Hard-boiled mysteries had their golden age. To this day, although new works are still being released, most of them have faces that are full of desire but malnourished. The seemingly "tough guy" protagonist is used as a tool to fight against trapped beasts in a pitch-black world, and to travel through the dark and endless hell on earth for you. The setting of gangsters eating gangsters and all villains provides rationality for the abuse of violence, but it always loses to the frailty of human nature. These filmed alternatives to political secrets and yellow journalism are constantly being produced to satisfy the unsatisfied appetites of audiences.
Netflix's new film "Reptile" inherits the authenticity of tough guy reasoning in every aspect. It is not weak and weak, but has flesh and blood. The protagonist played by Benicio Del Toro is a real hard-boiled egg. He has the courage and ability to touch rocks, and he is also a charming egg.
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The supporting cast isn't bad either. Every tree in the Sin Forest has its own shape and survival logic, and together they form a complex jungle ecology. In Scarborough, Maine, where the story takes place, the political climate is conservative, and middle-aged property owners occupy high ecological positions. The dark river of crime flows unnoticed, bringing with it rolling wealth and being sheltered by something resembling friendship. The system could have continued to function until outsiders broke in.
The hard-boiled reasoning that reached its literary peak in the hands of Raymond Chandler, with the hero's naked body in battle, and the cruelty of flesh-and-blood contact with reality, is different from the true-style reasoning in which a superior detective looks at the world coldly. After World War I, detective novels went from being a pastime of the aristocracy and the propertied classes to becoming a popular read for the poor. The detective fell from God and turned into a "tough guy" who breathes the same breath as all living beings. They are skilled, mentally developed, and determined, and will always side with the egg without hesitation.
Rao is the best among such people, and the tough-guy detective who has been boiled into an old egg by reality is still an egg. They are unlucky and even have a tragic fate. They are always surrounded by enemies and find themselves in the most thorny part of society at the bottom. Tough guys get hurt, and the police detective played by Benicio Del Toro appeared with an injured palm, which added a hint of suspicion to the character and was a tribute to those flesh-and-blood tough guy detective predecessors.
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This police detective's environment is not much different from that of his predecessors. Tough guy reasoning is always shrouded in the shadow of long-standing social problems. The detective is as alert as an animal, sophisticated and preemptive, and inevitably tinged with sadness.
Because no matter how strong the hero is, like the last color in the sunset, he will always be swallowed up by the night. They cannot be as immortal as Poirot or Miss Marple.
Benicio Del Toro, who plays tough-guy detective Tom, has aged well. Now, the lines of his eyes and face, and the shape of his hands all fit the image of an old egg. The previous story of the character is that Tom was relegated from Philadelphia to a small city, and took refuge with his wife's uncle, the police captain, and returned to his old profession as a homicide detective.
Scarborough's new world is revealed bit by bit in front of Tom and the audience. This is a world that is reasonable and has the texture of a real American dream. Everyone gathered, danced, and played cards. Tom and his wife quickly integrated into the circle of friends of the local police circles, winning their friendship and respect. In the restaurant, Tom tells a gay joke and everyone laughs. At this time, the camera moved behind them, and the guests at the smaller tables around them were startled.
This is the first hint, reminding the audience that there is a boundary between this small, intimate and affectionate group and the outside world. Closed groups are indifferent to outside reactions, hostile to the outside world, and potentially destructive.
The warm atmosphere peels off, and the truth is approaching. It turns out that everyone around him will reveal his sinister look when he takes off his mask. This is a commonly used method in horror movies to create a creepy effect. In reasoning works, it is necessary to carefully grasp the scale. If you push too hard, it will look cheap.
Discovering that a friend, neighbor, or co-worker is a demon or an alien can only bring temporary horror. Only when they are still themselves, and their friendship is still there, but because they have different paths and have to decide life and death in an instant, will it be shocking. The criterion lies in, if the detective refuses to step back and stand by instead of getting to the bottom of things, to what extent will he step on other people's bottom line and trigger a chain reaction.
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"Cold-Blooded Animals" has a clever script, especially the first 2/3. It requires the audience to watch carefully and establish an understanding of each character's personality based on the lines and characters' behaviors, as well as their own life experiences.
Character determines destiny, and every character who appears follows this rule, including the tough guy detective himself. Character becomes clearer through motivation. Some characters have already revealed their predictions about their own ending when they were inconspicuous. Sudden deaths and missing persons leave gaps, and the audience is encouraged to make logical inferences.
Grant Singer, the top music video director in the industry, will naturally give full play to his strengths in his debut film, using audio-visual language to create an atmosphere where no one can be trusted and capture the spider-like fear in the air.
The camera wanders through the gray tones of affluent American suburbs. Single-family houses built according to the standard of one household per acre or one household per three acres, surrounded by sparse woods and lawns, are the most material embodiment of the American dream.
The tough-guy detective was not unenvious of this scene. He secretly raised his hand in the suspect's mansion and took a photo of a smart faucet as a reference for his own kitchen decoration. He also tried out the car while investigating the case at a car dealership, and "the money came from overtime pay." He keeps a close eye on the few good things he has, such as his wife.
The detective is also a dreamer in the American dream, initially turning with the gears around him. Scattered humor will confuse the audience, making it difficult for people to distinguish between loyalty and adultery, which will increase the fun of watching the movie.
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In the last 1/3 when the case gradually became clear, the movie finally couldn't hold on and relaxed. The director failed to calm down and used various techniques to confuse the audience more frequently, trying to delay the moment when the truth came out. The detective didn't care about this. He gradually separated from the environment and showed that the gears around him were running in a different direction. From the beginning, he was bumping around without a clue, accumulating strength and preparing for a desperate counterattack.
There is no point in delaying the disclosure of the truth. Because the end point of the tough guy's reasoning is not to tell the truth, but to put an end to the suffocating evil in the final showdown.
But will there really be an end? The duel scene is very exciting, with one shot confirming one person's ending, just as predicted previously. And it contains the meaning of hope. Outside the world of terminally ill adults, children see no danger and happily play Frisbee by the lake. The detective whose life was saved by this hope, although he defeated his opponent, will repeat the unfortunate past in Philadelphia.
Previously, he was bullied by the police because his companions were under investigation, and was accused of being the most shameful whistleblower. In an environment where loyalty outweighs legal principles, tough guys are ostracized. When he came to the new working environment, he committed an even more unforgivable taboo. The "crime" of a traitor will always follow him.
In this way, the character of Tom embodies the last trait of the tough-guy detective: a marginalized person who is not accepted by the collective.
Detectives in the classical era had a stable economic and social status, were able to advance and retreat, were at home in various groups and were highly respected. The tough guy detective is the complete opposite in these respects. Even if they can gain respect and integrate smoothly at the beginning, it will be difficult for them to maintain it. And it is almost impossible to escape from the case unscathed, and always end up alone in the end.
This is the unfortunate ending that the movie didn't make, and it's also the fate of tough guys.
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