Well that´s not really right, I got quite a few cars at christmas from Tom! But this one I got from a friend back home who went to New York and called from a toy store just to check I didn´t already got this one. And he is not a collector himself, so this is a breakthrough!
This is not the most interesting diecast modell in Cars 2 - but it is maybe the most interesting character. It is actually quite a rare character. Because he dies. And for a character in a kids movie - that is rare.
According to Pixar Wiki:
- Rod's design is a mix of a 2005 Ford Mustang GT and a Dodge Challenger R/T.
- His license plate is M1911A1 which is also a name of a gun.
- According to his license plate, he is from Michigan. Michigan is the birth place of actor Bruce Campbell who voices Rod.
As to the killing scene. Rod is an American secret agent. He is SPOILER ALERT DOWN BELOW
tortured when he´s captured by the Lemons. You could not se him die directly, but you see his reflection blow up.
According to Pixar Wiki:
Rod's interrogation scene was criticized by many as surprising or even inappropriate in a kid film. In an interview, John Lasseter said that the scene was necessary to explain efficiently and visually the working and high danger of Professor Z's camera. It also enabled to get in the movie a certain tone of the spy genre. Story Supervisor Nathan Stanton said that while "watching spy films, where your character is basically tortured and it can be a really horrifying scene, I remember thinking that if we could just get five-percent of this in one of our scenes, if we could just get a little of this in what we want, it would be great. It would go a long way."[2] Lasseter, and supervising animator Dave Mullins, mentioned that the scene as it had originally been conceived was much more dark and cruel, and that several people of the studio reacted to it.[3] They say in consequence they "backed off tremendously"; the changes included making Rod a "tough guy".
I was surprised when I saw this scene. This is farther than any Pixar film has gone before. And as a father, I didn´t like my 4-year-old (A was 4 at the time) to see it. But He hasn´t mentioned it, I think he thought it was exciting. And it IS very "spy genre". It helps building the badness in the bad guys.
But Pixar has managed to do that before in nicer ways.
Don´t go there again, John & Co - you don´t need to!
Rod Torque became one of my favorites off the bat and I was very sad when he exploded. I kept convincing myself he had survived in some way but I guess it's undeniable. It did make the film much darker and more serious than I had expected. Still, it is a nice model car and one of my favorites design-wise too.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of my favorites too. I am from Michigan, Rod is from Michigan!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post though, the "death" scene was disappointing to me as a father of two young boys. We in the US have more than enough gun violence, it doesn't need to be encouraged.
And imagine if they had killed FLASH! (why they now would do that...)
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you guys!