Oh, the Horror!

[SimonDoom]

Nah. John Doe went for Somerset's gun. Mills had no option but to shoot him in self-defence. Sadly no video, but four cops saw the whole thing go down.

I mean, much stranger things have happened.



The drama certainly does require his destruction. But for a movie that prides itself on its darkness, it's quite touchingly naïve about what the consequences are likely to be for a cop who shoots the serial killer who just murdered his wife, with only other cops to witness.

(Would Somerset testify against him? I dunno. Does a guy willing to rat on his partner in those circumstances get to Detective Lieutenant in the NYPD?)

LAPD, not NYPD.

I think the implication from everything we see in the story is that Somerset would tell the truth because that's the way he is and that's an essential part of the character and of the story. I've dealt with enough cops to know to a certainty that there are cops like that (scrupulously truthful), whatever one thinks about law enforcement as a whole.

I think it's fair to say it's a murky enough landscape that it's possible a cop in his position would not be charged, but it's not implausible to say he would be.

 

[lovecraft68]

Bone Tomahawk a western/horror crossover. Most of the wait through its a tense, gritty drama, but has an air of menace about it(phenomenal score) that has you nervous throughout

The last 20 minutes or so of this movie is off the charts and there is a death scene so brutal it eclipses anything I've ever seen, just...ugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZbwtHi-KSE

 

[Bramblethorn]

LAPD, not NYPD.

Now I check, we're both right and both wrong on that. The setting is never actually specified; it was filmed in LA and elsewhere in California, but per commentary "shot to look like NY" and inspired by the writer's time living in NYC. I always got a Gotham vibe from it, and apparently many other viewers did too, but in the end it's Generic Grimy Big City.

I think the implication from everything we see in the story is that Somerset would tell the truth because that's the way he is and that's an essential part of the character and of the story. I've dealt with enough cops to know to a certainty that there are cops like that (scrupulously truthful), whatever one thinks about law enforcement as a whole.

I feel like you and I watched different films...

Somerset says some fine things, in that lovely soothing Morgan Freeman voice that we all know and trust.

He also bribes a FBI contact (already a felony, max sentence 15 years I think) to do something that clearly isn't legit. If it were legal for the FBI to give them this information, even if they didn't want the program publicised, there are far better ways to do it.

All this he does in front of Mills. Think about that - Mills is a new partner who he's only known a few days, and yet Somerset's willing to trust that his fellow cop will keep quiet about him bribing a federal official. What does that say about Somerset and his expectations of their department?

When that illegally-sourced info leads them to John Doe's apartment, and Mills wants to search it, it's Somerset who stops him because he doesn't want the truth to come out about how they got there. He has a line to the effect of "this is what the public want us to do, but they don't want to hear about it."

He tells Mills "we have to come up with some excuse for knocking on this door", and then turns a blind eye as Mills solves the problem by bribing a vagrant to make a false statement about having tipped off Somerset - a lie that will likely require Somerset to perjure himself if the circumstances of the search ever come up in a trial. [Edit: it's been a while since I saw the film and I'm working off this script to refresh my memory - apologies in advance if there are any discrepancies between that and the final screen version. But one way or another, Somerset is going to need some sort of lie to cover here.]

One might argue that Somerset is a good man who is justified in lying and breaking the law for the greater good. Perhaps so. But he certainly isn't an honest man. In particular, he's a man who expects cops will cover for one another's law-breaking, for the greater good, and he already owes Mills a favour for doing exactly that.

I think it's fair to say it's a murky enough landscape that it's possible a cop in his position would not be charged, but it's not implausible to say he would be.

I'll agree it's possible he would be charged, especially if he's so broken by what's happened that he incriminates himself. But if so, it's a break from the cynicism and corruption that's otherwise everywhere in that movie, even in Somerset.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

The horror movie genre was my thing. I grew up on the Hammer scare fests as well as a lot of Vincent Price's classics. His Dr. Phibes movies are a must.

In addition, I used to love the "lock a bunch of people in a haunted house and watch them die" films. Last House on the Left, Hell House, The House of Seven Corpses, 13 Ghosts, The House on Haunted Hill, and about a million other films with 'House' in the title.

While I do love a good (bad) horror flick, I do have a soft spot for ghostly comedies. One of my guilty pleasures is High Spirits with Steve Guttenberg and Peter O'Toole. And of course, Beetlejuice.

James

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't see anything political there.

Its social justice all cops bad links and remarks.

But know what,? I expect nothing less because you can't go anywhere without preachy self righteous, look how woke I am bullshit.

These are the people who were screaming to cancel Paw patrol, a show about k9 cops because I guess the dogs are racist too.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll leave off with this.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'll leave off with this.

I don't know, dude. Some cats are evil. I've had cats look at me with a look that said, "If you were smaller, I'd torture you, and then I'd eat you."