I thought Emmet did it…
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Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(September 09, 2016 03:48 PM)
I also wasn't sure what to think about Emmett for a good chunk of the movie.
That part at the very beginning when Michelle trips and Howard yells "No touching!" when Emmett goes to help her made me wonder: is that Howard being jealous? Or does Emmett have a history of hurting women and Howard wants to protect her?
But the scene where Emmett talks about not going to college made me feel like he was trustworthy. From that scene on I believed in him. -
pisces-37330 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 02:36 PM)
Emmet was definitely just an innocent bystander. Another poster had mentioned perhaps John Goodman ran Michelle off the road on purpose to hold her captive in the bunker but the attack happened and Emmet being there was unexpected.
The whole Brittany thing John Goodman tells Michelle the photo is Megan, his daughter. Emmet informs her it's Brittany who went missing a few years back.
I'm going to make some stretches here, but bare with me here:
I think John Goodman's character may have been molesting his daughter and used Brittany and then Michelle to replace her.
-He mentions Megan's mother turned her against him a few years ago. She may have just finally been able to get away though.
-Brittany went missing a few years ago. He may have kidnapped Brittany to replace Megan. There was the word "Help" scratched into that window and her earring was found on the floor below it. The earring matched the one in her picture. She didn't look happy at all in the photo of her with John Goodman.
-Michelle may have been the next target. She was traveling the opposite direction of where he lives. He said he was in a rush to get back home because of the attacks. You clearly see the headlights come from behind her. He mentions he didn't have time to get the bottle. He had time. It was in his truck, along with her stuff in a box. The box made it inside. I'm guessing the attack happened as he was getting her inside and as he was getting her stuff out of the truck, Emmet showed up and that's how he made it in. Later she provokes John Goodman by caressing Emmet's hand. And there's the part where they're playing charades and Emmet is trying to get John Goodman to guess Little Women. He says, "What Michelle is" John Goodman guesses she is: a girl, a child, a little princess. Super weird. And finally after he kills Emmet, he tells her it's just the two of them, the way it was supposed to be. He tells her he wants them to be a happy family.
So I don't think Emmet had anything to do with what was going on. -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 03:01 PM)
Agreed. Emmet's character is ambiguous at times, but ultimately never actually menacing.
And it's such a weird, random lie to make up about the girl in the picture not actually being Howard's daughter. If he was just trying to get Michelle on his side, he did not need to be that subtle about it. Michelle didn't need little nudges. If Emmet had just said "I think we need to get out of here," you know that Michelle would have been 100% on board. -
pisces-37330 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 03:41 PM)
I think there's a possibility Megan didn't exist. Howard says his wife and daughter moved to Chicago years ago and Emmet reiterated that. However, when Michelle shows the picture to Emmet he doesn't say, "that doesn't look anything like Megan, that's Brittany". He tells her it isn't Megan, it's Brittany. Howard may have shown her that picture because he doesn't have one of Megan because she doesn't exist.
Howard was either molesting his daughter or had a very unhealthy relationship with her, or he created the idea of her so he wouldn't get in trouble talking about Brittany. Howard seemed very sure Megan was gone. Maybe Megan is Brittany and he knows she's gone because he killed her. -
Doomy_McDoomerson — 9 years ago(January 19, 2017 09:19 AM)
I think there was more to Emmet's character than what was revealed. In fact, I think the story he told Michelle was partially bogus.
For starters he told Michelle he was driving home when he saw the attack, then he rushed to Howard's place and got there just as Howard was closing the door.
However, when Michelle goes outside, there are only TWO cars out there. Howard's truck, and the car that old woman drove there in. So, where was Emmet's car?
If you notice Emmet also agrees with Howard's story of the attack and radiation and all that without question, unlike Michelle. But when Michelle hatches the escape plan, he suddenly jumps on board.
I think he was in that bunker for other reasons than he stated.
"I'm gonna show you something beautiful: Everyone screaming for mercy." -
Stovepipe99 — 9 years ago(January 19, 2017 02:20 PM)
I think he was in that bunker for other reasons than he stated.
Like what? Not being sarcastic. What do you imagine he might be doing in there?
Howard is such a control freak that I find it hard to believe that Emmett could get away with spending time in the bunker without Howard noticing.
Emmett has the injury to his arm that he says he got when Howard tried to shut him out of the bunker. So do you think that Emmett was already in the bunker and Howard tried to kick him out (as opposed to keeping him from coming in)? If Emmett is lying about how he got the injury, that would mean that he's flat out lying to Michelle's face (about his injury and about the girl in the photo) and banking on Howard not refuting what he says.
If Emmett had already been in the bunker, and without Howard's permission, I'm surprised Howard wouldn't bring that up. The fact that Howard doesn't talk much about Emmett's injury makes me think that Howard did try to keep him out of the bunker (so he could be alone with Michelle) and that he's embarrassed about it because it makes him look like a bad guy.
I'll admit that it's been a while since I watched the movie, but my memory was that Emmett basically believed and went along with everything Howard said, but that after the whole thing with the photograph he seemed more interested in going along with Michelle's escape plan.
If Emmett was up to no good, I wonder what his ultimate goal was: was it to kill Howard and have Michelle all to himself in the bunker? That would surprise me because while he seems to get along with Michelle in a friendly way I never sensed much sexual attraction between them. It never felt like Emmett was perving on her, or (on the flip side) wanting to kill her, or that he was becoming possessive of her.