Deja Vu

[joejld1]

I don't think he went back to the past, I think it was a comic book.

 

[Alone]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: Alone
That's why their take on time travel is flawed. Realistically (as realistic as you could get) the present should be the result of everything they did. They started on this path with the cop, who dies on the boat and his car is used instead. This happens because of the letter they sent back (the interaction between the future and the past is the reason for what happens in the future). However, when he goes back he manages to save the girl, and she's alive but the bandages were still at her house in the past (which means he must have gone there without her, which makes no sense).

In my opinion, he went back once and they just screwed up with their opinions on time travel.

Well, here's the problem that I have with it...

If he saw the effects of himself going into the past (i.e. bandages, ambulance, etc), then why did the ferry blow up and the girl die? It may've been the catalyst to cause him to go to the past, but if the bandages existing were signs that he had went to the past, then he should've already fixed everything.

If at the end of the movie, they go back to her place, there will be bandages, yes. The thing is, the boat will also not be destroyed and this girl will not be dead. Also, future Denzel should've disappeared once the girl freed herself from the Bronco as he had effectively saved the girl and rid any reason (at all) that he would need to go into the past, therefore making him never go into the past and he shouldn't have existed.

In short, if the remnants of his tampering with the past existed in the beginning of the movie (bandages and stuff), why wasn't everything fixed?

The only logical explanation of this is that they decided to change how they were dealing with time-travel. Technically, the end result should have been the end result regardless of what happened in the past. It's a never-ending cycle unless you're dealing with other dimensions and whatnot.

 

[Special K]

I just finished watching this movie and didn't want to start another thread. I'm with the others who claim that he only went back in time once, although I'd have to watch the movie again now that I've read everyone's opinions of what happened. Honestly any way you decide to portray time travel in a movie, there will always be paradoxes.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: Alone
EDIT:

Yes but the point is ... when he saw it on the fridge BEFORE he went back in time, someone had already put it on the fridge ... which would have been him a previous time he went back into the past.

I think you're misunderstanding me. What he sees on the fridge is what he wrote in the past (after going back). Since he saw this on the fridge, he knew that he must have written it when he went back to the past.

Exactly, he traveled only once as far as the movie alluded to. Prior to time traveling he saw the note on the frig. Later in the movie he time traveled to a time period a few hours before seeing the note. Remembering seeing it, he arranges the letters to inspire himself to time travel.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: Alone

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: hdeck
yeah i think he only went back once.

If he did only go back once, then how would he have known to put "You can save her" on the fridge? the only logical explanation is that he went back twice for that to happen.

He goes back once, puts "You can save her" on the fridge. He dies. Then his "current character" sees that on the fridge.

He then goes back again and saves her.

No. The future Denzel sees this on the fridge, which tells him that he's supposed to put it up there like that when he goes back. In the past, he goes up the the fridge and thinks "I saw this on the fridge, so I must have done it" and then he arranges the letters.

Yes but the point is ... when he saw it on the fridge BEFORE he went back in time, someone had already put it on the fridge ... which would have been him a previous time he went back into the past.

At the end of the movie, when the chick is saved, he's not even going to have to go to the girls apartment to search her stuff because he'll be alive and the future has now been changed, so he'll never see the "You can save her" on the fridge.

But I do agree it is confusion about the whole concept of time travel.

thats the paradox...he sees the letters which is what he puts up on the fridge when he goes back because that hows it is in the future.

 

[jjones]

Either the writers screwed up (most likely), or he went back more than once.

The problem is this: All the things that led him to investigate her death - the writing on the fridge, the bloody bandages, etc. - were done by him, yet the girl ended up dead. So there had to be at least one scenario where he went back, did all that stuff and she died anyway. Then there's the scenario we saw where he went back and she lived.

 

[Kaido]

It was a fun movie, but I didn't think it was as good of a "movie" as far as presentation goes as I was expecting.

I totally forgot about his "twin" at the end was like :Q when he drowned lol.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: jjones
Either the writers screwed up (most likely), or he went back more than once.

The problem is this: All the things that led him to investigate her death - the writing on the fridge, the bloody bandages, etc. - were done by him, yet the girl ended up dead. So there had to be at least one scenario where he went back, did all that stuff and she died anyway. Then there's the scenario we saw where he went back and she lived.

It's okay. He really, really wanted to change the situation. Laws of the universe don't apply when (1) you live in Hollywoodland and (2) you are really determined to do something

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: jjones
Either the writers screwed up (most likely), or he went back more than once.

The problem is this: All the things that led him to investigate her death - the writing on the fridge, the bloody bandages, etc. - were done by him, yet the girl ended up dead. So there had to be at least one scenario where he went back, did all that stuff and she died anyway. Then there's the scenario we saw where he went back and she lived.

I agree . I'm also too tired to restate my points that I made earlier as I can barely remember what they were from nearing two months ago :laugh:.

It makes you think of this as well... the guy didn't decide to go back in time until after he saw the letter sent back and such. But everything was already set before Denzel went back in time (the letters on the fridge, bandages, etc). Looking at other movies like Back to the Future and such, time was never changed until the person actually went to change it... threw the stone in the lake so to speak. But if Denzel hadn't gone back yet... why did we see the ripples?

 

[Kev]

The whole timeline breaks down when he saves the girl from getting her fingers cut off. Once you see that happen, everything that happens afterwards doesn't make any sense with regards to the time loop. Because if she didn't get her fingers cut off, and THEN he goes to her house and gets bandaged up and writes the message on the fridge, then HOW did the original timeline happen?

It's just yet another time travel movie that doesn't hold it together. I think the only one I've ever seen that I can't find a hole in is 12 Monkeys.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Kev
The whole timeline breaks down when he saves the girl from getting her fingers cut off. Once you see that happen, everything that happens afterwards doesn't make any sense with regards to the time loop. Because if she didn't get her fingers cut off, and THEN he goes to her house and gets bandaged up and writes the message on the fridge, then HOW did the original timeline happen?

It's just yet another time travel movie that doesn't hold it together. I think the only one I've ever seen that I can't find a hole in is 12 Monkeys.

What about BTTF? :Q

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Kev
The whole timeline breaks down when he saves the girl from getting her fingers cut off. Once you see that happen, everything that happens afterwards doesn't make any sense with regards to the time loop. Because if she didn't get her fingers cut off, and THEN he goes to her house and gets bandaged up and writes the message on the fridge, then HOW did the original timeline happen?

It's just yet another time travel movie that doesn't hold it together. I think the only one I've ever seen that I can't find a hole in is 12 Monkeys.

What about BTTF? :Q

Nope, as soon as he broke up the meeting between his dad and mom he should have instantly ceased to exist, not take a week or 2 to start fading out.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Kev
The whole timeline breaks down when he saves the girl from getting her fingers cut off. Once you see that happen, everything that happens afterwards doesn't make any sense with regards to the time loop. Because if she didn't get her fingers cut off, and THEN he goes to her house and gets bandaged up and writes the message on the fridge, then HOW did the original timeline happen?

It's just yet another time travel movie that doesn't hold it together. I think the only one I've ever seen that I can't find a hole in is 12 Monkeys.

Have you seen Primer? That one seemed to be consistent, although it was by far the most confusing time travel movie I've ever seen.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: Kev
Nope, as soon as he broke up the meeting between his dad and mom he should have instantly ceased to exist, not take a week or 2 to start fading out.

I took that as the idea that there was still more time to rectify what was ruined. In other words, the Enchantment Under the Sea dance was his last chance to get the stray "train" back on the right path before he went over the (clayton) ravine (using a bit of Part 3 in there ).

 

[AUMM]

this thread made my brain hurt

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Kev
The whole timeline breaks down when he saves the girl from getting her fingers cut off. Once you see that happen, everything that happens afterwards doesn't make any sense with regards to the time loop. Because if she didn't get her fingers cut off, and THEN he goes to her house and gets bandaged up and writes the message on the fridge, then HOW did the original timeline happen?

It's just yet another time travel movie that doesn't hold it together. I think the only one I've ever seen that I can't find a hole in is 12 Monkeys.

Have you seen Primer? That one seemed to be consistent, although it was by far the most confusing time travel movie I've ever seen.

no but i'll add that to my queue

 

[Koing]

Movie was pretty good.

Koing

 

[DaveSimmons]

The idea of multiple trips (at least 2) makes sense if you look at the view of the timeline splitting each time someone or something is sent back:

Reality 1, Denzel 1: no phone call from the girl, no "U can save her" or ambulance, or bandages.

Denzel #1 goes back in time to form:

Reality 2, Denzel 1 went back, crashed the ambulance, was shot, went to the apartment and places "U can save her", dies after failing to save her and the ferry.

Denzel #2 is the one we watch in the movie, living in reality 2 with the effect of the first set of changes and some vague memories somehow inherited from Denzel #1 as Deja Vu (like the voice of the bomber).

Denzel #2 goes back in time to form:

Reality 3, Denzel 2 starts off doing mostly the same things that Denzel 2 did, including saving the girl and going to her apartment.

In this reality Denzel 2 saves the girl and the ferry but dies. Denzel 3 shows up to investigate and will have no need to go back in time.

There is no paradox because the travel into the past is travel into a different past.

Reality 1 and 2 (if they still exist) continue on or fade away, but Denzel 1 and 2 are gone from both of them, the girl is dead in both of them. In reality 1 there is no crashed ambulance, no "U can save her."