order. Two different people have said that when Howard yells "No touching!!!" at Emmett when Emmett helps Michelle when she stumbles it's because he's worried they will fall in love and have babies and a bunker is no place for babies! Please. -
JackTorrance1980 — 9 years ago(December 29, 2016 05:54 PM)
If Howard wanted to get rid of Emmett, he could have killed him before Michelle woke up after being brought to the bunker. Besides, he wanted to keep Michelle alive for whatever kind of father-daughter thing he had going on in his mind, so he wasn't about to kill her even after everything she did to try to escape and harm him. Emmett was a different story, because he didn't mean anything to Howard.
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Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 07:27 AM)
If Howard wanted to get rid of Emmett, he could have killed him before Michelle woke up after being brought to the bunker.
I think that Howard wants to see himself as being a good and logical person. I think that in his mind he needs a reason to kill Emmett and once presented with that reason he jumps on it. To me a large part of Howard's illness has to do with the gap between how he sees the world (and himself) and reality. Emmett puts out a hand to catch Michelle, Howard treats it like he's groping her. In his eyes Michelle, a grown woman, is a "little princess." The photo showing him on a couch with a girl who is clearly unhappy is not something I would ever show off to someone else, but Howard considers it positive evidence of a relationship.
I think that Howard is also jealous of the friendship between Emmett and Michelle, and he's more than happy to have an excuse to have Michelle all to himself. Again: "Now it's just you and me. The way it was always meant to be."
It's hard for me to tell on this board what people mean when they say others should "put themselves in Howard's position." Howard is mentally ill. But sometimes it sounds like people are saying "Yeah, in his position I'd totally do the same thing." I just find a disconnect there because Howard's actions are coming from a place of distorted reality.