The henchman trope

[bcla]

I was watching a short film that BMW commissioned a few years ago. It was a 2016 continuation of their "BMW Films" short films featuring Clive Owen as "The Driver" from around 2002. Back then they feature a group of star directors including John Woo and Guy Ritchie, and with "actors" including James Brown.

However, this one was called "The Hire" (directed by Neill Blomkamp) and the premise was about a company that illegally performed cloning experiments, with someone who is assumed to be a cloned human being being delivered to a customer. However, the beginning makes it clear that they're doing something highly illegal with an FBI special operations team and police closing in on them to shut down their operations.

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/usa/...f-bmw-films-with-“the-escape-”?language=en_US

In it they have a head of security willing to do all sorts of illegal acts acting like a James Bond villain's lead henchmen. He explodes a door with an FBI SWAT team on the other side. He engages in a shootout with police. I get ideological extremists doing something like that, but it doesn't seem like the head of security for a private company would go through those lengths. That they would have tons of military style equipment including Humvees and automatic weapons also seems a bit odd for a biotech company. I get that it's fiction, but what's the payoff for someone who at the very least is likely to be captured and sent to a federal supermax prison for a life sentence?

I guess it's not a documentary.

 

[Turksmom]

Honestly, sometimes I just want to be that security guy. All the cool toys (I think I'm "all that" because I realized I have 4 ways to open my trunk without doing any lifting), defeating anything standing in my way. I do what I want, how I want. Then again, Iron Man/ Tony Stark is my favorite Marvel character, so I may have issues that need explored.
Thanks for reminding me of these films. I watched a few on YouTube during some downtime this afternoon.

 

[bcla]

Honestly, sometimes I just want to be that security guy. All the cool toys (I think I'm "all that" because I realized I have 4 ways to open my trunk without doing any lifting), defeating anything standing in my way. I do what I want, how I want. Then again, Iron Man/ Tony Stark is my favorite Marvel character, so I may have issues that need explored.
Thanks for reminding me of these films. I watched a few on YouTube during some downtime this afternoon.

Wasn't that the general theme of Iron Man 2? That somehow Tony Stark was seemingly free to use what were military technologies for his personal use without the government regulating his use of that tech?

But yeah - I get the idea of a head of security surreptitiously keeping something illegal under wraps on the premise that being good at your job means you're not likely to be caught and you'll be nicely rewarded for it. It's another for someone to know that a heavily armed law enforcement presence is breathing down your neck. It's one thing for a terrorist cell, nutjob extremists, or drug dealers to get into a shootout since it's not necessarily borne out of rationality. I don't think I've every heard of a real case where a government agency was ready to arrest over various corporate crimes and a paramilitary-style security force was willing to get into a shootout. I guess we've seen that on 24 or movies. I think there might have been some cases where someone might have been threatening to kill themselves (or even did that) but that's a different case than a skilled operator engaging in a suicide mission over corporate interests.

 

[Turksmom]

Yeah, strictly fantasy. I think in real life it plays out on paper and in courtrooms, but that isn't as exciting on film. There are exceptions like the courtroom scene in A Few Good Men, some based on John Grisham novels and I'm sure others that I'm forgetting.
In Iron Man 2, it was the military that mucked it up by trying to steal/replicate the tech, but Tony shouldn't have tried to bill Iron Man as the solution for world peace. I think anytime someone has that "sole defender" attitude (whether Tony Stark or the security guy), it's crazy. I can't imagine a lot of real private security guys being willing to take those risks. I'd be like, "Nah, I can work bag check at Disney"

 

[bcla]

In Iron Man 2, it was the military that mucked it up by trying to steal/replicate the tech, but Tony shouldn't have tried to bill Iron Man as the solution for world peace. I think anytime someone has that "sole defender" attitude (whether Tony Stark or the security guy), it's crazy. I can't imagine a lot of real private security guys being willing to take those risks. I'd be like, "Nah, I can work bag check at Disney"

In the movies/TV they're often portrayed as ex-military and/or former intelligence officers. But the trope is of someone who seems to be willing to die or is treating it like a military mission where they truly believe in the cause. The BMW short film had the head of security specifically noting (calmly) that the FBI was closing in on them, and that they had to get "the package to the customer". I can't really believe that anyone so slick would be so confident in their abilities that they would willingly get into a shootout or kill a half dozen FBI agents. Someone like that will eventually end up dead, in prison, or executed. The reality is more like "Do you have a warrant?" followed by an order to stand down and allow people to do their thing.

The thing I saw in that short film that I find realistic is that they were burning documents and destroying computers before law enforcement showed up. That's happened in real life. But not necessarily private security risking their lives and/or freedom. Even someone managing to get away would be a fugitive hunted down.

 

[Turksmom]

Agreed. That's the advantage of fiction, the writers don't have to address every possibility- it's up to the viewer/reader's imagination. It just appeals to that primal human nature of wanting to be the alpha, but in reality the rational side usually wins out after assessing the risk/benefit.

I did re-watch the "Star" short film with Madonna also. That was good for a laugh because it also appeals to that base instinct to "take someone down a notch". Still wouldn't really do it, but enjoy living vicariously where there are no consequences!

 

[bcla]

I did re-watch the "Star" short film with Madonna also. That was good for a laugh because it also appeals to that base instinct to "take someone down a notch". Still wouldn't really do it, but enjoy living vicariously where there are no consequences!

Wasn't that the one directed by Guy Ritchie? That must have been an interesting dynamic.

I looked up the list of movies, and apparently the one that Ang Lee directed featured his son.