Let's list the plot holes
OK I start: they were gone for 9 hours partying @ Lollapalooza (Chicago), but it is 10 hours away from their home (Atlanta)! The machine is supposed to only bend time, not space.
sharePlot holes/questions/logistical errors:
(1) So if the found footage was of him going back to destroy the time travel machine, why is it still under the basement floor when he goes to look for it? And if the time machine is still there, then how did anything get fixed?
(2) How in the world did the camera hold a charge for 10 years?
(3) Why are there 2 cameras in the attic at the end?
(4) How is it possible that one of the ancient cameras has footage of them finding the camera in the attic? Who was filming?
(5) How many cameras were filming? We get different angles of many scenes? And some angles that just aren't possible from handhelds. Is the film not limited to found footage?
(6) Why is it so much better to take a large group back into the past than just have one person go?
(7) How is it possible that the butterfly effect is so dramatic over such a short period of time (days/weeks/months), but apparently nothing has changed when he goes back 10 years, walks bloodied through his future highschool, sneaks past himself, family, and friends, and has a conversation with his dad? The scenes are word for word identical at the end.
(8) How was his dad so nonchalant after recognizing a future version of his son? That's about the craziest thing ever, and he doesn't change his tone or even try to have a meaningful conversation with the kid. Just gets up and leaves after an explanation consisting entirely of there are no second chances.
(9) Did they go back and win the $180 million after they screwed up one number? Otherwise, how did the $500k go so far?
(10) Why were they acting like buying a lottery ticket was a crime?
(11) How did they get to Lollapalooza in Chicago from Atlanta?
(12) I know they had VIP passes, but how did David get a dedication from the band? When did he set that up? Did he groundhog that one as well? And how were they allowed to go on stage and hang out? I believe the lead singer even knew David's name.
(13) When David went back to Lollapalooza to fix the moment at the wall, where was the other future version of himself? And again, how was he able to just appear in Chicago for the concert?
(14) When they decided that they had to go back and fix the errors they made, why did they decide that going to Lollapalooza was the error they had to fix? And how were they going to fix that one? How do you get past versions of yourself not to travel back in time and enjoy Lollapalooza?
(15) Didn't the butterfly effect apply randomly to every time they went back in the past? How would they know that a well-intentioned trip back to the past wouldn't cause even more damage?
(16) How did they not test the time machine on any other kind of living being before they used it on themselves? I thought that David was supposed to be a scientist and a genius, not a stoner type that would just walk into a time machine and go back to the past.
(17) I can't imagine that a highschool has fusion-grade Hyrdogen on hand, and that if they did, would you be able to access it with a pair of wire-cutters?
(18) How come the glitch that made you disappear from the world when future you met past you was so inconsistent? And did that mean that you were erased from the time line starting from the time you met the past you?
(19) It seemed that the movie's logic was that going back in time to a previous point on the time line negate the effects of all time travel beyond that point on the time line and creates a new reality. In that new reality, there are two (or more) versions of yourself. Once you make the return trip to a time which appears to be seconds or minutes from the last jump into the past, there's only one version of yourself. Which one survives? And what happens to the other one? For example, in that new reality, it's possible that your old selves didn't skip out on class and meet under the bleachers, correct? There might have been a fire that destroyed the school or something, and your old selves might have been in the basement playing ping pong and working on the time machine.
(20) How come they never thought of jumping into the future? Is that any less interesting? The machine clearly allowed them to make the jump from the past back to a current time? Why couldn't they just dial up a future time on their iPhone? Wouldn't they at least consider it?
Even with all the holes and unanswered questions and shaky logic and sometimes painful camera work, I still loved this movie. I love the time travel concept in general and I have a soft spot for highschool flicks. This combined the two, and while it might not have been the smartest script and it might not have explored the most interesting of questions, it did make me care about the main characters. I bought in, and from there it was a fun if sometimes confusing ride. The cast had a nice chemistry and charm to them. I even liked all the shout-outs to previous time travel movies/TV shows. They could have turned this thing into a TV series that I would have watched for many seasons. It's not a great movie, but it's certainly worth a watch if you can handle the shaky camera and the plot holes.
(1) So if the found footage was of him going back to destroy the time travel machine, why is it still under the basement floor when he goes to look for it? And if the time machine is still there, then how did anything get fixed?
I don't believe they showed him finding the time machine again. They only showed him finding the camera with footage from the original time line where he found the original time machine.
(3) Why are there 2 cameras in the attic at the end?
(4) How is it possible that one of the ancient cameras has footage of them finding the camera in the attic? Who was filming?
David disappeared, but the camera he was holding when he went back did not because he set it down, so in the new time line there are two cameras, and the original time machine is destroyed, but it's possible that the time machine that was in his backpack still exists. He only destroyed the original time machine, not the one he brought with him (I'd have to re-watch to confirm whether the backpack disappeared too).
As for #4, she recorded him in the attic in the first time line when they found the camera the first time. I guess all the footage was transferred onto the camera he took back with him for some reason.
(6) Why is it so much better to take a large group back into the past than just have one person go?
The concept here was to keep one person from fouling up the time line by making jumps by himself that couldn't be reversed if they broke something. It was more for accountability than anything (also why they recorded everything).
(7) How is it possible that the butterfly effect is so dramatic over such a short period of time (days/weeks/months), but apparently nothing has changed when he goes back 10 years, walks bloodied through his future highschool, sneaks past himself, family, and friends, and has a conversation with his dad? The scenes are word for word identical at the end.
No one in the past recognized him at the time, so as long as he didn't alter anything, the only thing he effected was the destruction of the time machine, and talking to his father, but his father died almost immediately, so it had no effect on the remaining time line. So basically everything got reset all the way up to finding the cameras in the attic.
(8) How was his dad so nonchalant after recognizing a future version of his son? That's about the craziest thing ever, and he doesn't change his tone or even try to have a meaningful conversation with the kid. Just gets up and leaves after an explanation consisting entirely of there are no second chances.
The man was intentionally building a time machine. He figured it out that his son built it and travelled there, and was smart enough to realize that he needed to try not to change anything, because clearly he was coming back to destroy it because of the harm it had caused. Pretty logical actually.
(9) Did they go back and win the $180 million after they screwed up one number? Otherwise, how did the $500k go so far?
Wasn't it $1.8Million meaning they got $300k each? There really wasn't a lot of spending other than the one guy that bought the car and rented the food trucks for a day.
(19) It seemed that the movie's logic was that going back in time to a previous point on the time line negate the effects of all time travel beyond that point on the time line and creates a new reality. In that new reality, there are two (or more) versions of yourself. Once you make the return trip to a time which appears to be seconds or minutes from the last jump into the past, there's only one version of yourself. Which one survives? And what happens to the other one? For example, in that new reality, it's possible that your old selves didn't skip out on class and meet under the bleachers, correct? There might have been a fire that destroyed the school or something, and your old selves might have been in the basement playing ping pong and working on the time machine.
Almost. The one difference being that they can't change anything that would caused them not to have travelled back, thus they disappear from original timeline when they jump back in time, and then jump back into that timeline minutes/seconds after they left. This was illustrated by the toy car disappearing when it jumped, and them finding the same car stuck in the wall, but it had been there for 2 hours. It's a little hokey, but it works for the movie.
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Hey Darklander, thanks for humoring me. As you can probably I love discussing this nonsense.
I don't believe they showed him finding the time machine again. They only showed him finding the camera with footage from the original time line where he found the original time machine.
OK, work with me here. When they initially found the magic camera that never runs out of batteries, they saw David's reflection in the mirror. They studied that scene, which led them down into the basement to discover the heart of the time machine in perfect condition under the basement floor. In the end, the exact scene is replicated, revealing that the reason David had gone back in time 10 years and was recorded on the camera in the mirror was so that he could go back and fix everything by destroying the machine. So the first time they saw the footage, David had already travelled back in time, destroyed the time machine, and disappeared from existence. So when they went down to the basement and opened up the floor, what's the logic behind the time machine still being there? Had David not already travelled back in time and destroyed the machine?
As for #4, she recorded him in the attic in the first time line when they found the camera the first time. I guess all the footage was transferred onto the camera he took back with him for some reason.
The footage at the end had both of them in it. share
OK, work with me here. When they initially found the magic camera that never runs out of batteries, they saw David's reflection in the mirror. They studied that scene, which led them down into the basement to discover the heart of the time machine in perfect condition under the basement floor. In the end, the exact scene is replicated, revealing that the reason David had gone back in time 10 years and was recorded on the camera in the mirror was so that he could go back and fix everything by destroying the machine. So the first time they saw the footage, David had already travelled back in time, destroyed the time machine, and disappeared from existence. So when they went down to the basement and opened up the floor, what's the logic behind the time machine still being there? Had David not already travelled back in time and destroyed the machine?
Except that there weren't two cameras in the original, but there is the second time in the attic so no those aren't the same time lines. The second time in the attic with the two cameras is the one where the time machine was destroyed.
We can only guess at what he was doing back there in the original (most likely just saying goodbye to his father), but he couldn't have destroyed the time machine the first time through, or they wouldn't have found it in working condition.
The footage at the end had both of them in it.
Didn't she have a second camera that was filming, and then she sets it down to pick up the old Camera? It's been two weeks since I saw it now, so I'm starting to forget the details, but it seems like there was a modern camera and an old camera in the first scene in the original time line. The only explanation is that they transferred all of the footage from all of the cameras onto the one camera for some reason.
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"Except that there weren't two cameras in the original, but there is the second time in the attic so no those aren't the same time lines. The second time in the attic with the two cameras is the one where the time machine was destroyed.
We can only guess at what he was doing back there in the original (most likely just saying goodbye to his father), but he couldn't have destroyed the time machine the first time through, or they wouldn't have found it in working condition."
We're not shown the original instance that he discovered the time machine. It happens before the movie starts. We do know that he's previously gone back in time because the first time we see him discover the machine, a future version of himself is recorded at his seventh birthday. The filmmakers go to great length to show us that the second time he travelled back to his seventh birthday (and we can only presume it's the second time), the scenes are identical. He's wearing the same exact clothes with the same stain on the shirt and the same back pack and he's holding the same ballerina keys from his now missing girlfriend. He poses at the mirror in the exact same manner before going down the stairs to the basement. His father even repeats the same lines. The filmmakers are telling us that he went back and replicated the same exact scene as he saw on the found footage in the attic. And it wouldn't make sense for him to have the ballerina keys in the video, which you have to presume he obtained in the same manner after his hottie disappeared, without then destroying the machine. And if he hadn't destroyed the machine, then what would have happened to that version of himself that travelled back 10 years and didn't destroy the machine. He would have returned to the present time, and there wouldn't have been the movie in the interim. It's a plot hole. I'd be interested to hear the filmmakers discuss it, but my guess would be that they don't really care about this logic. share
It's not a plot hole man. It just requires us to use our imagination to figure it out. This is time travel, we don't know how it would even work.
Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone.
No one has mentioned that this kid is MIT grade genius, and in the beginning his friends and him had developed the ability to fly a drone using his hands.
Yet when he finds the video and links it to his Dad, then and only then does he open up the MASSIVE WORKSHOP in his bsmnt.
That made no sense to me, you are a inventor like your Dad, but you dont use the shop you have in your own bsmnt till your a Sneior in High School?
Thats impossible to beleive as well.
(10) Why were they acting like buying a lottery ticket was a crime?
I believe to buy lotto tickets you have to be 18 and older.
Technically, using a time machine to win a lottery IS (or would be) a crime. Financial gain via means of learning what's supposed to be unknown at the time it happens is basically cheating, just like Biff in BTTF owning that sports almanac. If they'd found it, he'd probably been arrested on the spot (after they believe the whole cockamamie thing, and that would've come by testing it...i.e. watching a couple games and watching the scores play out perfectly).
If time machines were ever built, lotteries would become a thing of the past, because every day you'd have a winner. Admittedly, it would be hilarious to see, the frustration of lottery runners having a winner every single day. share
(10) Why were they acting like buying a lottery ticket was a crime?
I believe to buy lotto tickets you have to be 18 and older.
Technically, using a time machine to win a lottery IS (or would be) a crime. Financial gain via means of learning what's supposed to be unknown at the time it happens is basically cheating, just like Biff in BTTF owning that sports almanac. If they'd found it, he'd probably been arrested on the spot (after they believe the whole cockamamie thing, and that would've come by testing it...i.e. watching a couple games and watching the scores play out perfectly).
If time machines were ever built, lotteries would become a thing of the past, because every day you'd have a winner. Admittedly, it would be hilarious to see, the frustration of lottery runners having a winner every single day.
Um, Adam went in and claimed the winnings in his name. I'm pretty sure he'd have to be 18 to do that part. It really made no sense to have a getaway scene from the purchase of a lottery ticket. The only way to get caught using their time machine would be to act crazy and pretend they were robbing a bank when they just went in and purchased a lottery ticket. I liked this movie and have actually seen it 3 times now, but this is probably my least favorite scene. share
Wow dude, pay attention to the movie next time.
Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone.