The Blood On the Sleeve: Representitive of how there is a past of violence, shame, bad things etc., and Sydney's ways of life are just to cover them up with his sleeve.
He killed Jimmy so John could be happy and ignorant about the death of his father.
And that seems to drive Syd, getting things right, although he's made so many mistakes, and he's still a killer.
Hard Eight is absolutely fucking awesome. First time I saw it, I could say otherwise, because I was expecting BoogieNolia. or sumpin.
The Third time I saw it I was hit with how perfect it was, especially how PBH flips over to being an angry, fragile character as soon as he has to encounter the situation in the motel room.
And the whole build-up, and people saying it's a let-down: Yes, it is, if you're in a MOVIE sense of things, but PTA, trying to create realistic characters and situations (frogs excluded....almost) thought to himself "Hm, what could I do in that hotel room?"
And if you, my friends, were confronted with a situation where your closest friend has a person knocked out in a hotel room for ransom, wouldn't that be a kick in the gut in reality???
My Conclusion: YES.
Sydney aka Hard Eight = GOOD