The big one, which was repeated again and again during the live tweet, was the theme of Michael's identity. Is he an opportunistic amoral "fixer" or can he be more? Can he elevate himself from the "guy you buy," to the higher evolved, "guy you kill" (because he won't be stopped any other way)? Characters repeatedly ask him, or each other, "Who are you?" or "Who is this guy?" The other theme is that nature can renew and even save us--if we allow it to and don't smother it to death with greed and our own shortsighted plans. Arthur, bearer of bread, one of the symbol's of nature that appear in the film, became the champion of this truth but was killed for it. The image of horses—represented by images in books in the film, spoken dialogue and then by actual horses themselves--represent an avatar of nature that will ultimately save Michael's life (noted by Scott Frazier in the tweet-fest), when he pulls to the side of the road to get close to them. Parallel with the nature theme is the thematic question, "Can we regain the good that we had in childhood, but has been worn away by time?" Henry Clayton is a figure of wisdom cloaked in childhood innocence, a figure of goodness. Michael recognizes this, even exhorts his son to hold onto it, but for most of the movie Michael can't quite regain it himself, and constantly ignores or sets aside Henry's Realm & Conquest book, symbolically ignoring Henry's message. But the elemental truths of the book touch Arthur, and seem to crystallize the predicament he's in, opening his eyes. He even binds his Secret Memo, the one that can destroy uNorth, in a red cover with a R&C chapter title. Michael wields it like a holy sword at the end, using it to finally win the war that took Arthur's life.

We can all just go home now because CJ just nailed every single relevant thematic piece. Well done!

I just finished reading that and was about to say the same thing. Well done!

Thanks! The live tweet really drove a lot of these points home for me.

I think that the game theme is important. MC rose to the top of his game without much deep thought about it. He's a fixer, a "miracle worker," whose reputation precedes him, and feels trapped in the game of his high-stakes profession. His involvement in high-stakes stuff has bled into his attempts to free himself from his professional position, and he lost the restaurant business that he started in partnership with his alcoholic brother. Also he likes gambling. We don't really know much about HC, MC's son, except that he loves gaming, his current obsession is "Realm and Conquest," (his mom, in the first scene where we see HC, "Did you eat?") and makes the wise comments of an intelligent, observant kid. HC: "It's completely like everybody for themselves." MC: "Sounds familiar." Perhaps one motivation for MC to clean up his act is so that his kid won't follow him into hell.

Good observation. They did play a lot of games.

I was pleased to see Gilroy's comment about MC being past the point of redemption because I'm a bit obsessed with this idea of him as a character who doesn't go through a whole big song-and-dance "arc" or "transformation". He just is what he is, and it's when he finally gets some perspective and realizes who he is, he knows he has to get out. That moment comes when his brother Gene delivers the brilliant line about Michael having all the lawyers thinking he's a cop, and the cops thinking he's a lawyer -- "but you know exactly what you are." It's like at that moment, Michael gets a polaroid of his life: he's neither lawyer nor cop; he exists in a professional and moral grey area; and it's a lose-lose proposition. When does find the leverage to get out, using the memo and playing out the sting on Karen, it's much more about the visceral satisfaction -- avenging Arthur's murder and the attempt on his own life -- than it is about some notion of higher justice or redeeming his past. That makes it all the more human and resonant. MC has much more in common with Leone's Man With No Name, riding out of town the same way he came into it (wintess the fascinating, inscrutable face in the cab), than with a classic moral avenger type. As CJ points out, this is beautifully illustrated by the juxtaposition of father and son. There's no returning to the purity of our childhoods; life just isn't like that. You grow older and you don't always do the right thing. So you need to accept who you are and what you've done, and move on. And if you can do some good for some people on the way, all the better.

Great stuff, folks. I hope to contribute some more thoughts this weekend when I get a bit more time. Thanks all for your contributions!