Failing to finish off the bad guy

Spoiler alert ... though for which movies, I probably can't say without that itself being a spoiler. Um, I guess you've been warned. They're fairly prominent movies though. 

When I think of movies that frustrate me because the good guy(s) didn't take their golden opportunity to finish off the bad guy(s), the first one that usually comes to mind is Pan's Labyrinth. When Mercedes gains her advantage over Captain Vidal, some additional plunges with her knife would have made quick work of him. Instead, she just cuts out the side of his mouth to give him an extra clownish leer, then runs off. I mean, the good guys are supposed to be defined in part by their mercy, but damn, kill that guy.

It comes back to haunt her, of course, as Captain Vidal (SPOILER) ends up fatally shooting Ofelia.

Last night I added another movie to that list, though it was a movie I had already seen once before. A movie that most people don't even want to see once, let alone twice.

There are a lot of things a person could discuss about The Human Centipede (First Sequence), some of which I talked about here. The most interesting and gross stuff will probably be left on the cutting room floor today. Instead, I want to talk about their failure to finish off the bad guy. (Is a human centipede a "they" or an "it"?)

It's a similar situation to Mercedes in Pan's. In fact, the size of the implement is even about the same, if I remember correctly -- a scalpel or an exacto knife. The Japanese man who fronts the 'pede gets and hides the knife until the maniacal surgeon has his back turned. He then stabs the man in the foot and in the leg before almost totally incapacitating him by taking a large bite out of his neck. He then summons his inner coach and marches the two women surgically fused to him up a spiral staircase toward their hopeful exit from the house.

Why not just pull that scalpel back out of the surgeon's leg and, I don't know, plunge it repeatedly into his eyes and neck?

Having not delivered the surgeon a fatal blow, they've of course left him to pursue them only a minute or two later. And although he doesn't kill either of the segments of the centipede that die -- the Japanese man at least takes the power for himself by killing himself, while the back woman dies of infection and malnourishment -- he does prevent their escape, which certainly prompts the Japanese man to give up hope. (His sudden realization of his own culpability in this punishment for leading a wayward life is a really impressive sequence.)

It doesn't detract from the movie, just as Mercedes' half measure doesn't detract from Pan's Labyrinth. But really. Finish the deed, man.

I thought I'd try to give you a half dozen other examples of movies where the good guy failed to deliver the decisive blow, but to be honest, I have a busy day today, and I haven't posted for nearly a week, so I just need to get this thing up. (Start of the baseball season has lots of demands on my time -- a topic for another day, or maybe not.)

And as for The Human Centipede ... what can I say, I love this movie. There are certainly diminish returns in the sequels, and the third one falls off the table into total repugnance. But not only is this one smartly considered and paced, but it's well shot and even well acted. The first time I watched it I felt the performance of the women in the opening scenes was a bit distracting in its quality, but this time I felt totally differently. Tey just behave like young tourists without great street smarts would behave, and I totally buy it.

Also, it's not easy to spend the largest portion of a movie with your mouth grafted to somebody else's butt, whimpering. Their constant stream of desperate crying is not only one of this film's most believable elements, it's also not easy to pull off. So props to them on that.