Frailty (2001)

Matthew McConaughey: Adam Meiks

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Becky Meiks : Everything okay, Adam?

  Adam Meiks : Everything's just fine, Becky. God's will has been served.

  Becky Meiks : Praise God.

• Agent Wesley Doyle : You'll never get away with this!

  Adam Meiks : God will protect me.

• Agent Wesley Doyle : Is everything you just told me true?

  Adam Meiks : Why would I make it up?

• Agent Wesley Doyle : You ever wanted to be a policeman or something?

  Adam Meiks : Yeah, well, you know, when I was a kid.

• Adam Meiks : He was my father. I loved him even if he had gone crazy.

• [In the Rose Garden we hear Young Adam dumping the remains of the demon Cynthia Harbridge into the hole] 

  Dad : No, Adam. Do it like this.

  [Dad correctly shows Adam to pour the limbs out of the bag and into the hole] 

  Dad : It's got to be done a certain way. The Angel was real specific.

  Young Adam : [Fenton cries next to them]  Why out here in the Rose Garden?

  Dad : God chose it, just like he chose us, I suppose. Don't cry for her, Fenton! She wasn't human. Didn't you see that when I touched her?

  Young Adam : I saw it, Dad!

  [Young Adam and Dad smile at each other] 

  Young Fenton : [Fenton looks at his father in tears]  You killed her...

  Dad : I didn't kill her, son, I destroyed her. She was a demon. You know, I wasn't so sure I could do it myself. I mean, she looked like a woman to me, too. But after I touched her... all I could see is the evil. And I had to do it. I'm sorry you didn't see it too, you will next time.

  Young Fenton : You're gonna do it again!

  Dad : This is our job now, son. You have to accept that.

  Young Fenton : I won't let you!

  Dad : You can't stop it; we're doing God's work here.

  Young Fenton : I'll tell!

  Dad : If you do, somebody will die. The Angel was clear on that, do you understand? Answer me, Fenton, do you understand?

  [the story fades out and brings us back into the present time] 

  Agent Wesley Doyle : So you didn't tell?

  Adam Meiks : No. I should've, but I was afraid. I mean, I loved my father but I was terrified of him.

• [Adam Meiks and Agent Wesley Doyle talk in the police car on the way to the Rose Garden] 

  Agent Wesley Doyle : I just can't imagine how you'd keep something like that inside for so long.

  Adam Meiks : I guess I avoided it because I wanted to.

  [pause] 

  Adam Meiks : You know, you never did tell me why it is you just keep that one picture of your mother in your office.

  Agent Wesley Doyle : My mother was murdered a couple days after that picture was taken. Butchered by some wacked-out killer like your dad.

  Adam Meiks : Did they ever catch him?

  Agent Wesley Doyle : No.

  Adam Meiks : Is that why you took this job?

  Agent Wesley Doyle : You know, you're pretty good at this. Did you ever think about becoming a cop?

  Adam Meiks : Well, you know, when I was a kid.

  Agent Wesley Doyle : Well, you've got the instincts for it. Cops gotta have good instincts. You know what mine are telling me now? You are hiding something from me.

  Adam Meiks : What is it you think I'm hiding?

  Adam Meiks : Well, why don't you just keep on talking and maybe I'll figure that out.

• [voice-over during when Dad, Young Fenton and Young Adam are preparing to capture the second demon] 

  Adam Meiks : Dad told us that there were moments in everyone's life when they could suddenly just disappear without anyone knowing where they went or why. He said those were the moments when God's hands would reach out and take you. According to Dad, nothing, not even a camera could catch us. We were invisible when we were God's hands.

• [Young Fenton joins Dad at the kitchen table early in the morning] 

  Dad : I want you to know,I've never killed anything in my whole life.

  Young Fenton : That's a lie and you know it.

  Dad : I did a lot of thinking and praying after you went to bed. I asked the Angel to visit you, instead he visited me. He told me something... that I don't want to believe.

  Young Fenton : What?

  Dad : It doesn't matter, because together you and I are going to prove him wrong. You just don't have any faith, that's why you can't see the truth. But we're going to change that.

  [Dad and Young Fenton stand outside next to the backyard shed] 

  Dad : I want you to dig a hole right here. It needs to be about ten feet deep, fifteen feet wide on both sides. The length and width should form a perfect square.

  Young Fenton : What?

  Dad : You heard me.

  Young Fenton : Why?

  Dad : Because I'm your father and you do what I tell you. Understand? Do you?

  Young Fenton : Yes sir.

  Dad : Alright then, I expect half that to be done by the time I get home from work tonight.

  Young Fenton : Dad, I can't do that.

  Dad : Pray!

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over showing Young Fenton digging the hole]  I started digging that goddamn hole, but I did not pray. I would not. I hated God, I despised him. My hatred helped me dig, kept me going. Dad's, or God's, or the Angel's or whoever's plan it was would not work on me. I knew what Dad was doing was wrong, and nothing was gonna change that.

• [Dad wakes up both Young Fenton and Young Adam to tell them about his first sign from God] 

  Dad : I need you both to listen to me very carefully. Something's happen.

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  He said he had a vision, a vision from God.

  [Dad see's the reflection of white light off the trophy] 

  Adam Meiks : An angel came to him and told him the truth of this world. And revealed God's special purpose for are family.

  Dad : The end of the world is coming, it's near. The angel showed me. There are demons among us, the Devil has released them for the final battle. It's being fought, right now. But, nobody knows it except us and others like us.

  Young Adam : I'm scared dad.

  Dad : There's nothing to be afraid of tiger. We've been chosen by God, he'll protect us. We've been given special jobs to do. We don't fear these demons, we destroy them. We pick them up one-by-one and we pitch them out of this world. That's God's purpose for us. The Angel called us God's hands.

  Young Adam : So we're like superheroes?

  Dad : That's right. We're a family of superheroes who are going to help save the world.

  Young Fenton : But dad, that doesn't make any sense.

  Dad : I know it sounds that way, son. But it's the truth.

  Young Adam : So, what are our superhero powers?

  Dad : Well... we can see the demons, when other people can't. And the Angel told me that God would be sending us three weapons to destroy them with.

  Young Adam : Magical weapons?

  Dad : I imagine so.

  Young Adam : When do we get 'em?

  Dad : I don't know the Angel just said soon. That's all I was told except that, we're not suppose to tell anybody about any of this, absolutely no one. If you do, you put them and ourselves in danger. Fenton... don't worry it's okay. It's a lot to understand. I wanted to wait to tell you 'til once I had the chance to figure it out myself. But the angel said I, I had to do it now. Fenton?

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  I didn't know what to say or how to feel.

  Dad : Do you understand what I told you? Judgment day is here.

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  I was too messed up to understander. End knowledge.

  Dad : Soon we'll all be in heaven. Me, you, Adam, with mommy...

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  I didn't realize it at that moment, at least not consciously, but my happy and mostly secure world had just flipped over, and there were dark things under there...

  Dad : Judgment day is here...

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  Very dark things.

  Dad : We've been chosen by God.

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over]  And my little boy's mind just couldn't take it.

• Adam Meiks : I know who the God's Hand killer is.

  Agent Wesley Doyle : All right, I'll buy it - who?

  Adam Meiks : Well, you haven't even heard me out yet and already you doubt me.

• Adam Meiks : I hated Dad's God, and I would have run away if it weren't for my brother. I just couldn't leave him there.

• [voice-over] 

  Adam Meiks : [talks about his childhood home]  We lived right behind the Thurman public Rose Garden. In the house where they used to keep the gardeners back in the fifties. Dad had gotten a good deal on it back when him and mom got married.

  Adam Meiks : [talks about his brother]  Adam was three years younger than me. Our mama died giving birth to him, so, I basically took care of him for as long as I can remember.

  Adam Meiks : [talks about his father]  Our dad worked as a mechanic over in Jupiter. He usually got home around 5:30 and we'd all have dinner together.

• [Dad comes home and shows Young Fenton and Young Adam their first Demon out in the shed, Cynthia Harbridge] 

  Young Adam : Dad?

  Dad : Come on out here, Adam.

  [turns to Fenton] 

  Dad : Shine that light over here.

  Young Adam : Hey dad, who is that?

  Dad : That's a demon, son. Come on in here, boys, it's all right. Come on, don't be afraid.

  [closes them in the shed as the boys stare, frightened and stunned] 

  Adam Meiks : [voice-over of Dad going to find the first demon]  God had come to Dad earlier that day and told him that the time had come. After work he drove down to Jacksonville, about forty-five minutes or so southwest of Thurman. He said he had never been there before but he had no trouble finding it, God was leading him.

  Dad : [Dad watches Ms. Harbridge walk outside her front door]  Cynthia Harbridge?

  Cynthia Harbridge : [turning around surprised]  Yes?

  [Dad then hits her in the head with the metal pipe] 

  Young Fenton : [Dad grabs for the ax]  Dad don't! Please don't!

  Dad : Fenton, if I could spare you of this I would. But we are God's servants, and his will must be served! Don't be afraid, son.

  [Dad finally leans down to reveal Ms. Harbridge's sins] 

• [Adam Meiks questions Agent Wesley Doyle about the God's Hands killer] 

  Adam Meiks : I read in the paper that only one of the bodies of the six victims have been found. Now, is that true?

  Agent Wesley Doyle : You read that in the paper, didn't ya?

  Adam Meiks : It doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

  Agent Wesley Doyle : Well, in this case it does. You see, the first victim was found, mutilated. With a note saying that God's Hands had taken her. With all of the rest, only notes were found, no bodies.

  Adam Meiks : How do you know they're dead?

  Agent Wesley Doyle : Well, we don't for sure. But the first note told us that we wouldn't find no more bodies from then on. He said he wanted to keep them.

  Adam Meiks : I've got a pretty good idea where the rest of them bodies are.

  Agent Wesley Doyle : At the Rose Garden?

  [Adam Meiks nods yes] 

  Agent Wesley Doyle : Now, why didn't you tell me that in the first place?

  Adam Meiks : Would you have believed me?

• Adam Meiks : [37:34]  What's this?

  Agent Wesley Doyle : Put them on, or I'll put them on for you.