MovieChat Forums > Project Almanac (2015) Discussion > Am I stupid or is there a HUGE PLOT HOLE...

Am I stupid or is there a HUGE PLOT HOLE?


After David destroyed the time machine, he started disappearing. Of course, this is because he wouldn't be able to time travel without a time machine.

Now, his video camera should also be erased from that time too, since the time machine no longer exists.

So when he goes back to the attic, how is there 2 video cameras?

reply

No you're not stupid. You are completely right. The time machine being destroyed would have destroyed anything that they had done including the videotape and recorder. It's just like in Back to the Future, when Jennifer looked at the note of Marty getting fired from the future, after Marty decided to stop letting others intimidate him by calling him "chicken", the note erased because that moment never happened. They did the same thing in BTTF with the newspaper changing meaning they had changed an unfortunate event from happening so yes the video recorder and the tape should have been erased from existence. Heck his dad shouldn't have remembered seeing his son as a teenager either because if the time machine never existed he never went back in time and saw him.

reply

I don't necessarily think its a plot hole, but every one seems to believe the theory that "Back to the Future" has put forth(arguably the most popular time travel film) That if you change the past, the evidence of that past is changed as well, i.e. people in photos disappear, newspaper headlines change before your eyes, and written words disappear from paper.

But, it's also plausible that those recorded images and even items could be left behind and not be effected by the change, because they did actually happen, even though as a time traveler you changed those actions, but you still did them.

It's probably easier to believe when you change something, all evidence of that change is erased, but that almost seems to perfect.




reply

It's a major plothole.

He destroyed the time machine in the past, so there was nothing for them to build in the future. Everything they did and recorded could never happen as it's all tied directly to the existence of that time machine.

Destroying the time machine erased everything from that timeline from existence, including himself, but not the camera?

Even within this film, things followed a certain logic, in fact it revolved around it, so for the camera to still exist is a gaping plot hole which contradicts it's own storyline.

reply

I agree it is a plot hold. BUT...how could the time machine even be destroyed in the past if he never builds it in the future to go back to destroy it? There is really no perfect way of handling it.

reply

The problem is that you guys are assuming the existence of a single timeline, where any actions in the past destroy/overwrite the original timeline. That is the Back To The Future version of time travel that is very popular, but there is another theory of time travel which posits that changes made in the past only prevent the time traveler from advancing towards one possible future. The original timeline still exists and runs parallel to the alternate timeline. This is the rule of time travel established in The Terminator universe. When John, Sarah, Miles Dyson, and the Terminator destroy the Cyberdine building and change the date of Judgement Day, the Terminator doesn't disappear out of existence because the future was changed. That future that he came from still exists in an alternative timeline, and the Terminator will still have his memories of that future (that will now never happen from John and Sarah's perspective). All they did was create a new timeline that runs parallel to the original one.

I tend to prefer that theory, at least from a storytelling perspective because it explains why time travelers don't ever seem to lose their memories of the future that they changed after they've changed it. If Marty changed the future so that his dad becomes a successful businessman, where Biff waxes his car, why then does Marty still remember the old future where his father was a pushover who worked for Biff? If he prevented that future from ever happening, why does he still remember it as though it did?

If we apply the Terminator, branching timelines rule to Project Almanac, then nothing should disappear at all (including David). The problem with the movie (and the actual plot hole) is that the movie can't decide which rules to follow, and is inconsistent in its application of them. If the camera doesn't disappear, then neither should David. And if he does disappear, then so should the camera. Either there is one timeline or multiple, co-existing timelines. Not both!


All generalizations are false, including this one!

reply

Could be possible that those time travel may only be Biological.
Like in Terminator, why theyre usually naked.

reply

I don't think that's a plot hole as there could be other explanations.

reply

Although I haven't gone back to rewatch, I saw someone suggest he went out of existence when he saw his other future self.

reply

This is a Michael Bay time travel movie. There is no plot hole, there is just a hole.

reply