Directed by Tim Story, The Pickup is a lighthearted action thriller where two guards, Travis and Russell, working for a security agency, found themselves in deep trouble when a gang of robbers decided to hijack their armored vehicle. They were stuck in a complicated situation after Zoe, one of the robbers, ordered them to become her accomplices if they wanted to live. So let’s find out what happened in the film and if Travis and Russell overcame the obstacles that came their way.
Spoiler Alert
How did Travis and Russell end up being abducted?
Travis and Russell worked at an agency that provided security services to the customers. Their job was to drive armored trucks, heavily fortified vehicles, that transported cash, valuables, or personnel. Travis was a new employee, whereas Russell had been in the service for quite some time. Russell wanted to take voluntary retirement and start a B&B with his wife, Natalie. He had been with Natalie for 25 years, and he wanted to spend some quality time with her on the day of their anniversary. But little did he know that somebody was going to turn his life upside down. Russell and Travis’ boss, Clark, asked them to team up and transport some valuables. Russell had already applied for a leave that day, but Clark didn’t allow him to take a day off. Russell was livid, but obviously he couldn’t do anything about it since he couldn’t afford to lose his job. Clark was a really insensitive guy who was only concerned with making money, even if it came at the cost of his employee’s dissatisfaction. Just a couple of days before that pickup, Travis had met a girl in the most bizarre manner. He’d pulled out his gun at a girl named Zoe as he thought she was going to rob a bank. But the girl simply wanted to give Travis her number. There was a huge ruckus because of that misunderstanding, but once everything got cleared up, Travis did end up going on a date with Zoe.
Surprisingly, Zoe showed a lot of interest in Travis, and it seemed that she was totally smitten by his charm. For a moment, even Travis couldn’t believe that somebody like Zoe could fall for him. But Travis was a confident guy, though the entire world around him told him that he had no skill or potential. Travis ended up spending a couple of days with Zoe at a hotel, and he just couldn’t stop thinking about her after that. What Travis didn’t know was that Zoe just wanted to know which route he was going to drive his armored truck on the coming Monday. Her plan was to steal the armored vehicle and then use it to rob a casino. Travis had no clue that he had been played. He had spat out all the details of his next few trips, and so Zoe and her men, Miguel and Banner, got ready to conduct the operation. Zoe thought that it would be easy to steal the vehicle, but apparently Travis and Russell wanted to be the heroes and save the day. They had to travel through a no-network zone, and so they couldn’t even call for backup when they were attacked. Zoe finally ended up taking them hostage, though she lost her two companions, as their vehicle was blown up, courtesy of the heroics of Travis and Russell.
Why did Zoe want to rob the casino?
Zoe’s father worked as security at a casino. One time, a fire broke out in one of the cafes inside the casino. Her father, Mike, could have easily saved himself, but instead he went to the chamber where the cash was stored, because he wanted everybody else who was there to come out safely. Mike knew that in case of a fire, as a fail-safe mechanism, the chambers got locked, and if somebody was trapped inside, they’d meet their fateful end due to the depletion of oxygen. He saved everybody else, but he was not able to escape from there in time. Zoe’s world turned upside down that day. She would have eventually made peace with her loss had the casino authorities shown some respect towards their employee. But instead of mourning the loss of a brave employee, the casino authorities issued a statement stating that had Mike not left his position and gone to that chamber, he would have still been alive. His efforts were discredited, something that made Zoe really angry. All his life, Mike had worked at that casino, and all those years of selfless service led him to nowhere. That was the moment when Zoe decided that she would rob the casino and get her revenge. Travis and Russell initially thought that Zoe wanted to steal something that they were transporting in their vehicle, but soon they realized that it was the vehicle she was after. Generally, the transport of all the cash happened in a similar armored van, which was why she needed the vehicle to pretend to be an officer of the security facility. Russell told Zoe that, even with the vehicle, she wouldn’t be able to enter the casino, as the cash was always picked up by a vehicle from the central depot and not their department. But Zoe had made arrangements for that too. She had people who helped her get past the security checkpoint, and she was easily able to take all the cash and escape from the casino.
Were Miguel and Banner able to take revenge on Zoe?
Miguel and Banner were thrown off course by Travis and Russell, and Zoe believed that they wouldn’t have survived the crash. But she was wrong. She never wanted to backstab them, but Miguel and Banner both felt that Zoe had found new partners and so she didn’t need them. Banner was a dangerous man, and he was hellbent on teaching Zoe a lesson. The moment Travis, Russell, and Zoe reached their safehouse after robbing the casino, Banner and Miguel attacked them. While Miguel was killed in the crossfire, Banner kept chasing them down. There came a time when it seemed that he would be able to get the better of them, but they turned the odds in their favor at the end.
Just before Banner had attacked them, Natalie, Russell’s wife, tracked him down and went to meet him. She wanted to know what was so urgent that he couldn’t even make it to the anniversary dinner. Russell didn’t tell her that he’d been kidnapped, but by coming to meet him, she too walked right into the trap. Zoe had no option but to take her captive. But Natalie’s presence became a blessing in disguise. It was Natalie who came up from behind and hit Banner so hard that he fell to the ground and lost his consciousness. Had she not done that, Banner would have surely killed Travis, Russell, and Zoe. The trio was out of firepower, and Banner had all the ammunition in his possession. Natalie stood there and told an unconscious Banner, in a true-blue Terminator-esque tone, that she had warned him to not hurt her husband.
Did Zoe and Travis end up together?
Even though Zoe had abducted Travis, and she had warned him that she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he did not obey her orders, he was mesmerized by her. He had fallen in love with her over the weekend, and deep down, Zoe liked him too, though she pretended that it was all an act for her. At the end of The Pickup, Russell and Travis let Zoe leave with the cash. Russell also knew, after hearing her history, that she wasn’t completely in the wrong. The police officers came, and Russell told them how Travis’ heroics saved the day for them. Russell took retirement, and as he had always wanted, he started a B&B. Zoe had left her phone number for Travis—this time the real one—but Travis had to eat the torn banknote on which the number was written, as he didn’t want the authorities to use it to track Zoe down. As a result, he forgot the last three digits of Zoe’s phone number. It took him around 5-6 months to finally get in touch with her, after he had called almost a thousand people. He was just about to get enrolled in the police when Zoe invited him to come to Bali and meet her. Travis came from a family of police officers, which was why he was so desperate to get into the force. In reality, if somebody asked him, he didn’t want to be a cop. So the moment he got an invite, he left for Bali and believed that he would be able to meet her. Travis and Zoe were gracious enough to send a part of that $60 million they had stolen from the casino to Russell. Russell couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that cash and a note that had Travis and Zoe’s initials on it. It all ended well for Zoe, Travis, and Russell, though I have a hunch that they would soon find themselves in some kind of trouble and be compelled to join forces once again to save their lives.
What Happens In The Mid-Credits Scene?
In The Pickup’s mid credit scene, we saw that the owner of the “squirrel monkey” gave a call to Clark and told him that his extremely expensive purchase had not been handled properly and that it was destroyed. What it meant was that Clark was involved in the transportation of illegal items too and probably a chunk of his profits came through that. Also he was extremely rude to the owner of the monkey, which meant that his business was thriving and he didn’t care about customer satisfaction. At the beginning of the film we saw that Travis and Russell were also surprised when they saw that animal in their truck but at that time it didn’t strike them that their boss was a corrupt individual since they themselves were stuck in a perilous situation. Maybe they will decide to take advantage of the situation in the future and teach the man a lesson for being so rude and insensitive towards them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Clark gets in trouble with law enforcement if there is a sequel to The Pickup.
