Make sure he’s dead…

I’m really not a violent person, but I am a person who enjoys films, stories, and the like, and if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s when a character in a movie “kills” or “mortally wounds” another character, but doesn’t make sure… doesn’t finish the job.

We’ve been watching the old seasons Heroes for the past week, and there’s just too many of the “I thought you were dead!” moments where we find out someone appeared to have been killed, and, well, they’re ok! It’s like those old Bond movies (or Bond-parody movies) where the super villain sets up the hero to be killed, and then leaves secure in the fact that nothing can go wrong. There’s a reason it turned into a comedy bit…

So when I see this happen, I keep thinking of Frank Miller’s Sin City (film) where Hartigan kills the Yellow Man (it’s been 4 years, I hope I’m not spoiling it for you!) first by stabbing him, then castrating him, and then keeps punching and punching and punching until there’s pretty much nothing left… In fact, he says:

After a while all I’m doing is punching wet chips of bone into the floorboards. So I stop.

See? Make sure! That’s all I’m saying…

And just to be clear, I’m not a violent person, and I have no problem distinguishing fiction from real life, but that doesn’t stop me from being disappointed in unrealistic fiction.