last night my parents and i watched the movie and it was really good

my dad mentioned that the only thing he was slightly disappointed by was how easily miles just burned the napkin. he just... got out of it. and without any evidence, blanc can't do anything, and he felt that it kinda made the mystery feel pointless. like miles is still in deep shit at the end of the story but it's because the others are going to perjure themselves to put him away, not because blanc can prove his case or anything

i don't agree; i think the ending is perfect for what the movie is trying to say

miles talks a big game about how they're disrupting everything, up to and including the one thing nobody wants you to disrupt: the system itself. but he's full of shit. the system loves guys like miles. the system is there to protect miles. he is the system

blanc tells helen when they're talking that he has to be part of the system; he can find the truth but he can't be the one to do anything about it, his role is (unfortunately) to bring the evidence to the police and courts and wash his hands of it. he wants to do more but he can't, it's not his role. he could never have taken down miles because he has to work within the system

it's only through helen, who's not bound by that, that anything can actually happen. when helen sets into motion the events that will ruin miles, that's what it looks like to disrupt the system