This movie is best described as “Unsurprisingly Inept Florida cops perpetuate stereotypes in a frighteningly misconceived investigation that shows why they never made Detective.”
Giant Killer purports to be about the ‘Mysterious’ death of A Diminutive and Dangerous International Man of Mystery named Richard Flaherty — til that bs just falls apart — but before they drop the mask we get his somewhat remarkable Viet Nam War story- where he seemingly distinguishes himself by acting very badly.
It was a terrible war, and things happen but the stories were just morose and chilling. We CAN Monday Morning Quarterback this one- his comrades aren’t really fans. He was described as worse than the average bad soldier and I wondered if just maybe he should have been in jail for his actions.
Through flashback reenactments that jump around the decades in true novice film maker style its sometimes hard to tell what happened when. The idea of dates on the screen seems not to have occurred to anyone. Sure would have oriented me better, or maybe clarity is the problem and we need obscurity to have a hint of conspiratorial forces at work? I am so glad these guys are not my local cops! For one thing they seemed to have had a pet homeless guy who they gave some preferential treatment to. Though beyond the one time theyre in a fast food place together- where nothings all that clear- we have no video of them together.
While its impressive a four foot nine guy was able to beg his way into the Army- he’s not exactly Captain America when they let him in. It’s NOT charming that Richard’s comrades recall him as a guy who violently confronted anyone who DIDN’T kill prisoners.
My own father was in the same war at the same time and his stories are more or less like “Me and my buddies were scared and tried to watch out for each other cause that was all we had. It was truly horrible. I still cant believe I made it” In other words -bad but NORMAL. He was at least among comrades!
Meanwhile; Flaherty’s average day was crazy green beret stuff that chilled the blood of those around him. A “very aggressive Green Beret Vietnam Platoon commander” sounds like a Civilian Killing Massacre and Fratricide Machine to me! Being the shortest Green Beret would be enough for most but Little Big Man Syndrome seems to have been calling the shots. The stories of him repeatedly demanding his men ice prisoners and then does some sort of Russian Roulette thing to his own guys to fuck with them for not murdering people kind of overshadows the medals. I’d like to read some of those citations!
This is no kind of Vietnam related movie you want to see to feel anything but grossed out and depressed– or any kind of admirable soldier.
Seems the idea it was just that he was in Viet Nam alone is justification enough for Yuzuk to call this wack job a hero.
Even in war there can be murder. I will strongly be advising my father against watching this pointlessly triggering celebration of base violence for violence sake.
It’s not like we won or it was just! Icing another American? How’d he have any reason to think we were winning the war- as the smallest target in the Battle of Hue City? Its too bizarre for David Lynch! How many times did he kill one of his own guys or order it? The reaction of his comrades to the question seems to indicate he was driving his guys using pure fear and the willingness to point guns at them if they disobeyed his illegal orders.
When his former comrades confirm he ordered his own guys shot in the back if they ran and people followed the orders they dont offer justification beyong him being such a scary leader people would just do what he said so he didnt turn the gun on them. They all looked super resentful when they discussed it too. No one seemed grateful for this memory or that excited to talk about it. Most of what we get on that is from his sister- who cant be charged. Essentially it was killing one of their own guys out of fear of a Killer Dwarf three times more violent than anyone on Game of Thrones. This is Yuzuk’s idea of a hero? Again-Thank GOD this guy isn’t on my local PD!
Thrown in the mix to convince us the rantings of this drunken drug addict was part of the Bildenburg Group or whatever; theres a super Florida-jacked self described merc who looks the part thrown in the mix. He’s affable and apparently unconcerned in the same line of work that we’re to believe had Richard opt for life on the streets- where he never sleeps…..until he does… and has nightmares. The Merc owns a tac vest, so theres no way they just had him say these things to save their conspiracy movie. How could he be lying? His arms are huge and he has concealed carry clothing. Thats good enough for me.
In his various drunken wanderings grandiose delusions seem more likely than exacting revenge on his many ‘enemies’ , financed on a cash reserve of 5000 dollars. The tale of when he allegedly rigged up an uzi on a mount pointed at the doors a hoot. The people were so freaked out by it they apparently just left it where it was for decades to be filmed by these kooky cops obsessing on a half-baked theory that just isnt getting investigated to their satisfaction… probably because its so mundane and exactly what it looked like. At least thats my take after seeing this.
The idea the CIA wanted a mentally unstable cocaine moving conspicuously small guy on their payroll is kind of ridiculous. They sell it hard but it is what is. The pictures of Flaherty as a soldier looks like a file they give James Bond on the Villains Camp-y Enforcer. Herve Velechez in Man with the Golden Gun comes to mind and you just have to laugh. Later hes pictured in supposed exotic locations- which all very well could be Florida. He only went to tropical swamp or rainforest environments. In other words- who the hell knows? He looks wasted and distant standing on a balcony with what may well be the Florida Hard Rock Cafe behind him looking blank and every bit a guy who was mentally ill. This Yuzuk guy monetized it anyway.
Can we get these cops some real salaries so they can enforce the Law and stop looking to pick up extra cash off the misery of an unhoused guy while under the delusion that they’re Jimmy Breslin while acting like Full Fledged Florida Men? This movie is preposterous. Maybe Do Your Job instead your driving around filming B roll and bullshitting. No wonder Miami isn’t getting any better! Yuzuk comes off like Mark Fuhrman- but without the smarts of a big city detective.
This mess is filmed pretty well — til we get parts where its just not. It switches from spy story to ‘wanna be after school special’ when the theory inexplicably changes from “he Was a Spy Who Was Murdered” to a simple statement that -‘yes Driving Drunk is bad’- even though it doesnt play into this.
Then they borderline slander people for a while (they may yet get sued for ‘implying’ the driver was drunk). Im not using the name of the woman they may have defamed. The idea you could hit a suicidal, three foor nine drunken war criminal high on everything becomes easy to believe when we see the impact marks. Throw in Flaherty now having cancer and who knows what happened? I came away thinking “Tragic Accident” or “ambivalent semi-suicide” Be nice if we’d gotten the toxicology reports on this guy.
As damage to the car? Seems she glanced off this 56 inch tall 90 pound guy at 130 am. The headlight was cracked, some cosmetic-ish damage. The sideview mirror was intact and that was about it.
The fact the driver retraced her steps but did not connect the crime scene to what happened seems as good 50-50 to be true. When she returns to work- at another part of the POLICE DEPARTMENT and finds out about it she immediately volunteers all she knows. That sort of undermines anything nefarious. So does reporting the accident to her insurance people right when it happened. How she got to work to that day is never mentioned. Could they have left it out because the car was drive-able? Seems any well reasoned plan would avoid things like parking the ‘murder weapon’ in the Police lot, but why drop in now?
Seems basic Police work was either ineptly not done or the results were omitted to me. No mention of the car the next day. Hey she made it home. They leave it to us to wonder if she had time to get absolutely wasted in the 10 or so minutes she had leaving work- at FOR THE POLICE – and the incident, which we can figure out from her narrartive – is walking distance from her home. The 9-11 conversation we hear is NOT labelled as a recreation- nor is it described as real. Poorly recreated with audio quality too good to be really 911 recordings in my opinion. Could it be that they were forbidden from using the real because the woman theyre implying was either drunk or a contract killer was maybe cleared of all wrongdoing?
Equal Parts dishonesty, ineptitude and misplaced compassion; this only got made because of COVID.
The subject- an admitted POW and murderer who ordered and probably also committed fratricide during the Vietnam War- is not sympathetic when his actions are recounted-and the idea hes all that much id a hero is plain old misrepresented.
They tell us Richard had PTSD from murdering prisoners and other Americans, so boo-hoo. Really, theres plenty of guys who only shot at the enemy. Or cleared minefields. So the so called Giant Killer is a bit of an outlier. And a creep. His former comrades tolerated him at best after the war. Is it really shocking he ends up with a drug and drinking problem that his height and small size either helps or hurts based on your view of consumption? I’d have to say no.
Im not too sure his sure his job selling cars was a front for being in the CIA even if he did run into an old Army buddy there. That’s not all that unusual. Big waste of time there where we find out he drank a lot still
He loses a wife to her own fatal one car DWI it seems and a girlfriend to what sounds like a IV drug related infection. Its NOT strange he wanted to be buried near someone he loved and not Arlington. At all.
Richard was only remarkable for convincing the military to let him serve at like 4 feet tall. After terrorizing his own platoon- who likely were glad to see him replaced by someone who could only be less murderous- he’s sent home and is miserable without helpless people to kill. Thanks for perpetuating this myth about all our Nam guys. Who cares that for every combat soldier 10 worked in support far from the front, or that the rest of guys in the platoon were all normal now- aside from seeming to only wear Columbia Fishing Shirts they’re all ok. Lets focus on the guy who was too fucked even for Operation One Hundred Thousand who murdered his own guys and just keep calling him a hero. I would suggest this is like calling Lt William Calley ‘calm and competent’.
He was NOT a secret agent. Theres slight of hand when they show ‘the proof’- it could be anyone passport- like the jacked up merc!! The guy is in no way government affiliated in any way after about 1980 – and even thats sort of speculative. Maybe they gave some bucks to train contras, I doubt it though
At some point- like I said they jump around- Giant Killer is on the fringes of some weird big cocaine deal and somehow convinces the authorities hes cool and cooperates a little. Again, we just ratchet down the sympathy level and introduce some questions. Is THIS why he cant have an address? Is this why hes terrified? Around the same time – I guess 2010, he cashes in his condo. He lasts about 5 years on the streets and dies. It doesnt sound unusual. Just very sad.
Using their police uniforms, cars and assets in an unseemly Yuzuk and his guys apparently hate being cops and are trying desperately to sell any story. They were taken in by a rambling drug addict. The movie made me see the Miami Police Department as inept, not so bright guardians who rushed to judgment twice and then made a movie about it.
The public official they interview, sitting in front of a nice signed of President Biden from his VP days seems wary and chooses his words carefully. Seems he sniffed out a set up from these cops using Drunk Driving and the horrors of Florida’s Homeless problem to strong-arm an interview. Hes smarter than them, threading the fact that drunk driving didnt figure in to this- but if he will confirm its a problem in Miami and he wishes there was less of it- and by the way its not a factor in this guys death. Well played Florida Public official. I reward you by leaving your name off this review of a movie you wanted little part of for good reason!!
I’ll just throw this out there? These cops are so ready to Rush to Judgment and so indiscriminate in their beliefs that I’d like to know where they were on January 6th 2021. Theres your real story. The local firemen were nice. This movie is Three failed theories wrapped together
The EMT from the local Fire House bought a 5 dollar sign commemorating him thats been put by the sight of the accident. He’s a nice guy and all and meant well, but Yuzuk starts lionizing the guy again and calls the sign inspiring. My take was it was maudlin but hey who am I?
While there may have been a story here what seems to have happened is the cops- who make the movie- were taken in by his crazy drunk stories. If anything he may have moved a bunch of coke in the 80s, which also reduces the sympathy factor.
Shame on Miami for letting these guys wear their uniforms in this inept bid to make chicken soup out of Chicken Shit.
Summing up; this is a movie that shouldn’t have been made by cops who should never make Detective about a guy who never should have been allowed in the Army for Psychological reasons. His sad but unremarkable death is no real mystery.
Stay away from this Mixed Bag of Hot Garbage!!! Instead just throw a buck to a bum and ask him his story. At least you’ll help him out. This movie is kind of dishonest and there’s just no feeling of authenticity at all. Whys it on Amazon?
