The Voice of Reason (3rd Cup [overFLoWing])

toure enters the synch hole...

In 1998's The Negotiator, we find Samuel L. Jackson (Samael?) playing a hostage negotiator in Chicago who becomes his opposite as he is forced to to take hostages himself in order to clear his name after his best friend's murder. The theme of red is pretty heavy-handed here; Jackson and Spacey are seeing red on the cover, Jackson's character has red hair in the film, and in the climax scene, he stands on the edge of a blown-out building face with red sniper dots spotting his torso.

Not sure I C the reason for all the red, but this role started a brain splinter pattern showing the black star as the Negotiator/Voice of Reason. In 1997's Metro, Eddie Murphy plays a hostage negotiator who ends up on the wrong side of the law when he tries to avenge his best friend's murder by an escaped jewel thief.

The first thing I notice in this poster is the over-sized, over-emphasized handgun barrel. Curious. The title Metro brings to mind Jake's recent reference to the Matrix Subway scene... what is it with the subway?

Sam Jackson has been pretty well established 'round these parts as a blackstar resonator, but when I found the blatant blue-gold wink (pictured above) from his Pulp Fiction scene with John Travolta (and the Wolf), I had to take another look at his character imprint. In Pulp, Jackson plays the Voice of Reason and the Negotiator in the film's last scene where he talks down Tim Roth dressed in blue. He even compares himself to David Carradine's grasshopper...

Speaking of Blue & Gold Negotiation;




Eye point, U shoot

In John Q, Denzel Washington imitates Jackson's imprint when he is forced to take hostages of his own, also in Chicago. I may have to see this film now that it has entered the pattern, but I was pretty sure it sucked. Again, the poster's designers made sure to emphasize the gun.

The same could be said for Bruce Willis' Hostage (I'm always at odds with sitting through a movie that I feel might be terrible for the pattern relevance...). In this poster, the inclusion of the handgun almost seems like a photoshopped afterthought. I know the handgun is a phallic symbol, but is there a connection to the pattern of hostage negotiation?

Speaking of Bruce Willis...

In a movie that most definitely did not suck The Siege, Denzel plays an FBI agent who opens the film as a hostage Negotiator when terrorists threaten to blow up a bus. The hijackers test the FBI response times by faking a hostage situation using blue paint bombs instead of live explosives. Willis' inclusion in the pattern spotlights the alternative to negotiation in hostage situations (there will be no negotiation, i.e. kill 'em all) via roles in Die Hard, The Fifth Element and The Siege. "The United States Government does not negotiate with terrorists." How many action movies have drilled that phrase into our heads?

In The Siege, Denzel plays the lone Voice of Reason in the film's pivotal torture scene. Denzel's point about the U.S. military becoming no better than terrorists [by torturing them] resonates with the theme of role-reversal (good guy becomes bad guy and vice versa) in The Negotiator, John Q, Metro and Pulp Fiction. Denzel finds himself on the wrong side of the law -again- when he decides to act on his convictions in order to stop Bruce Willis from terrorizing Muslim extremists.

Up is down, right is wrong, legal is immoral, criminal is righteous...

I could probably write an entire post just on The Siege, but for the purposes of this pattern, it led me straight to Spike Lee's Inside Man (great film), in which Denzel again must negotiate with a "terrorist" alongside the underrated Chiwetel Ejiofor (look this guy up), who gets to be in 2012 with synch-star John Cusack. Washington does more good-bad switching in this film as he (Spoiler Alert!) actually becomes a jewel thief himself by the film's end.

blue n gold tie #1...


blue n gold tie #2... am i lookin too hard?

Denzel's imprint as the negotiator came full circle with this year's Pelham 123, which had me wondering about Travolta and why he needed to be squeezed into yet another bad guy role that is anything but fitting. What is the significance of the hijacker/terrorist role Travolta's been playing lately and why must he oppose the Voice of Reason?

I got the gun, I make the rules

I'd bet money that Pelham 123 will feature strong themes of good guy/bad guy reversals and that Denzel's Voice of Reason will put him in a place of self-sacrifice as the Negotiator. "Let the hostages go; take me instead..."

toure synch-edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_office_number-one_films_of_2001_(USA)

In 2001, the Wachowski Brothers followed up the most groundbreaking synchtastic super film of the decade with a lackluster action flick called Swordfish. The film opened at #1 on June 10th as the 23rd number-1 of the year (23rd #1, 123, duh, right?). The film holds a special place in my heart as the movie that confirmed [for me] that the Wachowski Brothers did not write The Matrix as claimed.

it's not a sync, it's just a damn coffee cup

In the film's action-packed opening, Don Cheadle, as the black hostage Negotiator, tries unsuccessfully to talk down John Travolta. Travolta's character in the movie is named Gabriel Shear, most likely named for the angel Gabriel, known as both the Angel of Death and the Messenger, or the Voice of God. This, for me, confirms the previous connection I made between Samuel L. and Samael. In Pulp Fiction, Sam Jackson shouts "I AM the Lord" (speaking as the voice of God) before pulling the trigger (as the angel of death)...

But back to Don Cheadle;

Don's recent film Traitor -which I have to watch again- highlights the good guy/bad guy reversals in this pattern, especially Denzel Washington's role in The Siege. Denzel becomes a literal traitor when he -a government agent- takes on Bruce Willis and the Marines. The pendulum swings back the other way for Cheadle in Devil In a Blue Dress where he plays a bad guy who goes good alongside Mr. Washington.

Denzel Negotiates with the Angel of Death

In Devil In A Blue Dress, Cheadle plays a murder-happy gangster who decides to do a [well-paid] good deed and help his old friend Easy Rollins(ER, Re?), played by Denzel. All this good-bad switching has my head spinning. I'm not sure what to make of the color associations, but I think there is a pattern of transition, flux... good to bad to good ad infintum. Samael Jackson's coffee cup may tag him as the golden boy (good being bad) but after washing the blood off and meeting the wolf, he turns blue (bad being good? wtf?). I have no idea what's going on...

Whatever the meaning, Jim's incredible 214=BAD connection from Juno Temple seems to fit quite perfectly;

"He's a big bad wolf in your neighborhood.
Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good."

-Run DMC

Jake:

Was going over the images in Toure's wicked post again when I noticed the Koffee Kup I am drinking from is 'N Sync with the Pulp Fiction shot of our Stars with Blue and Yellow Black Pool Mugs.
Spock on the left with Blue and KirK on the right in yellow. A Galactic swirl, Cosmic Heart of MOM sync winks hello betwixt the Star travelers...

I love this image from "Pulp Fiction", are they staring (resonates Starring (as in "Pulp Fiction" Starring Travolta and Jackson) while a Star Ring is the Zodiac or Galaxy) at Keitel (Wolf) or Tarantino (Tarantula crossed with Torino (Bull))? Will verify.

Richard: Like Toure I've also been noticing the Gun creeping into my own patterns. Here's one I looked at back in KING HAM 23 where we see Denzel Washington, the Gun, and 'the Blue One' all coming together as the Bullet parts the Red C:

Also notice above that the TT is highlighted via the Ice T and the T in the title which is being hit by the Bullet.

In The Air I Breathe poster we see that the Gun/Bullet/Butterfly is somehow connected to this Gold/Blue REbirth:

Jake takes a closer look at the Butterfly in his excellent Blue Worm post.

I've recently been revisiting The Invisibles comic series thanks to a nudge from Jake and while reading the very last issue I noticed that the Gun was marked by the Red Spot while surrounded by the ONE/NEO/EON/MON/NOW. Could this be a reference to the Gundalini Rising?

This then reminded me of the poster for Crank where we find a connection to the Blood (via the highlighted veins in the title) the Hand (or 'DNA-H' depending on which way round you want to look at it) and the Gun:

Maybe things are about to be Cranked up a notch as we're each 'fired' (on a genetic level?) through the BaRReLL of the H-and Gun.