Spoiler I thought the Alpha was already in the water with him and it was the Alpha's blood that got all over him. Maybe the easiest explanation is that nobody knows what happens when you kill an Omega, so maybe killing it kills all Mimics then resets everything earlier than an Alpha since I assume the Omega is more powerful. Might have made more sense for the Omega to reset everything to just before the Mimics even arrived on earth...but then you wouldn't get Cruise meeting up with Rita at the end.
Spoiler well if I remember correctly, the Alpha sort of 'stabbed' him, basically a death blow, but he had already pulled the pins on the grenades, which then killed the Omega. And just like when he originally killed the Alpha, he was killed by an explosion (a Claymore-like device the first time), and as he was dying, the alien blood mixed with his own, thus transferring the reset power to him. But the explosion in the water killed all three of them pretty much simultaneously, the Omega, the Alpha and Cruise. But I sure thought it was the Omega's blood that got into him that time, and not the Alpha's (if it makes a difference), and so possibly the Alpha maybe died just as Cruise was infected by Omega blood.. A case of a lot of things happening all at once, so you could pretty much fudge it to fit whatever hypothesis you want.. hehehe
read the book last week. i loved it. saw the movie tonight. loved it...until the ending. Spoiler what a cop out. typical hollywood with the happy ending. the set up was perfect. Cage gets the transfusion and no more reset. this time it's for real. and instead of dying like they should have, the writers resurrect them out of thin air. i feel so unsatisfied. still a solid 8/10. it could have been a masterpiece with a better ending.
I don't think reset to an earlier time was the problem. The problem is how you can do something in the future (killing the omega) and affect your past (no omega in their past).
Yeah, the wife and I were trying to talk about it, but found ourselves never agreeing on what happened. To me, Cruise's char got Omega blood on him, and from what info the movie gave us, should give him the same time loop ability since it is the Omega that has that power, not the Alphas. They just trigger it by death. BUT, the fact that he went back to the chopper and now they didn't need to fight anymore didn't make sense to me.
My theory . . . i related earlier was that the Omega existed over a space of time not in one single point in time. So . . .. when he died . .. he died at all points Say he existed over 4 days. When he dies on day 4 . . .he also dies on day 1 overly complicated but . . .time is swiggly timey whimey thing Rocket River
I've seen that explanation on some websites. It's not complicated but that theory digs itself in a deeper hole. If dying in any point in his life time means he dies at all points ... He would not have existed at all because he will eventually die, maybe in 1000 years.
I can't remember exactly how the omega was defeated in the past when they mentioned it on the chopper but I'm thinking once he died and had the knowledge of the omega, he probably traveled to different time points where he was able to pass that knowledge on and by the time he settled on a point where he was conscious, it was already after he had given the information to the armed forces and they were able to defeat it. I'm trying to keep it simple "shrugs"
They did a piece on the ending over at Badassdigest that actually makes some sense. Basically likened Cruise's journey to that of reincarnation. I didn't even notice but the drill seargeant called him maggot every time he woke up. In the beginning he's cuffed, laughed and teased. As he hones his skills more and more though, he achieves a higher plane of existence, and eventually doesn't give him or anyone else a chance to talk down to him. So he finally defeats the Omega, he completes his transformation...he's a highly-skilled soldier, understands the mimics, undrstands his purpose, understands the sacrifice required of him. He wakes up again he has reached Nirvana. The Mimics have been deafeated and he and Rita (and the platoon) are all alive and well, he's gone to the base on his own accord, and he's out of the loop for good. The article also explained it makes sense on a technical level because every time he dies it's during the invasion that morning, so he wakes up back on the base. The last battle though takes place the night before, so he wakes up further back. He travels the same distance in time, but because that last death happened much earlier he goes back earlier.
I don't buy the Nirvana idea, but your last paragraph was helpful in realizing he died earlier and thus re-spawned earlier. Cage doesn't get close to Nirvana - he still has material desires and possessions that he cares about, namely the girl. He's just getting smarter and more skilled in each attempt or in other words he's gaining a lot of experience. The whole movie is just showing us how we play video games, or at least how I play video games. I was never any good at them and had to iterate my way through the levels, dying again and again but getting a tiny bit further each time and having to remember and retrace successful steps over and over. It used to get very frustrating, which they didn't quite show Cage facing in the movie here. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when The metal b**ch realized that Cage had lost focus on the mission and was instead using his re-spawns to get to know her better. Her indignation at that point was interesting. I really felt they executed the movie very well in terms of not having the audience re-watch too many of the same scenes.
I don't know man. He also dies once they have been to the deserted house enough for him to find coffee that makes Rita pissed. I suppose it constitutes as the same day though. As far as him growing, to *me*, I didn't get that. I viewed it as, well you get hit by a left hook enough times, you learn to avoid it. So as he's died so many times, the perception to everyone else unaware of the looping, he looks like a badass. Spoiler Much like Rita did. I say did, because she lost the "power" and we she is no longer "badass." She dies plenty of times. With enough practice, Cruise's character looks less inept. He only APPEARS skilled, because he knows exactly what is going to happen. Timing things, counting steps, knowing when to move what way, etc. I think at times, Tom Cruise overplayed his false confidence in the movie, but overall I thought it was consistent. I'm near the end of the book, which is quite a bit different.
I meant the book is quite different, not just the end. I suppose that wasn't clear. Either way, I think is pretty much a given that book and movie differ. It has been said in this thread already.
Well I think the point in that argument wasn't that he literally reached a higher state of being, but that his journey parralled it in some ways. I do think he improved his skills as a soldier and not just because he knew how they were attacking and when. Remember the Mimics have the power too..and when the world resets they adjust their tactics. It's why he can only go so far each time before dying. But he is able to get farther and farther precisely because his skills are getting better and better.
C'mon I really enjoyed the movie, but the ending was... Spoiler nothing but a way to have a Hollywood happy ending -- people looking deeper are grasping at straws -- the ending is a flaw.
Got high before the movie then regrettably passed out about 15 min into it unfortunately. Only Caught glimpses of the middle parts but i saw the ending. From what i did catch it was a pretty good sci fi flick
You said all points before and now you said 3~4 days ... Well, let's just go with that and see if that "logic" passes the smell test. You'd say if Cage/ Cruise kills the Omega at 8 AM on July 5th then he is also dead at any point 4 days before? Any time from 8 AM July 1st to 8 AM July 5th ? What about 7:59 AM on July 5th? If he is already dead then how are you going kill him at 8 AM ?
When you killed him . .. . time resets and it is like you killed him on the 1st day so that is why Tom shows up . . .. . unscathed his future self killed him . . . .his consciousness went back to day one where the death also occurred Time travel is complicated Rocket River
