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| “ | Some day you'll know all my secrets. I wonder if we'll still be friends. | „ |
| ~ Martin Thiel intimidating Ben Chase. |
Martin Thiel IV is the main antagonist of the 1988 crime thriller film Criminal Law.
He is a wealthy serial killer and rapist who preys on women who have had abortions.
He was portrayed by Kevin Bacon, who also played Wade in The River Wild, Sean Nokes in Sleepers, Ray Duquette in Wild Things, Sebastian Caine in Hollow Man, Joe Hickey in Trapped, Jacques in Super, Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class, Bobby Hayes in R.I.P.D., Owen Whistler in They/Them, Cade Grant in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and John Labat in MaXXXine.
Biography[]
Past[]
Martin is the scion of the wealthy Thiel family, and presents the public image of a handsome, charming playboy. Beneath that façade, however, he is a violent, misogynistic psychopath who rapes and murders women who have had abortions; he hates such women because his cold, unloving mother, a respected gynecologist, has performed the procedure.
Martin was traumatized at the age of eight when he walked in on his mother performing an abortion. She sent him to a therapist who, unbeknownst to her, was pro-life, and who told him that his mother "killed babies". When he was 14, his father, who was leaving the family, told him that his mother tried to abort him. As an adult, Martin began raping and murdering women who had abortions, seeing himself as an "avenger" of unwanted children like himself.
Criminal Law[]
Martin is eventually arrested and tried for murder and rape, but he is acquitted thanks to his attorney, Ben Chase. He celebrates his freedom by killing another woman, this time setting her corpse on fire to destroy any evidence. He calls Chase to retain him for another trial, and asks to meet him in Central Park, where Chase finds the body and surmises that Martin is indeed guilty. Chase is horrified, but he is unable to go to the police because it would violate attorney-client privilege, which would get him disbarred. Chase becomes determined to gather enough evidence to bring Martin to justice before he kills again.
When Martin finds out that Chase is trying to put him in prison, he attacks Chase's girlfriend, but she manages to fight him off. Martin eventually confronts the real target of his rage - his mother - and kills her. The next day, he attacks Chase in court and takes him hostage, killing a police officer in the process. He dares Chase to kill him, even giving him a gun, but Chase refuses. Seeing that Chase's ally Detective Stillwell has a gun drawn on him, Martin commits suicide-by-cop by attacking Chase with a broken jug, forcing Stillwell to shoot him dead.
Trivia[]
- Real-life serial killer Paul Bernardo was a fan of the film and felt a connection to the Thiel character, so much so that he used "Martin Thiel" as an alias while committing his crimes.