I just watched this movie again for the third time tonight and it blew me away just as it did the first time I watched it. And although it's cliche to say, it's absolutely true with this film that everytime you see it you'll catch something new that was missed previously. The story is brilliant and the acting by Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor was just top notch - each of them deserved an Oscar nomination (and no that's not hyperbole).
To all the negative reviewers, who either 1. Complain they don't understand the plot, 2. Thought the plot was "ridiculous", or 3. Claim the "twist" was too "predictable", let me tell you why you're all embarrassingly wrong.
The "twist" is not that the Barkeep and Unmarried mother is the same person, that was pretty much revealed in the first 5 minutes of the film when you see the burnt face of Jane in the explosion being surgically repaired to become the healed face of the Bartender. If this was intended to be the "twist", the storytellers would not have Jane's face be so obviously shown in that opening scene. This is where most people are wrong. Furthermore there was plenty of dialogue through the movie that slowly but assuredly reveal and reaffirm this plot point. Also the fact that he/she is the fizzle bomber is not surprising, but it was not meant to be surprising. That wasn't the payoff.
The "twist" was when Jane's surgeon explained to her after the Cesarean that she is a hermaphrodite (which is a REAL medical condition, so no the plot is not ridiculous). That was the climatic moment of the film, the "OMG" moment. It was a gut wrenching scene, one that Sarah Snook did an amazing job in, along with the subsequent scene when she was learning to change her voice and realized she could no longer call herself by her name Jane. What a performance. On first viewing of this film, no one, and I mean NO ONE, could've foresaw that coming. That is the twist, the ingredient, that sets this time travel movie apart from all others and actually makes it work. As Robertson explained to the Bartender, he is special, he is nature's anomaly that enables him uniquely suited for time travel. He has "no ancestry" or more precisely a circular ancestry. He is his/her own father/mother/child/grandparent. His whole life, every action taken, was predestined. In a sense his existence ensured there would be no time travel "grandfather" paradox. No Marty McFly changing his timeline here! And that is why he is so valued by Robertson and the Bureau.
While that was the most important twist in the story, there are 3 others: 1. When we see Jane's lover is herself in 1963, 2. When the Bartender traveled back in time to kidnap the baby to complete the temporal loop, and 3. When the temporal field kit suffered a seemingly unfortunate error/ "malfunction" and couldn't decommission. For those who are paying close attention, this was not an accident. This was in fact Robertson sending the Bartender on a final (FINAL but illegal) mission which is why Robertson left him the note "trace the timer". One could even take it a step further and suggest that Robertson knew all along that John is the Fizzle bomber, but that his "terrorist" acts are just the lesser of two evils, consequences that actually prevented even bigger tragedies and overall saving more lives than taken.
Again this a tremendous, all-time great sci-fi/time travel movie, that has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Screenplay, acting, directing, an amazing tour de force. Go see it again and again, I know I will.
To all the negative reviewers, who either 1. Complain they don't understand the plot, 2. Thought the plot was "ridiculous", or 3. Claim the "twist" was too "predictable", let me tell you why you're all embarrassingly wrong.
The "twist" is not that the Barkeep and Unmarried mother is the same person, that was pretty much revealed in the first 5 minutes of the film when you see the burnt face of Jane in the explosion being surgically repaired to become the healed face of the Bartender. If this was intended to be the "twist", the storytellers would not have Jane's face be so obviously shown in that opening scene. This is where most people are wrong. Furthermore there was plenty of dialogue through the movie that slowly but assuredly reveal and reaffirm this plot point. Also the fact that he/she is the fizzle bomber is not surprising, but it was not meant to be surprising. That wasn't the payoff.
The "twist" was when Jane's surgeon explained to her after the Cesarean that she is a hermaphrodite (which is a REAL medical condition, so no the plot is not ridiculous). That was the climatic moment of the film, the "OMG" moment. It was a gut wrenching scene, one that Sarah Snook did an amazing job in, along with the subsequent scene when she was learning to change her voice and realized she could no longer call herself by her name Jane. What a performance. On first viewing of this film, no one, and I mean NO ONE, could've foresaw that coming. That is the twist, the ingredient, that sets this time travel movie apart from all others and actually makes it work. As Robertson explained to the Bartender, he is special, he is nature's anomaly that enables him uniquely suited for time travel. He has "no ancestry" or more precisely a circular ancestry. He is his/her own father/mother/child/grandparent. His whole life, every action taken, was predestined. In a sense his existence ensured there would be no time travel "grandfather" paradox. No Marty McFly changing his timeline here! And that is why he is so valued by Robertson and the Bureau.
While that was the most important twist in the story, there are 3 others: 1. When we see Jane's lover is herself in 1963, 2. When the Bartender traveled back in time to kidnap the baby to complete the temporal loop, and 3. When the temporal field kit suffered a seemingly unfortunate error/ "malfunction" and couldn't decommission. For those who are paying close attention, this was not an accident. This was in fact Robertson sending the Bartender on a final (FINAL but illegal) mission which is why Robertson left him the note "trace the timer". One could even take it a step further and suggest that Robertson knew all along that John is the Fizzle bomber, but that his "terrorist" acts are just the lesser of two evils, consequences that actually prevented even bigger tragedies and overall saving more lives than taken.
Again this a tremendous, all-time great sci-fi/time travel movie, that has you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Screenplay, acting, directing, an amazing tour de force. Go see it again and again, I know I will.