MovieChat Forums > 400 Days (2016) Discussion > Let's put our heads together and figure ...

Let's put our heads together and figure this out


Excuse me, this may be long but just.

I've read a few threads here and feel the need to create a centralized place so we can wrap our heads around this movie. The ending was only a layer of the onion rather than the answer to this enigma. It's just in my DNA to find some sort of resolution or method to the madness of this ham-handed film making, so I digress.

Here's some ideas and observations I made during the movie but need help from you in putting everything together:

Firstly, I'm inclined to believe this whole movie, from the opening shot of Theo waking in his jail cell(imprisonment similar to the ship and being a prisoner of his own mind) was the beginning of a hallucination. I believe this whole movie occurred in Theo's head from an induced hallucination from maybe some new-age hallucinogen administered and monitored by Keplar to test the psyche of potential astronauts for future Mars missions. Emily even reminds us at the press conference "the human mind can be very powerful when left to its own devices". People died, Theo was even stabbed with little consequence, I could go on on how this couldn't have been a simulation even though Theo's mind wanted to believe so. It's true, the mind can do extraordinary things to cope or even deny the present. No coincidence it was very hazy and dreamlike from the opening shot and I don't think that was the result of a 4 day bender of drinking as our protagonist mentioned. Let's face it this whole movie was shot very dreamlike; with no sense of time, absence of rationale at times, to the zombie like people in the town (whom most were apart of the media or in the penthouse mag) not paying any attention to them until talked to and then not giving straight answers. Everything just felt very dreamy to me.

Let's dig deeper. Dvorak and Bug were just extensions of Theo's personality. Zell even reminded Theo it was only just the 2 of them(Emily and Theo), basically acting as polar opposites as if they were the good and bad side of Theo. Remember the temporal memory exam, Bug finishes first, Dvorak last. Dvorak is a lustful drunk who doesn't value family and grew up in a broken household whose parents abandoned him and mom was also self-medicated, Theo was a drunk too. This was Theo's childhood imo. Also remember, Dvorak drank 5 or 6 shots at the bar while the other 3 crew members didn't take a sip. And not to mention Theo acted exactly like Dvorak in the diner when he was tossing furniture around looking for mics and cameras. Obviously alcoholism ran in the family as Theo had a drinking problem and infidelity issues(he is the good looking Brandon Routh after all) that more than likely caused the demise of his relationship with Emily. Bug was his good conscience that just wanted to see his child again(maybe Emily had an abortion or they couldn't agree about when to have a child?) and have a happy family but was driven mad of the present circumstances and drew/played a maze desperately trying to find the answers or finish(400 days) aka tranquility(like the town) and happiness. These two characters were playing a tug or war figuratively and literally throughout.

Time is relative, especially in a coma/dream like hallucination. The clock in the household first discovered when they left the ship was seen at 10:11. I think it's also important to add that they found a picture of a happy couple with 2 kids signifying the shattered future, a what could have been, that some part of Theo wanted. Maybe the whole post-apocalyptic world was his wild imagination and projection of his break up with his fiance(theo said he was confused when taking his pysche evaluation and so did Zell when describing what exactly happened to to their way of life and Earth as it is) The man in picture was also the same man breaking into the ship. He was desperate, oxygen deprived and near death, almost what Theo had become after the break up. The next clock we see was in the diner and stuck at 10:17. Was there any other clocks I missed? Interestingly enough, after their "launch" Walter told the crew he'd seem them tomorrow at 10 hundred hours, which is 10:00 military time. Hmmmm.

Walter or Keplar didn't cause the breakup, but Theo's indiscretions did. Theo's mind was only coping and wanting to believe he was a good guy that he was simply confused and heart broken. Notice how Theo passed the first launch test too. Also, I found one shot in particular that was pretty interesting when the crew arrives in the town of Tranquility. It tries hard to show Theo walking alone with the other 3 then following behind.

The end of the movie was Theo's mind making a happy ending of sorts. They both saved each others lives, passed the test and finally are seen holding hands and back together as the hatch opens with a bright light(as opposed to the dark confusion he'd been treading in). The congratulations,applause and resolve bring an end to his mind trip and imo will wake up in a Keplar lab after exiting the hatch.

Sorry for the wall o' text and grammar, I admittedly have had a few glasses of wine but just felt like I needed to rattle off some ideas fresh from viewing.

I know I missed some things and might not have relayed my thoughts as well as I would have liked but please would love to hear some of your ideas and opinions to!

PS: Over a year ago when this was announced on deadline.com somebody mentioned in the comments that the premise was very similar to a sci-fi book called Eon by Greg Bear which took place during the cold war but I haven't personally read it. Crazy enough too, he noted that if the ending is the crew stepping out of their ship into a post-apocalyptic world it must be inspired or based on the novel. Wow, he called it. Has anyone else read this?

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I love your idea of the movie! I find it very frustrating not having a finished ending. Not saying every movie has to have a clean bow tie ending, but some sort of inclination, this one I had no clue! Especially because people were really hurt or killed! I was kinda hoping that the guy in the shil would have said something to help the story out right before he died.. Kinda looked like he was going to. But the idea that it was all in his mind is a great way to look at it! I actually enjoyed it, just wished the ending was a bit more clear. If he would have ended up alone that would have made your theory even better!
I really don't have ideas for you.. The cameras kept following, so who was doing that, but people really died..?? So I don't know lol

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ship**

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Ok, I read several threads here but this comment struck my anti-sci-fi pet-peeve.

Actually, the cameras were automatic. To make things worse for me, at work we have those teleconference systems where cameras follow the speaker around, it's no sci-fi at all. Man, you can buy webcams for $79 that follow you around the room when you're skyping with someone... (I hope they suck considering how much more expensive the professional systems are, but the technology is here, now, available for civilians, there's nothing sci-fi about it)

I guess the director never worked with technology newer than the moon landings, so he didn't even think someone like me and millions others wouldn't even be interested in the cameras. But now that you mentioned it, there actually were closeups of moving cameras - what for?! What's next, closeups of someone using mouse to move cursor on a computer screen? (I know, that technology predates moon landings but we haven't used it until the 90s - so maybe he hasn't seen that either?)

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Honestly, the producers of this movie should hire OP, he came up with a much better explanation to this whole fiasco than the movie actually provides.

Im sorry to say this but OP you're reading too much into this mess, the movie has no clear explanation not because it's smart and want you to think how it was, I think the movie does not provide a clear explanation becasue there isn't any !

They intentionally left the movie unfinished with that ending to make you believe it could go either way but they didn't care to fine tune any detail to make better case points to either simulation/hallucination or all-real scenarios, they just went for the ambiguous unfinished ending and I think they were thinking "who cares" they're gonna come up with ideas and think we were brilliant.

No you're not, the movie is a disaster. I say this once again, they should hire OP, I'm sure the movie could be better with your script than what we actually got.

Alex Vojacek

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Mr. Vojacek is precisely correct.

If the OP's thesis was the producer/director's intent, there would be SO MANY DIFFERENT artistic choices made to communicate this.

Ultimately, whatever the director/producer's intent --- they failed. The movie is a mess and, at it's best, looks like a poor attempt of a home movie.


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I just got a copy of the DVD and watched it yesterday, and the "home movie" idea hit me too.

With a little extra thought, it seems more like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT movie (at least without the shaky-cam!) meets The Greatest Show On Earth.




"Tech" issues were all over the movie.
(Sad to say, that is not unusual for a SyFy project. *SIGH*)


- In the press conference, it seemed there were no video cameras. Really?

- The "ship" was barely buried.
Why is that a "tech problem"? It was so shallow that a thunderstorm would be heard inside, and distract from a 'real simulation' by reminding the participants they were just a few feet from the storm, (and so on). It could even invite water from a storm to leak into the simulator, or even a lightning strike on the hatch in the clear field.

- The "ship" was much too large for any likely Mars trip vehicle. If *you* are at all familiar with submarines, think of a nuclear powered missile sub, (patrols go for months submerged) versus a WWII sub with the "hot bunks" (also used in modern larger subs BTW) and only six torpedo tubes. Such a Mars ship would be much larger than the Apollo Moon Shot vehicles due to carrying "400 days" worth of consumables instead of just a few days worth, but every pound of ship (and cargo) requires a huge multiplier of fuel to get it to Mars and back.
Using an oversized simulator "ship" would invalidate its results, IMHO.

- The ship's launch cover not releasing during "the launch". Are you kidding me?
They even talked about clearing the atmosphere after the group resolved the problem. ANYONE with even a little bit of understanding about aerodynamics at any MACH number would realize that would have simply torn loose immediately, presumably (at least) damaging the ship.

- Gravity. Yeah, yeah, artistic license, limited budget, and all that...

- I don't think I fell asleep during the middle of the movie of 400 days, representing six months travel time in each direction to/from Mars. So, did the writers not think to have some 'special activity' representing transitioning from the Mars approach to the Mars orbit/flyby to the Mars exit? *Sigh* I suppose that would have cluttered up their movie... **smirk**

- There were several clues to the whole thing being the "advertised" simulation with something(s) wrong.

1) the reduction in "solar array" power after the jolt that happened early on. Even that has a "glitch" or two though. The reduction appeared to be real, since it was measured, but may have been one of the intended problems though, except... If the ship was buried under the press seats, where was a real solar array then, since none was seen. If the power was externally provided from the usual power grid sources, what reduced it then, but did not completely knock it out?

2) The mouse. The simulator seal/seals had broken down, allowing the creature to get in from the outside.

3) The decreasing "oxygen level".
While it was not clear if that gauge represented the oxygen content, or a partial pressure (part of a standard 'one atmosphere' where oxygen is usually about 22%) that was maintained by pure oxygen, that also indicated either problems with seals, or filters for external air getting clogged and reducing the flow into the simulator. The background of the press conference showed mountains, so external air in the mountains would naturally have a lower pressure, but not that low.

4) The person/creature that 'dropped in'. Again, that indicated further isolation breakdown, (or halucinations), but a simulator for psychological purposes would not likely have been a "bio-dome" sort of self-contained air system. The creature got in through the external air ducts (as they were shown, or else they might have been some sort of maintenance access from the outside).


Well,
that seems to be more than enough "tech problems" to list, but far from a complete list.

Off we go now...

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A little late to the party, but anyways, have to say this is really the best explanation so far - there is no explanation.

Im sorry to say this but OP you're reading too much into this mess, the movie has no clear explanation not because it's smart and want you to think how it was, I think the movie does not provide a clear explanation becasue there isn't any !


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I like your take on it.

More wine please!

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For the TLDR crowd:

Weird stuff happens, roll credits

Sig: "U" "PPL" "WAT" etc. are not words. Grow up. "then" is a reference to time not a comparison.

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Why do people need to have this film explained to them? 

It's all in there:
4 people are going in for 400days as a simulation. During their time there an astroid hits the moon and causes moondust to cover the atmosphere, resulting in a nuclear winter.(All living things die, there is no sun, no green etc.)
As this happends the astronauts thinks it's just another drill. "They left us with just enough to survive..." But the fact is that the world we know is gone.
Almost 400 days has passed and a person stumbles upon the ship and seeks refuge. Leading the 4 to go out, get into town and start to puzzle together what has happend in their absince.
Humans have resorted to canibalism since humans seem to be the only thing alive. Two members of the team are captured and killed.

The final 2 go back to the ship and while there the 400 days are up, a pre-recorded message is played telling them to come out and be greeted by media, but they know that the world outside is gone and the man on the screen has been dead for a long time. (That's why they couldn't contact him) Their only chanse of survival is to hide in the ship until the food runs out, and they will have to go back to the surface and try to live in whats left of our world.

The end. The film is great, brilliantly written and I'd love to see more films like this from SyFy.

X ~We are the people our parents warned us about

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That's a pretty simplistic, literal interpretation.
They wouldn't keep focusing on those "vitamin" shots if they weren't actually something more sinister.
And what about the pills Emily kept taking. Were they something to counter the effects of the true purpose of the shots?
Where did Emily get the non-barcoded med kit?
The map really bugs me.
And what was up with those gifts Walter left?
There were a lot more oddities that contradict your totally obvious view.
I just don't think it was meant to be that easy.

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And when Dane Cook pointed out that all the people in the diner where reporters from the start of the movie and home girl was Miss February from his PlayHouse mag (which I do believe he was right after having viewed that mag maybe a couple 1000 times)...

And the weird night vision cameras in the small town and one that was all a sudden at that strange house recording the last two astronaughts enter...


I hate movies that end so ambiguously
All right... we waste him. No offense.

- Hicks Lives.

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I think the night vision scenes were supposed to be goggles used by the "hunters".

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[deleted]

Why not take the simplistic view?

For instance:

They wouldn't keep focusing on those "vitamin" shots if they weren't actually something more sinister.
And what about the pills Emily kept taking. Were they something to counter the effects of the true purpose of the shots?

This is easily explained as Emily taking birth control pills, one each day. And the shots could easily have been *a little something* to decrease the three men's sex drive... (Birth control pills just in case, of course.) And a mild tranquilizer might have been in order for the men. Those shots were shown on the tray without needle guards, and that was no way real. (Another comment pointed out Emily was never shown taking a shot.) A mild tranquilizer would have presumably reduced their activity level and metabolism, reducing the "consumables" (think oxygen) needed.

The "random messages" on the computer screens (She's poisoning you} would have been some of the 'tests' that had been mentioned, and that message needed the shots.

The "gifts"?
Well, as the movie goes on, we find out Emily had been seriously involved with one of the guys, and was forced to break up with him before the 400 days started. Not so coincidentally, that same guy got the "girlie" magazines... another test. She got the Origami papers and the swan to keep her busy. (*smirk*) Recall the boss's comments "Remember our deal.", "I'll kill your career in a nanosecond."

Some of the other things may have been scattered though the movie as other red herrings to distract the viewers from the simplistic plot. That seems to have worked.

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I think your right phantom_pixie. And maybe it's not what the director have intended for people, to just take a simplistic view on this movie, but it's all what we can really do to some extent. The movie is just not produced good enough to make it worth putting brain cells into to much work over this.
It's a cheap shot, trying to look brilliant, but it's not.
They could had saved this movie, by putting more horror into it. Then it could had been an well rounded sci-fi horror flick, worth a 6-7 star, for the entertainment.

I like the ironic idea, that 4 astronauts train isolated underground for 400 days, mean vile the earth above is getting *beep*

Lets face it, they found materials only found on other planets, the sky is all dark 24/7, and we get scenes show to us, after 2 of the astronauts are gone, in a kitchen with blood!

Please people, for your own good, don't overthink this movie, it's not worth it, go see space odyssey instead, again..

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Definitely the most obvious bro. I agree. It's fun that it lets you ponder other alternatives. I cranked down about thirty times to this movie in one sitting.

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100% agree with your analysis. The film is what we see.
OP proposes a much more elaborate script and beyond the performances of the actors.
400 days are 400 days and 1 hour and 30 lost.
I recently saw Infini (2015) that has a lot more suspense and is more interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3327624/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

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The problem with your interpretation phantom_pixie is that after the "pre-recorded" message is played, there is hammering on the hatch once again and it is opened up and clearly what appears to be sunlight suddenly streams in which contradicts the moon dust blacking out the atmosphere. The astronauts show confusion on their faces, exchange looks and hold hands.

The creators are trying to be too clever but unfortunately one scenario negates the other and so the audience is confused. Some choose the scenario like the OP and some choose your scenario. I feel like a cheap trick has been played and the filmmakers believed they would be lauded by those film critics who would praise a film rather than admit their confusion or failure to understand the movie.

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I think it was either a real disaster, or all a hallucination...

You can't FAKE a "Nuclear" winter! While it may be possible over the course of a year to change the landscape, and cover everything with Moon Dust, you can't just make "Moon Dust" constantly fall from the sky, and block out most of the light from the sun with it. Even if it was some kind of thick "Moon Dust" storm, the temperatures should not have been so cold, for some storm that just occurred for a couple of days... Unless, maybe it was winter time. But we are only talking somewhere between 365-400 days here, when they left the simulator, and that comes to about a 35 day window. When the crew went into the simulator, it did not look like fall or winter time... So it should not have been so cold, for it only being "One Month" Later. However, this could have been a continuity or technical goof by the writers...

The first half of the movie seemed too real to be a hallucination.

The main crewmember got stabbed with a real knife... Actors don't stab real people in simulations... However, it seems being stabbed was not be much of an issue later on. Maybe the wound was not as serious as it was initially believed.

The 400 Day Victory Transmission at the end, did seem recorded, since there wasn't an attempt to directly contact anyone inside, and there was no mention of what Mission Control saw the crew doing at the end. The crew did kill some people you know...

If it was a real disaster, I can't explain how the ship got full power back at the end, and what appeared to be "Sunlight" shining through the opening hatch. Perhaps there were a large group of people with torches that suddenly surrounded the hatch just as it opened?

I don't think this was a simulation. I am leaning to it all being a hallucination, but it could still be possible it was real.

I can't decide.



"Put A Little Love In Your Heart, and then Make Your Own Kind Of Music, on the road to Shambala!"

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I think your explanation seems to make the most sense to me!
I think you nailed it!
Overall I appreciate the simple strangeness of this film.
A decent watch.

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I thought this movie was pretty good.
I really just wanted to clarify that this movie has NO similarities with the novel Eon. That book was about our moon being a spaceship that was built to travel through wormholes throughout the universe.

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Op. How could you make so much out of such a worthless movie.

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Here's my idea:
- It was all a social experiment (no one would pick such people as astronauts)
- The entire area was staged:
-- Moon dust was only near the hatch or the testing machine was programmed to lie.
-- The area was probably a lot smaller than the characters saw in the debris.
- Emily:
-- Injected some hallucinogens or weird stuff.
-- Pretended to 'die' from the lack of oxygen (took something to slow down the heart rate)
-- Got a medkit, because the main character accidentally ran into a knife.
-- Fake stabbed Zell. Someone told Zell how to act so that Theo would believe it.
- The entire press conference was also staged (the actors were in the diner afterwards)
- They recorded it with nigh vision cameras

Only problem with that seems to be that Theo did beat up one guy with a fire extinguisher.

Also I have no idea about the reasons for this experiment. Maybe it was some really expensive couples therapy session for Emily and Theo. Then again I got also an impression that there was something mentally wrong with Theo and Emily didn't want to be with him (but couldn't also tell him the real reason).

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Here's my idea:
- It was all a social experiment (no one would pick such people as astronauts)
- The entire area was staged:
-- Moon dust was only near the hatch or the testing machine was programmed to lie.
-- The area was probably a lot smaller than the characters saw in the debris.
- Emily:
-- Injected some hallucinogens or weird stuff.
-- Pretended to 'die' from the lack of oxygen (took something to slow down the heart rate)
-- Got a medkit, because the main character accidentally ran into a knife.
-- Fake stabbed Zell. Someone told Zell how to act so that Theo would believe it.
- The entire press conference was also staged (the actors were in the diner afterwards)
- They recorded it with nigh vision cameras


This I like. Until I read your post I was a "straight-forward" guy, but we really don't see Emily stab Zell. Nice catch.

That said, I have no idea how they would have staged that whole disaster, but whatever.

I also have no idea why they kept "flashing back" into a few of the character's lives.

Good movie concept, but just didn't seem to get it all together for me. That said, it was extremely watchable (perhaps with the exception of Dane Cook).

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Until I read your post I was a "straight-forward" guy


OK, so after I posted this, I read enough theories (including some "hints" from the director) that I had to go back and jump around in the film to see what's what. BTW, yeah, I did that despite a bunch of folks saying not to waste any more time on trying to figure out this film...I just couldn't help myself.

So without further ado, here are my conclusions:

1) I'm back to being a "straight-forward" guy. Now, to be clear, straight forward means that the story the main characters learn (and that we come to learn) is that something hit the moon and the plume entered Earth's atmosphere killing almost all vegetation and most life-forms. I found nothing in the film to refute this general narrative.

2) The people in the town, except for maybe one, were not the same people at the press conference. I think they were doppelgangers, and with Dane Cook's character's paranoia/bravado that this was all a "simulation" combined with low-oxygen he simply thought they were the same people. Again, even Ms. February didn't perfectly stand up to a side-by-side comparison...close but no cigar. It did seem that one person (the first he recognized) was among the reporters; not an outlandish idea since local media could have easily been part of the deal. Of course, with that said why would she not have remembered them? Perhaps 400 days of trauma combined with a real fear of the crazy cannibalistic townies. BTW, I don't think the cook was the cellie either...again, close but didn't seem to be an exact match...just close enough to confuse viewers (probably on purpose).

3) There was no "light" at the end when the hatch opened. I too thought I saw it on the first viewing, but after seeing it again was less convinced. We do hear someone banging on the hatch however, but never see it open.

4) When the couple holds hands at the end, they have decided to face this new world together knowing this "simulation" that almost cost them their relationship and their lives, was over and of no purpose. As the camera draws back we see the blood on our protagonist and the resolve to deal with whatever is coming through the hatch.

5) She killed Zell. Again, watching it again, the timing was just too perfect, the plunging blade too real a threat. He died in that scene, otherwise it makes absolutely no sense. The minute he climbs into the ship it makes no sense. And finishing the 400 Days? They had already violated the rule and quit early.

I could go on by why bother? It was a decent film for what it was...I'm sure for many it was even better than expected. We are only disappointed because it did not ascend to that next level. The director shared in an interview that red herrings were used throughout the film, I think in part to throw off the audience and in part to help us enter the character's confusion and/or delusions. In the end it's a story of an unexpected and accidental survival during a global catastrophe, being a fairly good sci-fi story at that alone. The cannibals and crazies? That was just icing on the cake.

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In reference to # (2):

If any of the diner patrons were at the news conference, why would they have to sneak and follow the main characters to find the location of the "ship"?
Wouldn't they already know where it was?


This movie is straight forward.
The filmmakers just play with the idea of compounding the psychosis that comes with being cooped up for 400 day and the wtf of finding the world has been cast back into the dark age.

Plain and simple.

They lay it out for you right at the beginning by having the main character get black out drunk for 4 days and waking up in jail.
Hung over like hell.




Know what I mean?

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Movie seemed pretty straight forward to me, too.

It's a straight forward movie made my people who lack the talent and/or money to truly make it ambiguous. They more less threw in stuff willy nilly to try to give the movie some depth that it didn't warrant and to try to confuse viewers.

Like there is no need to wonder if Wick or Dvorak were real. They were filmed as real. The camera/viewer followed them around solo in various scenes. If they were figments of Routh's imagination, he would have had to share every scene with them. Instead, the camera/viewer followed Dvorak and Wick doing pointless things in an attempt to add bulk to the movie because it is really quite thin.

The townspeople Dvorak "recognized" were the not the same as the people from the beginning and magazine. He was in denial and trying to convince himself it was still a simulation because he couldn't handle the truth.

Things happened exactly as presented. Foursome went into simulation. Asteroid hit moon, which caused an environmental cataclysm on Earth. They walked out into it. Townsfolk came back to the simulation ship to loot. They are the ones banging on the hatch at the end, guided by the flag Zell put up.

In the end, I'm not going to call it a bad movie. I think they did the best they could with the resources they had. Actors did a decent job, too. Screenplay maybe could have used punching up, though.

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[deleted]

As far as Theo and Emily go, it is too simple to explain.

The movie even ended with comments about how Emily had to "break up" with Theo, as required by the head guy in the suit.
Just after the official press conference broke up, then he said something to her, Theo(?) noticed, and later asked her about it, and she told him something that it was really nothing, like 'good luck'. In one scene with Emily on her bed (a bed, in a spaceship? Really?), she was looking at photos of the two of them (Theo and Emily), eventually getting to the "delete all" button, reaching for it, but stopping before deleting them.

She even told Theo about "the deal" before the movie ended. It was necessary to show that the two of them could still work together (and "the breakup" was the reason Theo went on his drinking binge! Just like he said!)
Emily's very straightforward reason... "I'll end your career in a nanosecond."


And as far as the townspeople forgetting about "the ship" goes, they didn't forget, because that was them banging on the hatch earlier in the movie that the four talked about, and even said something like "it's procedure to ignore it." It took a code to unlock the hatch, and they didn't have the code. However, later when "the creature" guy dropped in, it was pretty obvious there was a way in through the air duct system, and he either knew about it, or found it.
Simple.



If people missed either of those things, they should not be texting or talking during the movie...

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[deleted]