Neil the Cop
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Texrat — 17 years ago(March 17, 2009 05:48 PM)
Bingo.
Neil was a plot device, there to move the plot forward. In that respect, a small but VERY necessary element of the story. He offered insight that none of the other characters could.
As for the Kubrick business, I see the references as more of a nod, a mild tribute than a ripoff. Why are so many people automatically willing to assume the worst?
One nice touch: when the girl's ghost is freed, the song playing (Beth Orton, "It's not the spotlight") contains the lyrics "I've seen it shining in your eyes". Clever.
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pizzm — 17 years ago(September 18, 2008 11:44 AM)
It kind of helped explain just what was going on. I mean, I had the general idea of what was happening, but this kind of honed it in for me.
Plus, it gave Maggie a little inside as to what her husband and son were actually up to.
"I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there." -
Mehki_Girl — 17 years ago(March 01, 2009 12:49 PM)
Sometimes what happens is there is more to the character in the script but then some other scenes have to be cut and then a particular scene doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The director says in the commentary that there was at least another scene with Neil and the group that was more expository but was later cut because it would reveal too much.
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koffeenkreame41-1 — 14 years ago(November 12, 2011 10:53 AM)
I heard about that. I thought Neil the cop was a pretty cool character, sure it reminded me of The Shining but I thought it was like a nod.
"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna*beep*wit' me!" Hudson in Aliens. -
tupacin2003 — 13 years ago(September 07, 2012 04:10 AM)
agree, after Neil talks to Maggie you would think that would be the point of Neil, but then Maggie still acts like a bitch with Tom. She doesnt explain to Tom wtf is going on with him, it makes no sense, made me wanna pimp slap Maggie but not sharing what she found out with Tom and on top of that acting like a bitch when he is going crazy trying to dig.
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koffeenkreame41-1 — 11 years ago(May 01, 2014 01:53 PM)
I agree, I didn't like how Maggie treated Tom, he was trying to find out what happened to Samantha & Maggie didn't tell Tom who Neil was or tell him what he told her, it was like she never spoke to the guy.
"I am the ultimate badass, you do not wanna*beep*wit me!"- Hudson in Aliens. -
bettina-3 — 12 years ago(March 16, 2014 01:40 PM)
Coming late to the party, but as I recall, Nick is a character from the book. He belonged to the same organization (more like affiliation of 'dead people seers') as Tom's father. Although he doesn't go as far as in the book, explaining the 'talent' as passed from father to son and that some (like Tom and his father) don't handle it well, he does de-mystify the relationship between Nick and Jake and the ghost and explains that this is not a haunting, but the ongoing experience of an other sense.
Matheson published the book around 1960 so no; Nick is not based on Dick Halloran and this movie does not rip off the Sixth Sense.