Question: We see something going on between the corrupt skinhead and the Hispanic criminal inside the prison, and it makes Vinyard leave that gang. What exactly was the arrangement by the skinheads to 'protect' Vinyard?
Answer: It's quite simple: He was one of them, a fellow skinhead. In prison different groups stick together for mutual protection and comradeship, and as neo-nazis/skinheads would be fairly unpopular with the colored inmates, all the more reason for them to protect each other.
Question: What is the most likely explanation for what was in the case?
Answer: There's no way of knowing what was in the case. It is a plot device called a "MacGuffin," a term coined by director Alfred Hitchcock. It doesn't actually matter what the object is but is just something that drives the story. It can be any type of object or device such as a "secret formula," "enemy war plans," a "nuclear weapon," a "treasure map," and so on that the characters are either searching for or protecting. There was never any intention to reveal what it was. Its purpose is to motivate the characters' actions and tell the story. Most likely it was intended to be a McGuffin just to keep the audience guessing and thinking about the movie long after it ends.
Question: At the very end of the scene in which Walter and the Dude are spreading Donnie's ashes at the coast, a dark and unidentifiable figure appears for a few seconds in the upper right screen, apparently hiking a trail along the cliff. Was this an accidental walk-on by an actual hiker, or was it written into the script? With all the star-power in this film, I thought every bit of background action was supposed to be meticulously crafted.
Chosen answer: There's no way of knowing. If the hiker was that far away, it could have been someone who happened to stray into the scene by accident. The filmmakers may or may not have noticed, but if they did, may have felt it added to the realism. I did this myself during the filming of a street scene for the TV show, "Northern Exposure." Filming was underway before I realised I was in the midst of it. I just kept walking like I was supposed to be there.
Question: Did Kelly Van Ryan really love Sam Lombardo or was she trying to use him to get her mom's money? Or both?
Answer: Yes, Kelly WAS in love with Sam. And the money was just a bonus.
Answer: Kelly loved Sam and hated her mom. She wanted the money that was left to her by her grandfather and this was the only way to get it without her mom dying.
Question: What happens to Nick the Greek?
Answer: Its left ambiguous deliberately but he either decided to lie low after finding out he was involved in stealing Rory's weed or, more likely, Rory killed him.
Rory was dead, so Nick just escaped and was none the wiser.
Agreed. We see Nick on the phone with the 2 thieves who initially stole the guns. Nick tells them that he does not believe he will see the guns or the boys again, because he gave up the address to Rory, who was on his way to kill them, and ends up getting killed himself. So from what we saw, we can assume that Rory let Nick off the hook because he gave up the address to Eddy and friends.
Question: The ending apparently had to be reshot, because the original ending leaked out. What was this original ending?
Answer: The original ending features a huge shoot-em-up, involving more than 150 cops, but it was changed to a shoot-em-up on a much smaller scale that involves only Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Rifkin.
Question: When Karen is being questioned by her superior in the hospital, he has her written report. But, when did she have time to write it? She met Foley, got thrown in the trunk, got into an accident, then went to the hospital.
Question: In the beginning of the movie when the tanker truck gets blown up, why does the fully intact truck just get launched straight up with flames below it? The source of the explosion would be the truck itself, so when ignited, the truck should have simply been blown up into a million pieces, not launched straight up fully intact.
Answer: This was most likely done just to make the scene look that much cooler. Movies do things like this all the time.
Question: I haven't read the novel, so I don't know if it's addressed there, but after Javert interrogates whom he later finds out to be Cosette in her own home, he goes back to find the house empty, and Cosette and Valjean are now living in another house. Is this an additional house that Valjean already owned as a safe house, or did he just rent it?
Answer: I'd say it was a house he rented.
Answer: The Chinese character on the necklace means, "good fortune."
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