I admit the acting is a little mediocre and some of the torture scenes made my skin crawl. But none of that disturbed me as much as the ending did.
I didn't like Mike at all throughout the movie. I was sympathetic to him because of his daughter's predicament, but that quickly faded half-way through the movie.
I hate it when the town tried to lynch Captain Howdy. Here's a guy who seems to have genuinely turned around and they string him up based on suspicion. And Mike by all means as an officer should have stopped it. But he didn't. He just sat there and watched them drag him off.
The whole attempted lynching and the aftermath just proved to me how sick the whole town was. I couldn't see them as mere "upstanding citizens" as they stood there laughing as he choked. Even more so, the guy leading the mob after leaving him forgets completely about his own "missing" daughter and goes home to watch kiddy porn.
Of course, because they tried to kill him his evil side re-emerges and he gets back to his old ways, this time by torturing the people who tried to kill him. I almost wished he'd taken Mike along, and the fact he kidnapped his daughter again for torture irked me completely. Then again, I can imagine that's the best way to hurt him.
Anyways, onto the ending. After rescuing everyone, Captain Howdy and Mike get into a typical fight to the death. And here's where Mike's sick side comes out; he beats Captain Howdy to a bloody pulp and instead of arresting him as, you know, a cop SHOULD do, he murders him. Viciously. Sadistically. Like a monster, NOT the cop he SHOULD be. I can't even watch this movie all the way through anymore because of this. It was even more sickening afterward when his COP comrades commend him for it!!
I'm not denying Captain Howdy deserved justice for the horrible things he did. But he didn't murder anyone. And the horrible way he died wasn't necessary. All this movie did was show me that "normal" people can be just as monstrous, if not more so, than the very criminals they scorn.
I didn't like Mike at all throughout the movie. I was sympathetic to him because of his daughter's predicament, but that quickly faded half-way through the movie.
I hate it when the town tried to lynch Captain Howdy. Here's a guy who seems to have genuinely turned around and they string him up based on suspicion. And Mike by all means as an officer should have stopped it. But he didn't. He just sat there and watched them drag him off.
The whole attempted lynching and the aftermath just proved to me how sick the whole town was. I couldn't see them as mere "upstanding citizens" as they stood there laughing as he choked. Even more so, the guy leading the mob after leaving him forgets completely about his own "missing" daughter and goes home to watch kiddy porn.
Of course, because they tried to kill him his evil side re-emerges and he gets back to his old ways, this time by torturing the people who tried to kill him. I almost wished he'd taken Mike along, and the fact he kidnapped his daughter again for torture irked me completely. Then again, I can imagine that's the best way to hurt him.
Anyways, onto the ending. After rescuing everyone, Captain Howdy and Mike get into a typical fight to the death. And here's where Mike's sick side comes out; he beats Captain Howdy to a bloody pulp and instead of arresting him as, you know, a cop SHOULD do, he murders him. Viciously. Sadistically. Like a monster, NOT the cop he SHOULD be. I can't even watch this movie all the way through anymore because of this. It was even more sickening afterward when his COP comrades commend him for it!!
I'm not denying Captain Howdy deserved justice for the horrible things he did. But he didn't murder anyone. And the horrible way he died wasn't necessary. All this movie did was show me that "normal" people can be just as monstrous, if not more so, than the very criminals they scorn.