Reptile on Netflix: how to understand (in detail) the ending of the film with Benicio Del Toro?

Reptilecold and slippery like a snake

Released on Netflix on September 29, 2023, the crime thriller Reptile by Grant Singer settled first place in the Top 10 films ever. A great success for a dark and twisted film that delves deep into the darkness of human behavior.

Tom Nichols (Benicio Del Toro) is an honest and opinionated New England cop. He relentlessly pursues the solution to the brutal murder of Summer Elswick, a young real estate agent. His investigation begins to affect him more than it should, as a larger criminal case gradually reveals itself.

With a great performance by Benicio Del Toro, a nice soundtrack, a plot similar to that of Copland and a staging that at times recalls that of David Fincher, Reptile it has the elegance of showing the violence of this story of murder and corruption more in the internal conflict of its protagonist than in explicit images. Suggestion, deduction, no voyeurism and no complacency therefore, which has a consequence: the full disclosure of the truth From Reptile can escape a distracted spectator. Let’s take stock of the end of Tom Nichols’ investigation, character by character. (spoilers)

Who killed Summer?

In Reptile, Tom Nichols uncovers a vast criminal case, a money laundering ring through a real estate scam. A case in which they are involved a mother and her son, real estate agents Camille (Frances Fisher) and Will Grady (Justin Timberlake), and several police officers, colleagues and superiors of Tom Nichols. The murder of Summer, Will’s girlfriend and colleague, triggers Tom’s investigation.

Reptile he never shows Summer’s homicidal gesture, but still settles the score with the person responsible – at least – for his death: Will Grady. The latter, associated with the city police, buys empty houses seized by the police at a low price because drugs were found there. Then he resells them at a high price, which he did to Summer but without paying her a commission. Having discovered the ploy, she wanted to alert the FBI, but she was killed first.

It becomes clear, in a flashback during the last part of the film, that Will was there during Summer’s agony, stabbed several times. Although we do not know whether he killed her with his own hands, it is nevertheless certain that he was at least one of the instigators of her murder. Thinking he is out of danger following the disappearance of those who could incriminate him, he is betrayed by the phone calls and comes arrested by the FBI.

If the fate of his mother Camille is not shown in the image, there is no doubt that he is the one who also bears the burden of prison.

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What happened to Eli Philips, the disturbing informant?

Will and the corrupt cops’ system is effective. Cops place drugs, rather than destroy them, in empty homes and/or for sale. They then seize the house, which is sold to a shell company at a very low price, and then put it back on the market by Will at the normal price. This way criminals can theoretically take over any real estate, and so it is what appears to have happened to Eli’s father. This one, played brilliantly by Michael Pitt, has the appearance of an outsider and has a deep hatred towards the Grady family, who he accuses of being swindlers and of having stolen from his parents, pushing his father to commit suicide. He investigates on his own and is a source of crucial information for Tom Nichols’ investigations.

Even though his character is secondary to the plot, he embodies it perfectly the violence suffered by the local population due to the crimes of Will Grady and his associates. Will rightly perceives this as a threat, and runs out face it. The sequence is not explicit, but it strongly suggests that Will is inviting one of his associates to silence him, and so To kill him…

The fate of corrupt cops

It gradually becomes clear to Tom that many of his colleagues, with whom he maintains friendships, are involved in Summer’s murder and that Will could not have built his criminal organization alone. In the last part of Reptile, he realizes that his colleague Wally (Domenick Lombardozzi) is a fulcrum of the story, and that so is his immediate superior and his wife’s uncle Robert Allen (Eric Bogosian). Tom tells police chief Marty Graeber (Mike Pniewski) and goes with him to confront Robert. But Marty is also involved and tries to set a trap for Tom.

Robert, suffering and a little more moral than the other policemen involved, reveals to Tom at the last moment that it is a trap and pushes him to escape. Robert gets hit by Wally, and Tom kills Marty in self-defense, who was about to shoot him. The final battle occurs between Wally and Tom. Tom seriously injures Wally, who can no longer feel his legs and asks Tom to finish him. Integrity and rectitude until the end, although deeply deceived by Wally, Tom does not accept his request and waits, with his hand wounded, for the police to arrive to arrest him.

Tom and Judy Nichols

The objective criticism that could be made Reptile is that of not having further developed the character of Judy, Tom Nichols’ wife played by Alicia Silverstone. In fact, she only exists in the couple that she plays with Benicio Del Toro, the omnipresent protagonist of the film. Neither truly threatened nor at the forefront of the action, her character isn’t really integrated into the plot Reptile. Maybe it’s a shame, but it’s still natural that the film ends like this on the love and solidity of their relationship, while she heals the wound on Tom’s hand.

Source: Cine Serie

Ray

Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.