Welcome to Thunderdome

Posted: **Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:46 pm**

Found this analysis this evening, and I thought it was worth sharing:

Standard Ending

During the second-half of the movie, Cage and Rita (Emily Blunt) are in a car crash, almost, but not quite killing Cage. Leading to a blood transfusion which removes his ability to reset. Now they have one last chance to save the world. Puts on glasses. Fuck yeah

They then proceed to sneak out of the facility, obtain a carrier ship and convince the remaining J-Squad to accompany them to kill the Omega, knowing that if they fail, they and likely the rest of humanity will be doomed. Fortunately the team arrives and after turning the ship into a make-shift slingshot they propel themselves into the Luvre where the Omega is located, dive down into the depths and make a suicide run for the Omega. Rita runs distraction with the Elite who is guarding the Omega, while Cage goes for the Omega he dives down, lets the explosives loose and BAM! The Omega dies, during this time the explosion also almost kills Cage but before he dies the Omega's blood leaks into his body and resets time one last time (No pun intended) to before he was forced into war, except in this timeline the war was over, and he went to meet Rita for the first time under much better circumstances.

Let's Rewind - Writers Hidden Plot

"What I am about to tell you will sound crazy, but the more you listen the more rational I will become." - Mjr William Cage

Heading back to the car accident, where Cage receives a blood transfusion and loses his powers. Cage wakes up and you see his eyes glaze over and the blood recede. Rita promptly storms in to kill Cage so he can reset and avoid being captured altogether but he interrupts her and tells her "I'm out" implying that his powers are gone. He lied.

That's right. He lied..

The blood transfusion unlike Rita's was only a small amount and had not taken away the ability to reset with death. We were now unknowingly watching The Final Timeline. Everything we see from this point of the movie was relived and perfected over and over by Cage but he had to hide this from Rita to save her life.

How do I know this? Let's take a look at some of the scenes.

Examples Please read through these and re-watch the movie from this point for confirmation, the further examples become more and more compelling and reveal a greater story.

Example One Immediately after escaping the holding facility they were looking for a carrier ship and are standing on opposite sides of the shipping containers, Cage suddenly switches sides to be with Rita, at almost the exact time the military vehicles arrive which would have spotted Cage in his original position.

Example Two While convincing J-Squad of his plan and to join him, he comes across some questions he would otherwise have been unlikely to know the answer too. He never got close to Ford or Skinner, but was able to answer many personal questions to convince them of something this big. Rita also was queued to walk in just as they said they don't know him even though he knows them. Convincing them immediately, this didn't seem to surprise Cage however, which you think would surprise somebody experiencing that for the first time.

Example Three During their travel to the Luvre, the ship is attacked before landing, creating a panic in the J-Squad. Cage, staying calm and conveniently not shackled for release then calmly and timely, releases each member, leaving Rita for last. As if he knew when and where to drop vital members so they would survive. As if he had lived this before. He then dropped from the ship, without a parachute into the water, which seemed like certain death and a terrible idea for a cat with no lives left. But without panicking or attempting any means of escape, he allowed himself to sink to the bottom, escaped his robot exoskeleton and emerged. He then promptly headed directly towards the crash site. Asking Rita "Who made it?" - Presumably Wanting to confirm the right people lived

Example Four Once the group is gathered, he explains the plan, which is rather precise considering the crash and ambush event was supposedly unknown and a surprise to everybody. They were to use the ship to travel across the body of water, using the power controls to steer the ship and propel themselves into the Luvre. Quick thinking Cage! He then also instructs Kriff and Skinner to clear the path and also points out where the mimics will be coming from.

The following scene has more indications Cage has lived this timeline before

Before take-off, Rita shouts out to inquire where Skinner and Kriff are, without knowing they had decided to stay and die to cause a delay for Cage and Rita, while she asked this, the camera cuts to Cage, he is looking at her awaiting the response with no reaction to the response that they would not be coming back. He knew what they were doing and knew it was necessary, in contrast to Rita who took a moment to express sadness/regret.

During their flight (Same Scene), their external gunner is shot, and immediately Cage says "You have to take the controls" he then proceeds to take the external gunner and start killing mimics, very similarly to the first scene on the Beach in France that he had perfected to save Rita, he also during this time, shoots through the aircraft's roof, killing two mimics which were never in his line of sight. An impossibility to somebody who had not been here before.

Then he points out to Rita the imminent impact with an arch, as she braces for impact he shouts "Punch it!", an odd decision, but one that manages to miraculously propel them through the arch, breaking the wings and landing them in the Luvre lobby.

By this point, you must be convinced. Just in-case I'll keep going!

Example Five Once inside, Cage assesses the damage, and takes one grenade off the grenade belt and hands it back to Rita, he points out the path and starts running towards the Omega, as he is going it cuts to a split-second scene of him then putting that single grenade in a crack in the ground, and jumping over the edge, the grenade explodes and sends rocks tumbling down, conveniently covering the reservoir they are now in, protecting them from thousands of mimics trapped above which you hear slamming against the rocks. During this scene other very subtle things happen, such as when Cage lands on the roof of the vehicle, he subtly moves to the left, to make room for Rita, and then rolls them off the car to avoid the falling rocks. This all happens very quickly and seemed intentionally rehearsed for the keen eye.

So.. Why...?

So you probably have some questions, so let me answer a few for you.

Why would the directors add this? Because it was a necessary part of the story, this is how he did the impossible and saved both himself and Rita. It also adds an entirely new dimension to the film which in my opinion makes it one of the greatest movies in a long time.

Why did he lie to Rita about his ability? He wanted her to survive and didn't want her treating it like a game she can reset like on the beach. Potentially he had been back and when he doesn't lie she dies or kills him. He needs her to push herself to the limit.

Why did the director not reveal this? I do not know. Potentially it was intended to be one of those "Open-ended" stories where you can decide, similar to Inception or Looper, but the final scene didn't quite pack the punch to make people think. It was also so well hidden it is difficult for people to pick up on.

Another reason was potentially to keep the movie to be simple and well closed for the average viewer, but much deeper for the more involved audience.

What does this mean?

This changes a couple of things:

Cage perfectly executes the entire last half of the movie, and only those who know about this lie can spot it

Cage did not lose his ability to reset

Cage reset himself hundreds of times potentially trying to figure out how he can save Rita

Cage eventually found the perfect solution, with a fail-safe which can only be fully appreciated by seeing this story.

Rita also remember everything. WAIT WHAT

During the end of the movie Cage absorbs the blood of the Omega, gaining all it's power. He could now reset back two days to before these events while retaining his and Rita's consciousness.

How can I tell? During the final scene, as Cage walks into the training arena as a captain, all other combatants who were as equally arrogant and intimidating as Rita initially were at attention due to Cage's Captain status, however as Major William Cage approached Rita, rather than the expected respectful greeting, she spits out what she said at there first meeting "What do you want, do I have something on my face!?", Cage briefly looks confused (As if he thinks she should remember) and then his expression changes as he realizes her sarcastic greeting confirming her memory, and laughs.

HIT CREDITS

And that is why this movie was amazing, other than the initial timeline, and the ability to sit back and phase out and thoroughly enjoy this movie in it's simplest form, it also has an amazing secondary story which makes this movies one of the greatest ones I've ever seen.

I strongly recommend you get your butt back in that cinema, or get this DVD as soon as you can and re-watch the ending to confirm every point I've made, and by following the rule below, you will be watching an entirely different movie and it will be amazing.

The rule:

THE MAKE THIS MOVIE EPIC: Simply remember, when Cage wakes up from the car accident, he lies to Rita. Just remember that he lies.

I hope you all enjoyed the movie and would love to hear your thoughts!

Caio!

Posted: **Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:32 am**

Where is the non-spoiler thread?

Posted: **Sun Dec 28, 2014 1:16 pm**

By this point, you must be convinced. Just in-case I'll keep going!

I am utterly unconvinced, and think that person is just making shit up.

Example two was intentionally staged, but the woman is a legend, of course they are going to follow her. The movie wasn't long enough to show us everything that happened (remember the scene in Paris with the helicopter? How many times did she die? Right, we only saw one). We have no idea how many lives he lived getting to know everyone, just to prep for needing that info later (like the last meeting with the general).

But this movie was much better than I had expected.

Posted: **Mon Dec 29, 2014 1:14 am**

Before reading that stuff up there, here's what I came to say. This movie is very good, easily 9 out of 10. Although I need to watch it again because I can't see how the ending makes any damn sense. It feels like it was tacked on to appease test audiences that didn't like the ending where they stayed dead. How does his doing another reset end up with the aliens still all dead when they should be right back to being alive again?

That blood transfusion thing doesn't work properly as a story device. For one thing there's no way they could know they were "out" until they died, and then they'd be dead. Even if they could feel it, the story made it clear that the aliens wanted his blood to get their power back from him. How does one of them getting a blood transfusion accomplish that? If anything now no one would have the power after that.

A better way to structure that part of the story would be to have them now hooked into the system as if they were an alpha and the aliens would be trying to keep them alive to avoid an unwanted reset. And there should have been some random resets where he didn't die that were triggered because someone somewhere killed an alpha. And anyone so effected would continue to cause resets upon death. Although that would make his job even harder because the aliens would remember all the days and learn just as he was.

Still, good movie. Now, to read the thing above and comment on that as well...

I'm not convinced, although I had had much the same thought. Only because of the things he lists in Example Five, which I did notice and thought interesting. The rest of his examples aren't compelling at all. But it's an interesting way to look at it and it makes the final part of the film as potentially good as the first part was. Without it I thought the last bit after he had lost the power wasn't all that interesting, just another meh action movie. It still doesn't explain how the aliens are all dead after his last reset at the end, though.

Edited By TPRJones on 1419833766

Posted: **Mon Dec 29, 2014 1:55 am**

Oh, and were I in his situation I would not only take the time to get to know everyone, but to try to convince them even if it takes all day. Then ask them what's the one thing you would tell me to tell you to shortcut that whole process next time and have you believe me up front. Then reset and keep that info for later use. Might as well since there seems to be no limit to the resets. Time is an important factor on only the last day.

And I do mean everyone. No telling who it might help to have convinced quickly in future iterations. He could probably have worked his way up the chain of command that way and convinced even the general.

Posted: **Mon Dec 29, 2014 2:34 am**

Rewatched.

If the theory above were correct and after the car crash we are watching the last of a new set of resets, why would he tell the nurse "you don't know what you've done" and ask if Rita is alive. He'd already know all that. I can buy him lying to Rita, but why act confused for the nurse? I think that bit blows up that theory.

And it would have to be a new reset point after being unconscious, because otherwise why keep going through the car crash bit? Once he knows it's Paris and if he reset back to handcuffs he'd have no reason to go see the general again as part of the loop.

EDIT: Okay, maybe he still would if convincing Rita were necessary then the crash and blood would be part of that necessity. Still no reason I can see to fool the nurse.

EDIT2: The examples he gives don't hold up anyway. In the loops he keeps doing the don't-even-look-just-shoot-perfectly trick. He doesn't do that sort of thing in the examples given, it all appears to be reactions to events he sees happening. Except the grenade, but that looks like it was a lucky accident of it getting caught in the edge as he slid past. It could all be acting to convince Rita, but it's simpler to assume that it's all just regular absurd action flick plot-driven main character super luck.

EDIT3: Unrelatedly there's something else about the movie-ending reset that's odd: why is the chopper now landing in direct sunlight when the first time at the start of the movie it landed in the shade? Probably because it was a reshoot to stick on an ending that wasn't originally there.

Edited By TPRJones on 1419840083

Posted: **Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:03 pm**

Alrighty, a few things jump out:

Firstly, why not take a hint from claymore dude and have one of those strapped to you at all times?

Some conversations from resets you didn't see:

1)

"You've tried everything?"

"You mean sex? Doesn't work."

"You probably weren't doing it right. Maybe you need to take it up the ass or we need to come at the same time or something. We have to try every possibility."

"Doesn't work."

"How about this, ok? Every ten times you kill me, I get to fuck you once. Deal? And I better not hear you bitching about the lack of condoms."

2)

"I'll need some extra ammo, med packs, grenades, and batteries. All you fucking have. All I can fucking carry. In fact, get me a few duffel bags full. But go light on the bubblegum, I can't chew that all day, I have extra ass to kick."

Back to movie plot idiocy:

The mimic omega has the shittiest ability ev4r. He can rewind time when an alpha's killed, which is ... wait for it, the same fucking thing that lets the time rewind ability leech into the enemy. That means he doesn't get to use it unless the human that gets it first fucks up and loses/dilutes his blood.

Immediately after Tom jams the thing into his leg and learns Paris is the destination, he needs to die. Think about it, what's easier? Pulling off this insane getaway or going back to the beginning and not putting yourself in need of an insane getaway because you already have the intel?

I really tried to follow the above wacko "there were more resets than you saw" theory, but it dies right there. There is no fucking way he puts himself in danger of a blood transfusion unless it's making sure Rita lives. Easiest way to do that? Don't steal the high-tech macguffin to begin with and head directly to Paris. Does it seem like it he has foreknowledge of all this shit there even though he says he hasn't lived that day yet? Yeah, sure does. But there's no way he lived it before unless he does something way out of character or the blood thing means nothing.

Edited By Malcolm on 1423454934

Posted: **Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:50 am**

I like the movie. One of those things where you start seeing cracks in the logic if you search too hard, but generally a fast paced enough movie that it's easy to set those aside and just enjoy it. As far as this guys theory, I don't think so. Mostly because without losing his power, there's no risk. Without risk, it's a boring plot. Just from a writer's perspective, the power has to go The guy seems to be trying hard to resolve usual continuity issues you find in any movie.

Welcome to Thunderdome

Edge of Tomorrow SPOILER THREAD - *spoilers*

Edge of Tomorrow SPOILER THREAD - spoilers