What gives Paul Blart (Kevin James) the power to kill? Is there a licence that he has gained? A course he has taken? Has he completed a test of morals and achieved a passing grade, allowing the world before him to trust his judgement? No, Blart has not. He is a mall cop. He rides on his scooter, nose upturned at all those he perceives as below him. He loses himself in fantasies of power and potential (potential that he feels was unjustly taken away from him when he failed out of Police Academy). Paul Blart fears his own weakness above all else, and he is willing to do anything to perpetuate his own fantasies of a powerful self. He is even willing to commit murder.
When a group of robbers led by a charming young criminal Veck (Kir O’Donnel), attempt to rob the store it is Paul Blart who decides that he is worthy to step in and take them down. He is actively breaking protocol when he decides that it is him who will take action against them rather than the trained professionals who have been appointed to do so. Enter Paul Blart’s hero complex. He and his scooter begin a brutal rampage against the robbers, who appear to have no intention of violence against him before he presented himself as a threat. Paul Blart laments that he wishes he possessed a gun (so that the killing would be easier). He resorts to blunt force for many of his take-downs. He collides into a woman using a metal vent, he thrusts a man through a glass ceiling, and then rams his own head into the man’s. These are just a few examples of Blart’s blood lust. In the end, Paul kills all of the criminals. But, was it his place to do so? What separates a hero from a killer? Blart, and the rest of the cast of characters certainly hail him as the savior of the mall but this brings up issues of responsibility. He actively ignored cries of protest when he refused to follow protocol, rather succumbing to his own fantasies of strength and importance. There were rules in this world for if crime was to happen, and Paul Blart ignored them in order to rocket himself down the gold plated highway to herodom.
Paul Blart, the mall cop, has committed heinous crimes. Yet, because his vigilantism resulted in the rescuing of money and hostages, these crimes are forgotten and Blart is applauded. Upon re-watching this film, we must sit back and ask ourselves: who gets to decide who lives and dies? Is it the man with the gavel? Is it the man with money? Or is it the man with the scooter, who has always dreamed of importance?