tjfs@otter.hple.hp.com (Tim Steele) (03/04/88)
That settles it. The US and UK versions *must* have different endings. In the UK film he *does* die in the chair (rather messily, I'm afraid) - but the escape seemed more likely to be "real" (or at least as real as other parts of the film!) Tim
steve@crcmar.crc.uucp (Steve Ardron) (03/25/88)
From article <810007@otter.hple.hp.com>, by tjfs@otter.hple.hp.com (Tim Steele): > That settles it. The US and UK versions *must* have different endings. In the > UK film he *does* die in the chair (rather messily, I'm afraid) - but the > escape seemed more likely to be "real" (or at least as real as other parts of > the film!) In the version I saw, the cloud sequence is there, but he doesn't die. At the end, he's staring off into space as the head of Info. Retrieval and his torture finally give up. The escape sequence I saw was full of obvious dream sequences and jumped arround randomly, impossibly even, which should mean that it wasn't really happening, whereas the death? ending seemed bluntly realistic. I thought the whole thing might be dream while he was being tortured, since the interrogators mask shows up frequently in the obvious dream sequences, and some parts of the supposedly real part of the film defy logic. Did you find that people either loved or hated this film? Personally, I thought it was one of the best films I've ever seen, but then I like films that make your brain melt and dribble out your ear. A lot of "artsy" types I know couldn't see a message, and so dismissed it as junk, and a lot of Rambo fans (or anybody who likes mindless entertainment) thought it too strange. P.S. it really helps to see it twice. Stevie.