Colossus explains: Primal Fear’s ending

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Discussion

  1. I don’t understand why Roy would have gotten the death penalty anyway! Is he not justified for murdering a pervert who literally forced him to make s*x tapes?

    Even if Self Defense doesn’t cover it and it falls under Revenge, wouldn’t the court and Jury have sympathized enough with him to paint him as a retaliating victim of abuse instead of a Sociopathic force of evil?

    Even if he still has to be punished, wouldn’t the court try to give him the most lenient sentencing they can possibly muster?

    Like, if I was some vigilante who went out and killed active p**ophiles, and murderers, would I really get the death penalty for that?

    Isn’t that only supposed to be reserved for those who are actual truly evil people who murdered innocent people for whatever reason?

    • I think it’s implied through some of the political subplots that the father was really respected in the community. Look at the tribalism that’s rampant in today’s society and how much people will defend their team or person. Whether it’s politics or Stan culture in music or sports. That “us against them” attitude causes people to view people and events a bit irrationally. So I could imagine that there would still be a large contingent of people who take a more…traditional…view on Roy and what happened. It’s likely the jury might give him a lenient sentence. But Primal Fear is a very cynical movie that kind of relishes in the idea that our systems are broken and they don’t do the good thing or the right thing most of the time. That idea of “primal fear” kind of extends to the public as well. Regardless of Roy’s reasons, he still did what he did. And the public fears him for it.

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