Ending Explained

***Spoilers Obviously***

Ok, so I was a little disappointed with the ending. I am usually not to fond of open endings for movies, it usually seems like a cop out or just plain annoying, however, there are exceptions. For example, in the movie Inception, I like that ending, because in my mind him not waiting to see if his top stops spinning means he doesn't really care if he is dreaming or not...which is the what the director is trying to show the viewer at the end...it doesn't matter...it is real for him..

Anyways, we don't know exactly how many loops or cycles they have gone through, but it is probably a lot. I thought I heard them say that the video was a year old, I am not sure. Anyways, for the sake of argument let's say we were watching loop 3141. Now they have basically died or failed in every loop and cycle previously. Obviously each loop and cycle is slightly different, at the end of cycle 3140 (the previous loop before the one we first see) or perhaps even in an earlier cycle they had the bright idea to leave a video message. Unfortunately, the message is well rather useless. All it really says is Hey listen [oh no Hannah gets shot], [wait I need to tell the message] Torus...blah blah and [Explosion] END SCENE. Not a very useful message...

Cycle 3141 comes around. Everyone's memories are reset. Renton wakes up first, perhaps because he was the last to die in the previous loop? (Not quite sure...)

Anyways he wakes up and well you know how it all plays out. One of the initial problems Renton has is he doesn't trust Hannah right away, and for good reason, she basically played him. Renton is also a big pessimist and Hannah is more of an optimist. Anyways, throughout the movie, they finally resolve their differences and come to the conclusion (which takes way too many loops), that they should probably take the ARQ to the block. Unfortunately, other people become aware of the loops, and they die on the last loop accomplishing very little...however....since Renton and Hannah saw the previous video their second video message is slightly different.

Someone could maybe confirm this by rewatching, but I think Hannah becomes more aware and realizes that this is all leading up to the video message, she sees the crack in the glass, blood on Renton's face, etc. Renton starts the message, the Torus machine or whatever the heck that attack robot is called busts in, Hannah gets shot at, but I don't think she gets killed, she is somewhat expecting it this time and is on guard, she reminds Renton to give the message...Renton does so and he basically gives the exact same message (Face palm), except he adds something small at the end. "Trust Hannah".

Loop 3142 starts, and thus it all begins again. Now if the movie continued, I think Renton would have discovered two videos, unless he overwrote the other one. If he watched the video he would see the same thing, but he also would hear himself say "Trust Hannah", which if you remember is a big roadblock at the beginning, because rather than working together, they fight each other until about half way through the movie when Renton apologizes and tells Hannah she is right, thus they start working together...so perhaps this slight change in the message might allow Renton to trust Hannah earlier than he normally would have. Perhaps they will leave more messages, or the message will change slightly each time. It is possible they will forever be in an endless time loop (Pessimistic Renton viewpoint) and the video messages or their variations really don't matter, or perhaps this small change in the video will cause something else to change allowing them to succeed (Optimistic Hannah viewpoint). If you remember, Renton watched the video quite early on in the cycle, maybe loop 3 or 4, I am not sure, but he disregarded it, because it basically showed him getting killed and yelling something about Torus. Now if he watched it in this cycle he will say Torus is coming, but he also will say "Trust Hannah", will this be enough to get them out of the loop? Who knows, the movie doesn't go that far and leads it up to the viewer to decide.

Why does Hannah wake up first? Three possible reasons I can think of...

1. It is a metaphor to show that something, even if it is rather small, is different. (Like adding a couple words at the end of a video message). Even if it seems pointless, and the cycle will continue and continue, perhaps one small action can make waves that end up changing something major and eventually lead to success.

2. Hannah remembers everything (Not sure if this is right, but it could be. She wakes up first. I think Hannah is the last to die in the previous loop, she is also farthest away from the machine when it resets, at least the farthest away of the people that are still alive, perhaps because she survived the last loop, she somehow remembers the previous loop? It is a big stretch because the memories are supposed to be reset, but perhaps she just has a really strong case of deja vu, or she feels like she just woke up from a dream, but can't remember all the details.)

3. Hannah wakes up first because she was still alive when the loop reset before. (Hannah seems to wake up earlier and earlier, as the movie progresses...not sure if this is related to how long she survived in the previous loop or her proximity to to it when ARQ machine reset...but since it affects memories or the brain in general, perhaps it affects when she wakes up too. Who knows.)


If I had to choose I think it would be the first reason, it is a metaphor that something small has changed. Thus, that small change could cause a series of different events to happen; Renton trusting Hannah earlier in the cycle...and so forth.

All in all I thought it was a good movie, as far as low budget movies go. To be more exact it was a good movie with an "eh" ending, but you know how some directors always want their endings to have a deeper...deeper meaning, one that is memorable and analyzed, etc. It is also important to point out that the movie probably has a bunch of flaws, and doesn't really explain everything; What is happening outside the time circle? Why exactly is time speeding up...and if it does are they aging faster is the outside world going through normal time? You get the drift, but personally I think the best way to enjoy movies like this is to overlook flaws, and just concentrate on the concept and story the movie is trying to tell.