Written by Mr. Mouseburger 30th Oct 2005
Kindly submitted by Alex
Maclane has just found the big bomb hidden in the maintenance room, just under the roof of the building, when Karl - Hans' number one henchman - puts a gun to John's head. Karl has been obsessed with killing Maclane from early in the film to avenge his little brother, who was killed by Maclane's hands.
Karl clearly wants to exact a level of revenge on Maclane, and so is not too perturbed when John quickly knocks the gun out of Karl's hands. The pair fight for an extremely lengthy amount of screen time, each taking a serious beating from the other, until Karl manages to pick up a stray gun and shoots Maclane in the shoulder as he tries to hide.
After a little buit of hide and seek, the fighting resumes for a short longer until Karl gets his hands on a metal chain and begins to choke Maclane with it. Maclane manages to turn the tables and lynch Karl, before heading off to save his wife, and the day.
Karl is not quite dead though, as we discover at the end of the film, when he emerges from the crowd to shoot Maclane, who is hugging his wife. Maclane is only saved by his walkie talkie buddy Al, who overcomes a host of personal demons to draw his gun again and blow Karl away.
Have you seen Die Hard? Uh, remember when the guy comes back at the end and it's a shock because we thought he was dead, but he wasn't? Do you remember that part?
That was awesome.
(paraphrased)
Anyways, this is your classic "gotcha" moments, executed with precision timing. The good guy gets the girl back, he saves the day, the wronged woman gains her honor by punching out the smarmy dude, and just when you think all is well and the credits are imminent, the bad guy whom you assumed was dead re-emerges for one final act of desperation, only to be shot dead by the guy who hasn't pulled his gun for several years. It's everything in an action movie ending that we've come to expect.
I think this counts as Offscreen Killer, because it has all the hallmarks. And you don't see Al until after the moment, so it's going in, I reckon.
No, I don't think it counts. We don't see Al during Karl actually being shot, but we see him before and after in the same scene, so we know he's there.
Has anyone else ever seen a cut of this movie where McClain shoots karl after he hangs him with the chain? I SWEAR I have seen this at some point
I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. It would make his re-appearance at the end even more ridiculous. I pretty sure you merged the two incidents together in your mind.