MovieChat Forums > Predestination (2015) Discussion > Proof John broke the loop at the end.

Proof John broke the loop at the end.

posted 7 years ago by joshua-draulius
6 replies | jump to latest

At the end of the movie older John tells younger John, before he gets shot, "You know what we're going to do tomorrow?"

He asks him this because he remembers his younger self not shooting him and what they did the next day. This is what kept the Fizzle Bomber going until now. If he remembered his younger self shooting him then he would have been more afraid and less sure of himself.

When John shot him he broke the loop and did what his previous self did not.

[–] mcp-69798 7 years ago

Incorrect. John doesn't "break the loop". He eventually forgets he shot his older self because too much time travel messed up his head, as explained in the movie. Old John/Fizzle Bomber was mentally unstable.

"You're not thinking 4th dimensionally!"

[–] OLD_ACCOUNT_skribb_Mk2 7 years ago

Well Old Barkeep says "if you shoot me, you will become me", and that's exactly what happens. Barkeep shoots Old Barkeep and becomes Old Barkeep i.e Fizzle Bomber.

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.and then the bong hits him on the head and he falls RIGHT over the realitY

[–] GreyHunter 7 years ago

The way I interpret it is actually pretty straightforward. If Younger-Ethan John hadn't shot Old John, he would have broken the loop. The plot isn't 'older John blows up 10,000 people tomorrow.' The plot is 'Fizzle Bomber blows up 10,000 people, evades identification yet again.' Younger-Ethan John was already teetering on the brink of insanity. He then murders himself, which has to be traumatic. What's to say that Old John wasn't already completely aware that Younger-Ethan John snaps, starts obsessing over the deaths he caused by killing Old John (that is, the deaths that happen because Old John didn't kill the source of those deaths) and goes on to plant the bomb himself, which becomes the catalyst for his bombing spree? That bomb that kills 10,000 people would actually be the first bomb (remember the bit about first being as important as last? this is his new mission now that he's no longer a Temporal Agent) that leads to him going back in time and setting the earlier bombs (his device didn't shut off, after all, it malfunctioned) and escaping in time, which is why nobody can catch the Fizzle Bomber. Old John would remember that Younger-Ethan John became the Fizzle Bomber right after killing Old John, so he's quite correct -- by killing Old John, Younger-Ethan John becomes the Fizzle Bomber. He kills 10,000 people, grows older, ends up in a laundromat as Old John, Younger-Ethan John enters....

[–] loepark 7 years ago

*beep* me

Raging Bull = Best movie

[–] drhouse (79) 6 years ago

yeah, but having just re-watched this movie, there's a lot weird chicken/egg/rooster things going on... like, old-Ethan needed a time machine to become the Fizzle Bomber -> Temporal Bureau is created to stop the Fizzle Bomber, who gives young-Ethan the time machine thus creating the Fizzle Bomber

also, newly-retired-Ethan develops an idea about 'killing groups of people in exchange for saving larger numbers', he starts using his decomissioned time machine, kills people, grows old and ends up at the laundromat. The first time this sequence occurs there shouldn't be any memories about them having met (and conversation) before, that could only start happening after the first time they meet (and afterwards), but for that first run-through old-Ethan should be completely surprised that young-Ethan shows up

[–] KutWrite (1220) 5 years ago

I just saw this yesterday.

As I recall, Old John says if he DOES shoot him it breaks the loop and will alter history. By shooting him he can't do the BIg Bomb (11k dead?), which somehow SAVES more lives than it takes.

So... I don't get why John does break the loop. Isn't his job to make sure it DOES happen?

I thought I had this straight, but having read the other posts, above, I'm more befuddled than ever.