I think a more apt comparison might be Han Solo, who has a more comparable story arc (though, admittedly not the protagonist of his movies), right down to the mute sidekick. If anything, Solo's arc was much more "and now I'm totally a good guy, guys!" than Surly's.
Surly seems like a character who prides himself on his "outsider" status, but who, until he is exiled at the end of the first act, never actually been "outside" his community. His arc is learning the value of that community to him, now that he is no longer a part of it. He still retains part of the "outsider" mentality in the end, but he has a better understanding of what that means.
The scene where he realizes Precious has been following his orders even though he was not threatening ... (uh, I actually never figured out Precious's gender; I was gonna research that) Precious with the dog whistle was pretty good character moment.
What I liked about this movie is that, as I've said before, it's about a character, and that character has a believable arc.
I think a more apt comparison might be Han Solo, who has a more comparable story arc (though, admittedly not the protagonist of his movies), right down to the mute sidekick. If anything, Solo's arc was much more "and now I'm totally a good guy, guys!" than Surly's.
Surly seems like a character who prides himself on his "outsider" status, but who, until he is exiled at the end of the first act, never actually been "outside" his community. His arc is learning the value of that community to him, now that he is no longer a part of it. He still retains part of the "outsider" mentality in the end, but he has a better understanding of what that means.
The scene where he realizes Precious has been following his orders even though he was not threatening ... (uh, I actually never figured out Precious's gender; I was gonna research that) Precious with the dog whistle was pretty good character moment.
What I liked about this movie is that, as I've said before, it's about a character, and that character has a believable arc.