Those 3 that were staying in his motel room who were killed by Chigurgh? Did they have another transponder? Although that would beg the question why they wouldn't have found the money stashed away in the air vent.
shareThey were following his wife and mother in law, the latter which unwittingly gave away where they were going when one of the assassins helped with her luggage, so they knew Moss would be heading there to meet them.
shareThe first hotel where Chigurgh blew them away with that shotgun...yes they also had a transponder.
The last hotel where Lewellyn was killed the friendly Latino man that helped the Mother-in-law with the luggage as she was getting into the taxi and was smiling and asking her questions got the info out of her and used her and the wife to track him down to the last hotel.
I only meant the first motel.
Right so they had a transponder too, but what I don't get is, did they not think to look in the air vent? Unless they knew it was in there and decided to wait for Moss to turn up to get it out. Not quite sure why.
Lots of possibilities.
Maybe they didn't think of that yet, maybe they looked and he had it pushed so far back and around the bend that they couldn't see it, chances are they hadn't been there all that long yet and were still in the process of tearing the place apart looking for it.
I don't think there are lots of possibilities at all. Chigurh figured it out within minutes of having killed everyone.
That scene never made complete sense to me either.
Not many possibilities as to how long the Mexicans had been in the room or what they had done there so far?
Just one possibility?
ok
I fail to believe that between the 3 of them they wouldn't have thought of looking there in that one room. There are only so many places it could be, and besides they'll have the beeper from the transponder giving it away.
Perhaps they had very recently from that point gone into the room, although if Moss's suspicions were correct that there was someone there when he told the cab driver to turn around and go to another motel, then they must have been in there for at least close to a day.
This is one of my favorite movies; I've seen it many times. During my first viewing, the very same question occurred to me. Were they just inept in spite of having a major advantage in the search to begin with? It just doesn't make sense.
Lazy screenwriting does.
It's one of my favourites too but that's the one part I never understood. I can't think of one good reason why those men wouldn't have found and taken the money already.
shareI suppose it could be argued that they were overconfident, underestimating Moss. But common sense dictates that they would be eager to please their higher-ups in the cartel with a quick resolution to the problem.
shareI can.
Ineptitude.
Even if they DID think to check the vent, they probably half-assed it, just shining a flashlight through the metal grates.
The homing beacon probably just goes to a flat 'tone' sound within a ten foot radius. The Mexicans had the 'tone' in the room, but the locator could not find the exact whereabouts of the beacon.
At last.
Someone with a common sense answer
They weren't staying in the room, meaning that they rented it out. They broke in and were scanning for it not knowing its exact location. They also have a transceiver and the signal is HOT but the exact location isn't pinpointed like it is with today's visual GPS technology. That's why those two guys were in the bathroom probably trying to pinpoint it more and not knowing that it was in the vent above the them.
These guys are trained killers not professional sleuths and obviously not as skilled as Anton. My takeaway from the first viewing was that this whole scenario is playing out in a very tight window of time so the convergence of different characters is not just a coincidence. We also see later that Anton was offended by the fact that the American firm hired back up to find the money in his stead so he killed him at his office.
That's right. The 3 guys in Moss's room had a receiver too, but it was too crude to pinpoint the location of the transponder.
Anton did more than just rely on the receiver. He used his smarts.
We're talking semantics here. They were staying in there as in they were in there for a while looking for the money/waiting for Moss to turn up. I'm guessing they were there overnight as Moss thinks somebody is there the night before when he goes to another motel. Obviously I know that they hadn't rented it because it was Moss's room already.
I suppose they may not have been in over night and they just wanted to sneak in and out quickly while Moss is away, but as you say, they are trained killers and were armed. I think the idea would have been to wait for Moss to turn up and kill him and take the money. That would suggest they were in there for a bit of time, which still makes me question why they wouldn't have thought to look in the air vent. Once you're done looking under the bed and in the bathroom, where else could it be??
Like I said they're not professional sleuths, just henchmen. They probably figured that Moss had found the beacon and flushed it down the toilet, thus they were thinking it was in the drain.
share