I am trying to sort out what was real and what was imaginary.
1) Did Davey imagine virtually the whole thing?
2) Was the old couple, men who were after them, and others imaginary?
3) Did the plane really blow up?
In other words, what actually occurred, and what was in Davey's head?
No, Davey did not imagine the whole thing. The only thing that was imagined by him was his interaction with Jack Flack. Everything else and everyone else was real.
shareAnd, arguably, the very end
L, do you know gods of death love apples?
Death Note
You could almost believe that it was all imaginary, even the end. Wherever Davey is, anything, including his father hugging him at the end, might be suspected of being imaginary. Remember, an underlying theme is that he is suspected of imagining the bad guys, not just Jack.
The scene downtown where Davey rescues Kim from the bad guys, and subsequent references by Kim to the bad guys in his presence, could be Davey imagining her. He might even imagine her at the airport.
But--
In town we see a scene of her on a bus watching Davey, who's off the bus running.
And--
Morris sees the secret data on the cartridge alone.
And--
Kim sees the bullet hole in Morris's monitor while she is alone. Davey comes along later.
And--
We see scenes of the bad guys talking together in Davey's absence.
And--
At the airport we see her without Davey, talking to personnel.
And--
There is the scene, without Davey, between Davey's father and Kim's mother, where Davey's father reveals that the police report that two men are dead down by the river, and they had been shooting at a kid like Davey.
Also--
There's the distinction that everyone sees and reacts to the bad guys but not to Jack Flack. That indicates a narrative convention of Jack being imaginary but the bad guys being real.
These scenes of parallel action with Kim and the parents are not something that are cinematically suggested as imagined by Davey, since they are not in his presence, and he is not aware of this action.
Why does Rice see Jack though?
That makes no sense to me.
He sees and hears Davey talking to the area next to him and thinks there is someone there. As I recall, Rice sprays the bullets around that area, suggesting that he sees nothing definite to aim at.
____________________
The story is king.
I did not like that part. I found that to be lazy writing. There are multiple ways to do this better but the writers didn't do that.
shareIt was very tricky business. There was a conversation between Davey and Rice, and another one between Davey and Jack, and it required Davey casting his glance over into a dark area, and Rice looking over there with a puzzled expression, and then Rice sprays bullets in a way that supposed to mean he doesn't really have a target in site. His expression was more that he was completely puzzled than that he had seen someone.
So it was two interwoven dialog streams, and variations in Davey's seeming voice directions, and then rapid side glances of Davey and Rice, and then the editor choosing and precisely cutting between many different takes and sound bites.
I think they just pulled it off.
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The story is king.
[deleted]
There's the possibility that Morris imagined the whole thing.
It's also possible that the game Morris started produced a Tron-like-Twilight-Zone universe where it all happened, as suggested by the "Game Start" on the computer screen as Kim and Davey leave Morris's lair.
It's possible that the game Morris started took over Davey and Kim's actual San Antonio reality, just like the author's story writing took over Harold Crick's life in Stranger than Fiction (2006).
The story obviously doesn't need to be clear about this matter. It's an effective cheat to be vague about its exact flavor of Twilight Zone.
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The story is king.
I'm really surprised there is even a debate about this. The movie is an action adventure aimed at kids, of course it all happened. The revelation that Jack Flack was actually real was supposed to be one of those Oh *beep* moments. Simple as that. Why over think it?
"Sorry I'm late guys. I was taking a crap."
Paul Newman
IMDb tags its genres: "Action, Adventure, Crime". It is rated PG, just before PG-13 existed. It would probably have been PG-13.
It was based on previous movie versions of a short story by Cornell Woolrich called "The Boy Who Cried Murder".
- The Window (1949) IMDb genres: "Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller"
- The Boy Cried Murder (1966) IMDb genres: "Crime, Drama"
I think there's a big difference between those who've watched The Twilight Zone on TV, and those who've not. For me, this movie has a Twilight Zone vibe to it, including the theme music, and let's not forget "GAME START".
So, IMHO, there's too much noir and too much Twilight Zone for the kids' fantasy story characterization.
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The story is king.