Deja Vu

[murlough23]

I saw this film today, and really enjoyed it. I don't normally get into action flicks or crime dramas, but this one had a good blend of a sci-fi premise and a real-world, modern day setting. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails throughout most of it.

***MAJOR SPOILER ALERT***

But after I left the theater, I remembered having read a review of it that mentioned a plot hole. And I immediately set about trying to figure out what that plot hole was. Then I thought about the whole same timeline/branching timeline thing, and decided that ultimately, they couldn't make up their minds which was which.

Throughout most of the movie, they set us up to believe in one constant timeline. Everything that they affected via the wormhole (or whatever the hell it was) had already happened, including the death of Carlin's partner (who was believed to have died in the boat explosion, but was actually killed by Oerdstadt a few days earlier, and his car was left at the dock due to having driven there to confront the criminal). So when they sent Carlin back and everything he did started matching up with things he had seen in "the future" (bloody rags all over the murder victim's apartment, the message that he arranged with her magnietic refigerator letters, etc.), that seemed to fall into place. And yet, when he went back and changed the timeline, he saved the girl. So why, then, did things still happen in a way that matched the original timeline? That's what didn't make sense. In the original timeline, where the girl isn't saved, future Carlin has no reason to go to her house and leave fingerprints and bloody garments (interesting how the detectives later noted that the fingerprints were his, but not that the blood was his!), and leave the "U CAN SAVE HER" message on the fridge. Why had that stuff already happened in the original timeline, where the terrorist plan to blow up the ferry succeeded?

I'm OK with the branching timeline business, so I don't have problems with the whole paradox of "something bad happens, you go back in time to prevent it, then the you from that point in time no longer has a reason to go back in time" that plagues a lot of stories which believe in a single timeline. I don't have a problem with future Carlin dying and new timeline Carlin never knowing any of the time travel/surveillance stuff with the FBI had happened, and never having to meet those FBI guys anyway. But even with that story, there are still some problems. Future Carlin was seen by some of the law enforcement officers aboard the ferry, so why wasn't he identified, hunted down, and arrested ASAP? He was able to waltz up to the girl after they pulled her out of the water, like nothing had happened. And why was the same Beach Boys song on the radio when he turned his car on at the end of the movie? Don't tell me that all happened within four minutes.

Really good film, but these plot holes knocked it down to a B+ from what would have been an A-level grade.

[Brenden]

That is a good point, I do remember thinking something seemed off about the ending. It didn't line up in my head, I just didn't put a lot of effort into finding out exactly what that was.

I agree that this was a good film. The trailers looked mediocre to me, but the movie was better than they made it out to be. I'm glad I opted to go see it on a whim. There were spots during the film where I got a little bored, mostly during the parts with the FBI guys, but otherwise I was glued to the screen.

[murlough23]

One thing I definitely found amusing was one of the tech guys saying he needed "more cowbell". That was random, but funny. So was Carlin's "KY" remark back to Oerdstadt.