MovieChat Forums > Project Almanac (2015) Discussion > Questions about plot holes and stuff

Questions about plot holes and stuff


My brain is really struggling to take this all in right now.

1.) When David went back to fix it so he kisses Jessie at lollapalooza, where is the David from that time? If David some how "lured" himself away so he could take over and do the kiss right, then when the solo-travelling david went back, the David of that time would have no idea that he kissed Jessie! Did I miss something here?

2.) Why did Davids dad die? Did the government kill him because of his knowledge of Project Almanac? Or was it just chance that he died on the way to a meeting. It seemed like Davids dad wrote out plans for him to finish the time machine because he knew he wouldnt be around to do it? Again, what did I miss?

Thats it for now. Any input would do my sanity a favor. Thanks!

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1. Good question.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

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when the solo-travelling david went back, the David of that time would have no idea that he kissed Jessie! Did I miss something here


Well when solo-traveling David gets back to the present, he is the David of that time, so yes, he would remember it.

Why did Davids dad die?,,,,, It seemed like Davids dad wrote out plans for him to finish the time machine because he knew he wouldn't be around to do it?


They said it was a car crash. We have no reason to suspect otherwise. Also, any scientist would write out the notes for his work, so that's not unusual. He didn't write them for David... David just happened to find them. Even when David goes back and meets his father, his father doesn't seem to suspect at all that he's about to die. There's no indication in the movie that he specifically wrote the notes for David or that he knew of his impending death.

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David's words you better go hug your son goodbye seem ominous, maybe it's because we know but he has to know something is up, like why is his son there in the 1st place. Also I think he got it working and had been to the future he seems to know really quick that that was David.

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when solo-traveling David gets back to the present, he is the David of that time, so yes, he would remember it.


I'm not so sure. David 1 is at the concert, David 2 jumps in, kisses Jessie, jumps back to the future, and he and Jessie are then together in David 2's future.

However, when David 1 sees Jessie again in that time line, something must happen to keep them together, because in order for them to be together in David 2's time line, David 1 had to start and continue the relationship. That is, the concert and the future Jessie/David relationship are connected by multiple links in the "time chain"; if any of those links break (i.e., are changed) they will affect the future

I think....

Time travel movies hurt my brain.

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It's truly a mess.

Say David-1 gets lured away, so David-2 can redo the scene. When David-2 leaves, David-1 suddenly has a girlfriend. He doesn't remember what happened, but perhaps he could figure out future David came back and fixed something. So he delights in his time with Jesse, until the moment David-2 comes back from the past. Now there are two Davids and David-2 doesn't remember any of Jesse's delights.

But we can fix that. Maybe David-1 figures he just has to go back and make the same trip, leaving only David-2. While David-1 doesn't have the original footage David-2 had to see what to fix, he could just go back and replicate what David-2 did.

So David-1 goes back in time to Lollapalooza... but now there's 3 Davids there. And David-1 doesn't really have to lure David-2 away, since David-2 is doing what David-1 was going to do anyway.

So what does he do? He could go to France and built a bigger time machine. Or he could kill David-2 and take his place anyway, and leave the body on an ever increasing pile of dead Davids.

Same problems of what happens to the lured away ones happens with all the exam redos. You're creating duplicates.

I suppose when David-2 returns, David-1 could just fade away, like shown at the end of the film. Hopefully no one's looking, or he's not driving at the time.

But maybe it makes more sense for David-2 to fade away, since David-1 has a pretty straight-forward path through time. He spent the time with Jesse, not David-2. David-2 is really the one that doesn't "belong". He revised his past so that he really can't exist anymore, much like the ending David.

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But maybe it makes more sense for David-2 to fade away, since David-1 has a pretty straight-forward path through time. He spent the time with Jesse, not David-2. David-2 is really the one that doesn't "belong". He revised his past so that he really can't exist anymore, much like the ending David.


I think this is what was happening.

The version of time travel in this movie really confused me when they were all going back to re-do the exam numerous times. There's no way they'd be able to do that if every instance of them continued to exist each time they travelled back.

As far as I understood, there was only ever two versions of any of them, although they remembered every trip they'd been on. It seems as though there was an original version, who would never change no matter how many trips were taken back, and a future version that was replaced if any of them travelled back to that time for a second time.

The original versions could be interacted with, as seen when David's sister, Future Chris, makes sure Original Quinn is out of the classroom so Future Quinn can do the exam instead. We never see the previous future versions when they travel back again (and it would be impossible to avoid them since they were walking in the exact same place, hearing the exact same conversations) so I'm assuming Future Chris has to distract Original Quinn every time they went back. This means Original Quinn does the same thing every time, and we see that from the couple having the same conversation again and again, so I guess they're 'locked in place'.

And the second version, the future versions of themselves. They seem to disappear if they travel back multiple times. When David travels back to lollapalooza for a second time, the David that messed up with Jessie is nowhere to be found, but the rest of them are still there - the first future versions of them - unchanged and doing exactly what they were before. This makes me think that second Future David replaced first Future David, and the only place first Future David now exists is in second Future David's memories.

Not sure if this makes sense, and I'm sure this theory creates some problems, but it was the only way I could make sense of the exam scene. It was a bit confusing, but overall I thought it was a decent movie.

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Another question I have -what is the significance in the science class time travel scene of the high schooler boy who keeps asking his girl why she called him at 3am? Then Jessie instead of ignoring him like all the other times speaks to him. I wondered if that alone caused a butterfly effect.

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Thw 1st question is one I had also and can't answer it but as to the 2nd...

I had this thought, David's dad could have gone there from an other time and married his mother and everything. So when the machine is destroyed he vanishes too from this timeline! That would explain the goodbe to his son thing!

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I just watched this movie again and i was thinking this same question and i was kind of shocked but just let it go cause its time travel


1; there would have to be 2 of him like all other times when they go back in the past
2; why would david 1 leave so 2 could change it; and if he did leave how did he get him to leave because he couldnt have talked to him or else they wouldnt exist anyways as we seen 2 times

I dont think david 1 would have left because it was them time traveling to start with and he wanted something to happen with the girl

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i was waiting to find out the the father didn't die and he traveled in time and he will meet David in the future ....

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