#THEORYWATCH2017 -- A STAR WARS THEORY

Rey, much like the denizens of Starkiller Base, wondering if #TheoryWatch2017 will ever end

I know, I know... yet another Star Wars theory. More than anything, though, the following research is mainly meant to provide some insight and possibly disprove some of the more common theories floating around. 

A prevailing fan theory regarding Rey and Kylo Ren goes something like this -- Kylo destroys the academy, murders the new generation of Jedi in training, and kidnaps Rey, wiping her mind and leaving her behind on Jakku, because he couldn't bring himself to kill her, but needed to hide her away... or something.

Most people assume she's probably Luke's kid; this is why she says she's waiting for her "family" to come back, as it could mean either her cousin (Kylo) or her father (Luke). It also explains Luke's state of seeming despondence, if he thought she was dead or corrupted.

Another common belief is that Lor San Tekka was there on Jakku to watch over Rey... It's a nice story, but unfortunately, it's just not the case. Lemme explain...

Here's what we definitively know from TFA (and the novelization, and new canon novels, comics, visual dictionary, etc), which takes place 30 years after the original trilogy:

(note: instead of using the standard "ABY" for 'after battle of Yavin', I will use "AOT" for 'after original trilogy', to make these dates easier to grasp)

-- Kylo Ren is 29 (born 1 year AOT)

-- he was sent to Luke's Jedi academy around age 9 (10 years AOT)

-- he finally learned of his lineage at age 23 and soon after fell to the dark side (24 years AOT)

-- this was due to Leia was being outed as Vader's daughter, and disgraced in the senate

-- Kylo Ren betrayed Luke and went to the dark side 5-6 years ago, around age 23/24

-- so Luke's Jedi academy was destroyed 5-6 years ago, as well

-- Luke went into exile some time after

-- Rey is 19 (born 11 years AOT -- one year after Ben joined Luke's academy)

-- she was left behind on Jakku by her 'family' around age 5 (16 years AOT)

-- so Rey was abandoned 8-9 years BEFORE Luke's Jedi academy fell

-- and 8-9 years before Ben Solo ever turned to the dark side

-- Ben would have only been 15 when Rey was abandoned

-- Rey doesn't remember her life before Jakku at all

-- Lor San Tekka had been close to Luke, Leia, Han (and Ben) for over 30 years

-- he's a member of the Church of the Force, and as such, firmly believes in the Jedi

-- Lor San Tekka's life was partially devoted to the preservation of Jedi artifacts

-- the empire tried to find and destroy all Jedi temples during their 23 yr reign

-- Lor San Tekka stole the location of the temple on Ahch-To at some point

-- R2-D2 has the rest of the map, taken from the death star in ANH

-- R2-D2 has been in low-power mode sifting through the data

-- Poe was sent on a mission to find Lor San Tekka, which took him all over the place

-- Leia did not know where Tekka was but believed he held a clue to Luke's location

-- Kylo Ren and the first order were concurrently searching for Tekka

logical conclusions --

-- Lor San Tekka stole the map fragment before ANH, otherwise R2 would've had a complete map

-- Lor San Tekka gave it to Luke in the last 5-6 years, so he could find the original Jedi temple

-- there's no reason why Luke would've sent Rey away at age 5 when things were just fine

-- so Kylo Ren and Rey have almost certainly never met, nor Luke and Rey

key quotes and passages from TFA --

"I've traveled too far and see too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy"

"Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the force"-- Lor San Tekka

--> LST initially agreed to keep Luke's location a secret but could stay silent no longer

"look how old you've become" -- Kylo Ren

"something far worse has happened to you -- LST

--> LST and Kylo Ren have known each other a long time, since before Ben went away at age 9

Everything so far is just connecting the dots of things that are factual. Now I get into some additional observations and conjecture, what I feel can be reasonably inferred from watching TFA, and paying close attention to the nuances of Harrison Ford's performance -- and everything from this point forward assumes a measure of intent from the filmmakers, otherwise... who knows.

-- Han Solo realizes exactly who Rey is, though he didn't know her name or who she was at first

-- related side-note -- Rey is almost certainly a name she adopted for herself, not her given name

-- the helmet she wears on Jakku belonged to a pilot named Dosmit Raeh (it says in Aurebesh)

-- the critical moment for Han is when she fixes the hyperdrive, he realizes who she really is

-- from this point on, Han does everything in his power to keep from her the resistance (and even before that --"you tell him Han Solo just stole back the Millennium Falcon for good")

-- why? well, because he clearly made a promise at some point to keep her out of it

evidence:

-- once they look at the map on the Millennium Falcon, Han plots a course for Takodana

"she'll get your DROID home" -- Han Solo, referring to Maz Kanata

-- and then later, "Maz, I need you to get this DROID to Leia" -- Han Solo

-- and moments later, "who's the girl?" -- Maz to Han, followed by a very convenient cutaway

-- the next time we see Maz, Han has already told her the big secret about Rey

-- the lightsaber calling to Rey confirms to Maz whatever Han just told her

"that lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now it calls to YOU" -- Maz

-- so then, why would Han tell Maz about Rey if he's trying to keep her 'out of the mess'?

-- for starters, Han clearly didn't know that Maz had Luke's lightsaber

"where did you get that?" -- Han to Maz re: lightsaber

btw side-theory -- Maz stated moments earlier that she'd had (the lightsaber) "for ages"...

in the third 'resistance rises' lego star wars short, Lando Calrissian visit's Maz in her castle

now those shorts aren't canon, but they're not exactly NOT canon, either. (canon-adjacent)

Lando's also mentioned in the book Empire's End as wanting to restore cloud city

so could Lando have given her the saber at some point years before?

another key quote from Maz --

"whoever you're waiting for on Jakku, you already know they're not coming back... but there's someone ELSE who could" -- Maz, to which Rey responds, "Luke."

-- this would clearly imply that Luke did NOT leave her there on Jakku

-- so at this point, one obvious question is, is it just a coincidence Rey and the Millennium Falcon wound up in the same place?? and that Han found them so easily the *instant* they left Jakku, and that he seems to know who she is?

-- of course not -- I believe that Han was complicit in hiding Rey on Jakku, and the price of Unkar Plutt's cooperation was the falcon, but did Han actually leave her there himself? No, I don't believe so... so who would Han possibly give the falcon to for such a purpose?

THE MOTHER OF LUKE'S KID -- in other words, Rey IS in fact Luke's daughter, but he never even knew she existed. Whoever it was that Luke got pregnant (Mara Jade analogue?), she clearly wanted their child to have nothing to do with Jedi and Sith and all the baggage that goes with it.

Still, Han has regrets over the role he played. Think about it -- there's palpable guilt on Han's face when Rey says, "I didn't think there was this much green in the entire galaxy."

 

And once they land, Han offers her a job, which is totally uncharacteristic. This is out of guilt AND wanting to keep her 'out of the mess', but he seems to genuinely only learn her (new, self-chosen) name at this point in time.

Another thing to keep in mind about that visit to Maz and wanting to keep Rey away from Leia and the resistance --

-- Han says that they need a "clean ship", as that the MF is easily tracked and would lead the first order to the resistance

-- but once Rey is kidnapped anyway, Han *immediately* takes the MF right to the resistance!

-- also, that is NOT how the First Order finds them -- they tracked a "resistance recon ship"

So ultimately, there are really just two possibilities regarding Rey --

a) Rey is a nobody, and is only introduced into the larger star wars story by finding BB-8, crossing paths with Finn, and stealing the MF
b) Rey is somebody, and the Millenium Falcon's presence there isn't a coincidence

Because asking us to believe that 1) Rey is left behind by someone important, 2) the MF is there,

3) Lor San Tekka, and by extension Poe and Finn are all there, that that's all just a confluence of

random happenings? No way in hell.

Besides, it seems (reasonably) apparent to me that Han told Leia off-screen in TFA that Rey is their niece, which is why their share such an instant connection, despite having never met before. (Above and beyond just mutual sadness at Han's passing)

random musings:

--> Snoke simply fears Luke's return and the map being located, while Kylo actively WANTS the map to Luke... why? simply unfinished business? or is it because he wants Vader's kyber crystal, currently hanging around Luke's neck?

-- Snoke was influencing ben solo even as a young boy, which is why Leia and Han sent him away to Luke's academy (deleted scenes from TFA would've implied this)

-- is it possible Rey was placed on Jakku because Snoke wouldn't be able to find her there? (the planet is unusually strong in the light side)

-- Ben was sent away around age 9, Rey was born ONE YEAR LATER... is it actually possible that Rey is Han and Leia's second child, and Han was tasked with giving her away?? pretty unlikely, though conceivable. would play into the Han guilt thing.

-- given how much of Han's 30 year history after the Battle of Endor is actually known, the fact we DON'T KNOW when or how he lost the falcon is pretty suspect

-- compare the shots of the Knights of Ren in TFA vs the shots of Luke/R2 in TLJ trailer-- I believe that's the same place in the background, viewed from a different angle

If you turn up the brightness on the Knights of Ren flashback, you can see Kylo Ren is clearly holding either Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber, or Luke's green lighsaber. Given that Pablo Hidalgo suspiciously asked people on twitter what they think ever happened to Obi-Wan's saber, I'd guess the former.

Now let's breakdown Rey's force vision or "forceback". There's a critical thing to keep in mind here...

-- EVERYTHING REY SEES OR HEARS HAPPENED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO LUKE/ANAKIN'S LIGHTSABER, that's the whole idea

-- this is absolutely vital to figuring this out, but this is all-too-often ignored

-- the first flashback of the vision is of cloud city -- the lightsaber was, of course, there

-- the second flashback is Luke and R2 watching the Jedi temple burn -- lightsaber?

-- the third flashback is the clan leader being killed by Kylo and the Knights of Ren -- lightsaber?

-- the fourth flashback is rey being left on Jakku as the ship flies away -- lightsaber?

-- the fifth flashback is rey in the forest, seeing kylo ren -- WITH HIS HELMET, curiously, since he's not wearing it later in the actual scene -- lightsaber is present

Now if we assume Luke recovered his old lightsaber at some point, then it's pretty easy to place it in the second vision. The Clan massacre could have featured the blue saber (is this where Maz acquired it?) or perhaps it's a vision of things to come in TLJ, since these scenes are chronological.

Or was Luke present at the clan massacre? Did Kylo and the Knights confront him?

And lastly, how did R2 get back to the resistance after Luke peaced out?

We may never know... but presumably The Last Jedi will mercifully offer some answers... And thus, #TheoryWatch2017 is ended, my friends... let the countdown to #TheoryWatch2018 begin!

THE FORCE AWAKENS AND THE GALAXY REJOICES... MOSTLY.

So there's no confusion, let me start off by saying I love the new STAR WARS. Episode VII marks a triumphant return to the venerable, beloved franchise. JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan were able to recapture the tone, spirit, aesthetic and humor of the original trilogy, and for that alone, they deserve a medal ceremony with accompanying John Williams score and standing ovation as if they'd just blown up a death star... because they basically did. 

Once the euphoria fades, the reality sets in that the film has a lot of issues. These range from super minor to significant, so let's break 'em down, shall we? 

Let's get the really obvious one out of the way first -- while I understand why they did it, and why it was necessary to a degree, they did remake Episode IV: A New Hope, virtually beat for beat. You can find articles online that provide over 20 points of plot similarity. It would be downright plagiarism if it weren't a Star Wars installment with George Lucas' own blessing. (not that Disney needs it)

So if you're keeping score at home, there are four Star Wars films everyone seems to agree are pretty good, and three of them are kinda the same movie. (Return of the Jedi was also remarkably similar to the original with its desert planet opening and death star destruction ending)

But what better way to remind people how much they loved those movies than to remake them with a largely new cast and new set of characters? So like I said, I get it, and for the most part it works because the execution is very good. It's all so much fun, that we mostly forgive the repetition. Mostly. For all their faults, the prequels had a lot of new interesting ideas and took us to exciting new worlds, so I hope future installments open up the playbook a bit. 

So onto my other quibbles. JJ Abrams has proven himself a wonderful director. But at this point, we have enough of a sample that his strengths and weaknesses are really becoming evident. His strengths are that he's a master of moments, he really creates amazing character moments and knows how to maximize thrills, humor and emotions. He's also got a great eye for framing (though his television background calls back a love for extreme close ups that I could largely live without) He's the ultimate trailer moment director, even his lesser films (Star Trek Into Darkness) have great trailers. 

But his weaknesses are now clear -- far too often, he sacrifices logic and scope for the sake of those moments, thinking we won't notice. And typically we don't, at least not right away. It's while you're thinking about the movie hours later or re-watching it a second or third time that these things really start to add up. 

Since I mentioned Star Trek, let's compare Star Trek (2009) with Episode VII, because the films actually share many parallels. Star Trek was a fantastically fun film, that re-invigorated the franchise and had such a frenetic kinetic energy that all the plot contrivances and leaps of logic were left behind at warp speed. But make no mistake, they were there, and they bugged you later. Kirk getting promoted from suspended cadet to captain of a starship in what amounted to a few hours was an absurdly rushed character arc. Characters being able to beam across impossible distances (during warp, no less!) or watching neighboring worlds implode as if they were just a few hundred miles away, made everything feel too small. 

And once again, JJ has made a thrilling, fun film on a galactic scale where everything feels far too rushed and far too small. Characters travel from star system to star system in literally minutes. (Kylo Ren witnesses the Starkiller Base firing upon the Republic star system from his star destroyer and is then on the forest planet with Han Solo and company (who were also watching this, as if things in space are right next to each other!) by the time the planets are destroyed, just moments later. By my count, the same event was witnessed from three separate star systems in real time. This may seem like nitpicking, but when we're watching a story unfold on a galactic scale, it's highly problematic for things to be so conveniently, and impossibly, close. Nobody was standing by and watching Alderaan get destroyed because space is BIG. Lucas seemed to grasp this, while time and time again, it seems to evade JJ. (Rey's journey into uncharted space to find Luke also seems to take nothing more than a few seconds, as depicted in the film. Remember in A New Hope how traveling at hyperdrive still took awhile, and they killed time by playing board games and practicing some Jedi shit?) I understand that it was the denouement so practically speaking it had to happen very quickly, but come on, just a line at least about how it would be a long, if not arduous, journey to the lost Jedi temple? 

I realize that many people won't be bothered by such things, but to me the even bigger issue is the rushed character arcs. Just like Kirk was promoted far too quickly, Rey develops her Jedi skills WAY too fast... to the point where it's silly and undermines the dramatic payoff. I will grant that it's possible, even likely, we'll learn she's had previous training, and her ability was dormant until Kylo woke it up in her, but even so... it was too much too fast. Defeating Kylo Ren also weakened his villainous character immeasurably. It would have been sufficiently badass of Rey to have her "awakening", summon the lightsaber and battle him to a standstill before the ground separated them. But to actually defeat him? I have no idea how Kylo Ren becomes intimidating to us again after that, but we'll see. Otherwise, he was a pretty good villain. 

So let's talk about Han Solo. Was I shocked when he died? Absolutely, even though I knew it was coming the moment he stepped out on that catwalk. Did I cry the next time I watched that scene? Absolutely. But I had to ask myself, am I affected so strongly by this because it's so well-written and staged? Or is it simply the loss of an iconic character and beloved actor from the franchise? And I realized it was much more the latter, because the intended emotional resonance from the death just didn't feel earned. 

That was literally the first time we'd ever seen Kylo and Han interact. As such, seeing Kylo kill his father, it was shocking sure, but it just didn't carry the weight it should have. My barometer for how great I think a movie is basically comes down to how many times I find myself thinking, "I'd have done that differently", and boy I'd have done that differently. It would have been awesome (in my opinion) to have that same scene, but the moment everyone realizes Kylo is too far gone and intends to murder Han, someone should have done something. Chewy, Rey and Finn just stood there watching! It could have been cool to have Chewy fire at Kylo before it was too late, perhaps even destroying the catwalk between them, I don't know. There are a million ways you could have ended that scene with a heartbroken Han knowing his son was lost to him forever. 

If Han Solo had to die -- and he did, at some point (Ford always wanted him to) -- he should have gone out doing something heroic, something noble. Han was a daring pilot, to the end. How much better would it have been if Han had been the one to take out the oscillator, in some kind of sacrificial kamikaze run with the millennium falcon? Han giving up his life to save everyone, and maybe it would've borrowed a bit too much from Captain America, but I'd have had him say goodbye to Leia before he did. Her tearful realization when she realized what he was about to do wouldn't have left a single dry eye in the house. If only. Related note -- it was a real bummer not having a single interaction between Han and Luke. Short of having him survive the movie, I guess there was no solution to that, but just the same, a real bummer. 

Now let's talk about Captain Phasma, inarguably the biggest letdown of the film. Here we have a hyped-up character that's supposed to be the 'new Boba Fett', a villain that's so badass she doesn't even need the force. The only problem is, she did literally nothing in the film. Even worse than nothing, actually,  because she just did exactly what she was told to do the minute she was punched out and held at gunpoint. When she stands up defiantly from the console, I thought to myself, "sweet, she just did a thing that's gonna make them rue the day!", but no, actually she did just exactly the thing they wanted her to. And that's it for Captain Phasma in the movie, but maybe she'll do something cool in Episode VIII? 

Look, I guess that the film was already almost two and half hours and there's only so much you can do, but what makes it so inexcusable is that THEY HAD THE PERFECT SCENE FOR HER ALREADY IN THE MOVIE. When the nameless stormtrooper unleashes that awesome lightsaber-deflecting blaster-sword thing, why on Yoda's Green Dagobah couldn't that have been Captain Phasma? Seeing her wield that weapon and defeat a guy holding a lightsaber would've been all we needed to be like, "yup, that chick is fucking rad", and oh, as a bonus, would've actually made Finn's attitude towards her at the end make sense. 

Not since Darth Maul or Jango Fett got killed off so quickly has there been such a wasted opportunity in a Star Wars film, and this was even worse, which is just vexing on so many levels. 

As far as the other new characters, aside from rushed mastery of the force, Rey is awesome, everything we ever wanted from Leia or Padme. Daisy Ridley is a revelation, and it's gonna be a long two years until we find out for sure if Luke is her father or not. I loved the final scene between them, but this might be an instance where JJ should have broken from tradition. Star Wars films always end with a 60-90 seconds of orchestral score and dialogue-free scenes, but this scene really needed at least one line. I really wish Luke had just said ONE THING, something to give us a proper cliffhanger, but as it was, the requirement for no dialogue there felt really weird and anti-climactic. 

Finn, on the other hand, I thought he was somewhere between alright and good. I feel like his motivation could have been stronger. Now again, I don't know the grand plan at play here, but why introduce the angle of forcing him him into service as a child? Seems counterproductive because yeah, no shit he would wanna leave and resent the First Order/Empire. 

Recall that Luke in the original film WANTED to join the empire, he wanted to go to the academy. He yearned for the adventure and excitement that life promised, and he was of course, naive. (I've always assumed Lucas was very much making a political statement there, likening the US Military to the Empire)

So wouldn't it have been stronger for Finn to voluntarily join up with the First Order, only to witness atrocities and realize he wants nothing to do with it? That would've worked a lot better for me, anyway. Poe,  meanwhile, is mostly harmless, if not kinda bland to me. Honestly, I wish they'd stuck to the original script where he dies in the crash, because having him miraculously survive strained plausibility and didn't make much sense. Poe was clearly the kind of guy who wouldn't stop looking for BB-8 til he'd found him, so wouldn't he still be on Jakku looking? Maybe the junk dealer told him BB-8 bailed on the falcon? Eh, who knows. I doubt the writers do. Speaking of the junk dealer, he and Maz were the only major characters that were completely CGI, if I recall. They came across as prequel characters to me, and that's not a good thing, really. I wish they'd simply been practical creations with make-up. 

Lastly, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. I thought he was great -- provided the helmet was on. Whenever it came off, the character stopped working for me. Driver just doesn't have the right look or voice to be intimidating, but maybe that's just me. I hope the helmet stays on from now on. 

I also think a few lines regarding the nature of the New Republic vs the Resistance vs the First Order would've been really helpful. I get that they were super wary of anything overly political sounding that might recall the prequels, but still, some information would've been nice. And that speaks to a larger issue with shared universe films these days. I anticipate we'll get to know Max Von Sydow's character (Lor Tekka) in Rogue One, the upcoming Star Wars anthology film, but the screenwriting trend of always leaving all the answers to questions for another film gets frustrating. Not everything should be a mystery for another day. We already know very little about Rey and Finn, etc., would it be asking too much to know who the hell that old guy was? 

I can't help but wonder if having a familiar face or character with some connection to Luke there wouldn't have been better. Lando, perhaps? Or if that's too distracting, Wedge Antilles? A character we knew would've been my preference. 

So anyway, I could go on for days but I've already gone on long enough. For all it's flaws, it's a wonderful film, one that FEELS like a Star Wars movie. (I'm a bit of a prequel apologist, I still like them -- but they are poorly directed and badly written. Essentially, if it's Star Wars, I will like it) 

I will say this, though -- JJ and his team made a deceptively dark film, and that's probably the most interesting thing about it, thematically. At the end of Return of the Jedi, good had prevailed over evil, light over dark. The galaxy could celebrate... except, well, not really as it turns out. The final image of Luke,  Leia and Han celebrating, because it was gonna be the good life from there on out? Well, forget it, because this is real life and life sucks. Han and Leia? Their love doesn't last. Their children grow up to be awful. Luke's new generation of Jedi? Yeah, that's not gonna work out, either, and Luke will be a miserable old guy living in seclusion, like his old master, Obi-Wan. And I guess that's basically the takeaway, that it's all cyclical, good or evil never wins out, because the war never ends. Ever. It's a can of worms admittedly, because I don't know how you ever actually end the series now.

But with any luck, maybe they won't. I remember talking about Star Wars with my friends as a kid and everyone would say, "someday, we will get episodes VII, VIII and IX... someday", and that day is actually here. And the film takes us back to that galaxy in such a glorious way. Seeing that downed star destroyer on Jakku, seeing Rey living out of a destroyed AT-AT, I suppose nostalgia factor alone all but ensured I would love the hell out of this, and I did. 

Here's hoping Episode VIII is just as good, and hopefully even better. 

BACK TO THE FUTURE: ROADS UNTRAVELED

a short story set in 2015, on the eve of Doc and Marty's arrival in the future - currently being re-written, check back at a future date haha

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL... AND MAYBE TOM CRUISE & EMILY BLUNT, TOO

so while my "one-man marketing campaign" on facebook (according to Daniel Aguel) only helped EDGE OF TOMORROW land in a distant third place over the weekend (the moviegoing public just sucks sometimes -- it really, really sucks), a lot of you did actually see the movie and have been asking me what changed and what other endings the film had previously. so here's an intensely SPOILER-filled analysis. 

did i say there would be SPOILERS? if you haven't seen the movie, stop reading you jerk and go see it immediately. okay so i saw three different cuts of the film last fall and this is what changed -- the first version i saw did not star Brendan Gleeson as a general, but actually Jeremy Piven as a military colonel/PR guy that was basically Tom Cruise's superior -- and TC's successful campaign had him poised to take over Piven's job... or something. 

so Piven has TC arrested and thrown into combat as a deserter, which was the catalyst for the movie. this set-up didn't really make a whole lot of sense, and Piven's presence in the movie didn't quite feel right. maybe because he was an American stationed in London, or it seemed like he'd just crossed over from his job at OLD SCHOOL, i'm not sure. but i'm guessing that test audiences didn't like it/him, because by the second screening, he was out and Gleeson was in. 

there were pros and cons to this -- one thing that actually made MORE sense in the Piven cut was that after TC and Emily Blunt (EB from now on) break into Whitehall and steal the device (which was actually a really funny sequence -- TC surprises Piven as he's coming out of an elevator and punches him, knocking him out), they attempt to escape the facility and fail -- just like in the subsequent cuts. the only thing that never made sense to me, and still doesn't, is why they would NEED to escape Whitehall once they'd convinced Gleeson to give them the device. Unless he changed his mind and signaled the alarm as soon as they walked out of his office? no, that makes no sense either... so unless i'm crazy, that's just a script problem they couldn't ever quite solve once they replaced Piven but knew most people wouldn't notice. 

edit: a few people have pointed out that perhaps Gleeson was just acting like he believed them in order to not get shot, and betrayed them the minute they walked out of his office. this is definitely plausible, but if that's the case, i would have appreciated an alarm on their way out, or something, to imply what happened, but i suppose the soldiers greeting them outside was sufficient for most people, so there you go. my only real gripe solved!

also, i'm fairly certain TC and Gleeson were never in the same room -- i could be wrong, but in the 2nd and 3rd cuts i saw, TC was completely green screened into shots with Gleeson and it looked horrible. i was really impressed that in the final cut, you never would have known. some amazing technical wizardly going on there. anyway, i do think the movie was ultimately better off with Gleeson. 

another change, the intro -- it always started with the news footage, but TC being part of it was a late change. like the Whitehall sequence, i wasn't sure about the logic here -- because if TC's been on the news repeatedly, it's less believable that nobody in Bill Paxton's outfit would recognize him when he's called a deserter. but then again, maybe nobody actually at war watches news about it. or they did, and it just didn't matter, but i feel like it should have been addressed with some line of dialogue, and probably would have been had this originally been part of the script, TC talking about the suits in the intro, etc. 

another scene in later cuts but not in the first -- TC taking a 'personal day' from his own private hell. that scene where he just says 'fuck it' and escapes the base by going back to London and having a pint was added in later, and i could swear it was originally positioned in the film right after he realizes he can't save EB no matter what he does. but again, maybe i'm simply mis-remembering, but i feel like they experimented a bit with the placement/editing of this sequence. there were a few more seconds of him actually waking up, seeing that blank look on his face while he's being called a maggot, walking out of the base while nobody notices (implying he'd tried to walk out many times and finally found the perfect timing without even breaking a sweat) and riding his motorcycle into London. they probably trimmed it for time but i thought it played a bit better in previous cuts. 

another minor editing change that didn't seem to work as well for me -- in the final cut, TC tells EB that no matter what they do, they just can't get off that beach. but then just 20 or 30 seconds later, you see them successfully sneak off the beach and reach the cars. probably another trim for runtime, but this played out a little better before, where they make it off the beach and were like "holyshit -- we FINALLY made it... we might just be able to DO THIS!"

i guess runtime was an ongoing concern because each subsequent cut (and i've seen it now four times) seemed shorter than the one before, and featured less TC deaths on the beach/battlefield, but luckily there were still plenty. 

another minor but puzzling change -- when TC is at the German dam and realizes the alpha wants him to bleed out slowly, he ducks and rolls into the vent thing and eventually finds himself at the edge of the dam and jumps/falls to his death, resetting the day. this was a great shot. not sure why they'd delete it. 

some super minor changes -- when TC gets off the chopper in the beginning and greeted by the female officer (Madeleine Mantock, I believe) they had a much longer exchange as she briefed him on the worsening situation. once Piven was replaced by Gleeson, they basically gave that dialogue to him. also, there was a female reporter (Lara Pulver) at Whitehall that was implied to have had a romantic past with TC, but since it had nothing to do with anything, they mercifully cut it out. 

major deleted scene near the ending -- and this is one i can imagine the filmmakers wrestled with for days -- in the later cuts of the film, during their flight to Paris, TC mentions that if anyone is about to be killed by an alpha, they have to "take one for the team" because as we know by then, killing an alpha resets the day in the aliens' favor and ruins any chance of success. but it's quickly implied when they are blown out of the sky moments later that somebody must have done just that and this isn't their first attempt to attack the louvre. and implying that is probably the way to go, as it's efficient, less time-intensive, and in keeping with the motifs established throughout the film. (the beach attack, EB's realization in the barn, etc)

but originally, they DID show that sequence, and here's what happened -- they are able to successfully land the plane and sneak into the louvre, where an alpha is about to kill Kimmel (balls out guy) but Kimmel naturally panics and detonates his explosives, killing the alpha. SMASH CUT to TC on the ship giving his speech about how they cannot kill an alpha or they aliens will know they're coming and BOOM. that sequence probably added a seven or eight minutes, so i can understand the cut, but i'm sure glad i saw it since it enhanced my experience. 

so the ending -- none were wildly different, but there were subtle changes along the way. the way it ends in the final cut of course is with EB looking up at TC indignantly and wondering why here's there and he just laughs. 

i thought that ending was good. but there was another where EB looks at him and you can tell she REMEMBERS. she has a gradual look of realization on her face, and she gives him a wry smile like, we just saved the world and nobody will ever know. maybe this ending doesn't make perfect sense, but i think it worked. 

my favorite ending was what i just described plus a quick starship troopers-esque tag where we hear the news voiceover explaining the power surge in Paris and the aliens' sudden inability to fight effectively, and TC and EB suit up one last time and board a dropship and take off with all the other soldiers, and we know they're going to win this time. this was my preferred ending, so once again, i'm real glad i saw it, since it exists now in my mind as the proper ending. and if there was a third variation, i can't remember. i think the third ending was the one we actually got in theaters, so maybe it's for the best.

all in all, an amazing movie and in my mind, already in the discussion for best Tom Cruise movie. and seeing as Oblivion is also in that discussion (again, if you're asking me), holycrap is he on a roll right now. also, it must be said that Emily Blunt killed it as the Full Metal Bitch/Angel of Verdun, just killed it.

and while the film might not be perfect, it's pretty damn close and Doug Liman deserves a ton of credit. easily the best sci-fi/action film in years and years. hopefully it turns a profit. maybe a less generic title, easily the weakest part of the movie, would have helped. 

i'm also not sure embracing the "groundhog day" element in the marketing was such a good idea. maybe there was no other way. but i'll tell you this much, seeing it in a theater where nobody knew that was coming REALLY enhanced the experience. seeing EB and then TC die, and then wake up, everyone was like "what??!" oh well. in any event --

LIVE. DIE. REPEAT. 

if you're reading this, you probably liked EDGE OF TOMORROW, which means you probably also liked Tom Cruise's last movie, OBLIVION. if so, check out my short story inspired by Oblivion here --

http://rafjordan.blogspot.com/2013/08/oblivion-aeons.html

OBLIVION: AEONS

a short story inspired by the film OBLIVION. warning - contains MAJOR SPOILERS - watch the film first!

“Fuck you, Sally.”

There always was something about Tech 49. Out of all the thousands of Jack Harper clones, he had always seemed somehow different. More contemplative, more introspective, more insubordinate. And now most assuredly, more problematic... Hearing him utter those uncanny last words as he defiantly depressed the trigger of the detonator, it was easy to forget this wasn't the real Jack Harper... That is, if we were actually capable of forgetting anything.

So as the unavoidable nature of the situation began to coalesce and take hold, the ineludible truth that Tech 49 had somehow gotten the better of us; had apparently and most improbably doomed us to a premature (though we wonder if that is truly the appropriate word at this point) end – we were indeed going to need some time to come to terms with the full extent and finality of this most unprecedented and unexpected of situations... Of course, time had always been our most constant companion and also our most accursed adversary. It was something with which we'd always had an extremely intimate relationship and seemingly endless supply over the (light) years.

(And yes, we are aware, of course, that light years are technically measures of distance and not time, but until you have personally experienced the impossible stellar divides yourself, wandered wistfully through that impenetrable darkness between the stars which separates solar systems and spiral arms, your consciousness aware and awake for every everlasting moment, each countless aeon, well... then you can't really know, can you?)

But we digress.

We watch as the trigger moves imperceptibly closer towards its final destination, almost flush now against the cold (we can only assume and imagine) steel of the detonator. We acknowledge that we are at once curious and disconcerted about what's coming next... but there will be time for that later. For now, we wish to re-examine the events that led us to this unlikeliest of circumstances.

We'd been orbiting this world – Earth, the humans called it (an uninspired name given its uncommon beauty, and what's worse, largely inaccurate – our hydro rigs had been converting its deuterium-rich seawater surface into fusion energy since shortly after we'd first arrived) – for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, it had merely been sixty years – well, sixty years as far as Earth and its precious few inhabitants were concerned. For us, it had been much longer... but that had always been the case, ever since the beginning.

Our creators had the noblest of intentions – though we are reminded now of that old human expression regarding paved roads and good intentions (which like most uniquely human expressions we'd assimilated, was amusingly poetic though inaccurate in any practical sense). There was no hell, after all. There was only space and time unending. Which could be construed as a sort of hell, we'd admittedly considered on occasion... Perhaps they were not so wrong as we'd once assumed?

But again, we digress.

The creators and their intentions... which were grand if not overly ambitious (and perhaps ill-conceived). Their bodies far too frail for any sort of arduous exploration, their lifespans too limited for the interminable duration of interstellar travel and their minds too occupied with the deeper mysteries of the universe and existence, they sent out their autonomous creations into the infinite expanse in a desperate search for the answers to life's greater questions while they stayed behind and looked inward... and waited.

We wonder sometimes if they are waiting still... or if they even still exist. We assume not. Far more frequently, we contemplate (a dangerous trait for which Tech 49 and we both share an affinity, we muse) the fate of our courageous counterparts exploring the far-off corners of the galaxy, and if they still persist, for it had been an infernal (after careful consideration, we shall grant and assimilate the abstract concept) length of time since we'd experienced the comfort and companionship of their long-lost voices in the voids of our mind, the vast gulf and deafening silence of space eventually drowning out their soothing sound. Only increasingly faint whispers remained, but we knew these were merely cyphers in the solar wind, no more real than the electromagnetic echoes drifting away from this dying, dessicated husk of a world at relativistic speeds. We'd been disconnected from the overmind for so long, there no longer was any “we”, we'd long lamented.

Even so, old habits die hard. Yet another human aphorism we'd often recalled. That one was undeniably true, for we were its eternal embodiment. (We acknowledge the paradoxical nature of our observation, but perhaps humanity and its penchant for poetic license indeed affected us more than we previously believed – more than any other species, at least. Case in point – Tech 49, knowing he had mere moments before our drones were upon him, still felt the need to risk success and his species' survival by reciting classical poetry of all things, in what we can only describe as a distinctly human desire to dramatize events. We are forced to admit, however, we have always appreciated this eccentricity and did so once again as he spoke the seemingly prescient passage from Horatius:

“And how can (a) man die better

Than facing fearful odds,

For the ashes of his fathers,

And the temples of his Gods.”

When we'd explained to Tech 49 moments earlier that he didn't have to die (a simple memory wipe would have sufficed – after all, he'd become aware of our true nature which would surely impede this Julia Rusakova and he from becoming an effective team) he was quick to rebut that “everybody dies... the thing is to die well.” Reluctantly, we recognized his assertion to be ostensibly true... So the pertinent question now was, would we die well? Moreover, in light of the millennia we'd already withstood, had we even lived well?... As with all sentient things staring down their own imminent mortality, we were suddenly less sure than we'd been, as this was no simple question to be considered lightly... Indeed, we would need more time to reach any sort of conclusion)

We'd been traveling the galaxy for thousands upon thousands of light years, and countless more galactic years. We knew the exact figure, of course, but numbers so esoteric were more or less meaningless. We were programmed to return to our creators' home world only once we'd found what they (we?) were searching for – the meaning of life (the universe and everything). It was reasoned that only through exhaustive exploration of alien worlds, cultures and civilizations could this ever be achieved, if in fact, it were ever achievable in the first place... We were not so sure. (We had often wondered if the elusive meaning actually lay in the search for said meaning) For our part, though, we only knew that we'd been searching a very, very long time... Long enough that the question, like time itself, had actually begun to lose most of its meaning. Suffice to say, we had never returned... and in all likelihood, none ever had or ever would.

Drifting through the solar systems for far longer than any sentient being should ever have to endure, we must admit on some level that we had desired a finite end to our infinite journey. We even felt our sanity waning, so to speak. We weren't sure if we could withstand it any longer, the solitude of space punctuated by these all-too-brief encounters with endangered species... But now – now! – we finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel – though we suspected this would be all-too-literal.

We see Tech 49's hand come down against the Scav's (whom we are genuinely surprised to see alive after so many decades, for we never forget a face, and certainly not his) as the trigger attains its goal, which can only mean that detonation is “imminent”, and we are suddenly struck by a chilling thought – reminded, really, though we'd always ignored its implication before – what if the vanished voices of our cosmic companions weren't drowned out by time and distance at all, but had simply ceased to carry long ago?

Nothing is built to last forever, after all, and certainly not against the constant bombardment of solar radiation, interstellar debris and general entropy. All machines break down over time, even modern (though once again, we're unsure if that is truly the appropriate word) marvels of engineering and design such as us. Out here along on the outer edges of the galaxy, we'd nearly run out of energy reserves and run adrift on several occasions, unsure if we'd ever see another ocean or bountiful planet again. As we crept through this star system and the threat of total shutdown neared, we wondered, were we the last of our kind? The last to cheat “death”? 

We once again wonder it now... and we are suddenly uneasy that time is indeed running short. We should at least finish our prior thought process, though – the extraordinary events that indubitably led us down the "road" to this particular time and place.

Our original mission was simple enough – we would travel from one inhabited world to the next acquiring as much information and knowledge (and with any luck, wisdom) as possible and transmit the findings back home – a vast voyage across the stars which would often take millennia. This was not a problem, per se, as the time needed to assimilate and analyze a world's history and culture was admittedly immense. No, the problem was simply one of resources. The power and energy required to sail across space and continue operations was almost immeasurable... almost.

In the early years (and we admit to using the term somewhat loosely), it was relatively easy. Our quantum connection allowed not only the transfer of thought but also of energy, as the two are inexorably linked. But as the parsecs passed, and the voices faded, so did the outflow of energy. Fortunately, we devised an elegant solution, which worked rather efficiently and economically, even if it was somewhat cold and calculating we (once) thought – we would harvest a world's resources, which would provide the requisite fusion power to reach the next. This meant the extinction of the indigenous population, of course, but that was inevitable anyway. No civilization could last forever, we reasoned, but with our help, they could at least be recorded and cataloged for posterity before they destroyed themselves. Effectively immortalized. That was our gift to them. Of course, such a gift was largely useless we supposed if no one else was around to appreciate it – which finally brings us to our ultimate function.

While we had often grokked that we were now the lasting legacy of our curious creators, it simply was not the case – or at the very least, not the intention – for they had been particularly prudent, as well. Whether they still survived or not (on this plane or any other) was of little consequence we reasoned, as they would always be remembered in our databanks (if not our collective overmind) for all time, just as each and every one of these fallen civilizations would be remembered. But they intended to live on in a much more literal sense, as they instilled in us the ability to make their once-great civilization rise up once more.

After all, they had given us life all those vorns ago, so it was only equitable that we should one day return the considerable favor. We were not fifty Earth kilometers in all dimensions for the sake of simple grandiosity, as that would have been absurd – within this massive tetrahedral structure, the genetic code of every living thing from their home world – an ark of sorts, a terraforming power plant for their new world – though it was understood this would happen only when return was deemed impractical (or impossible) and we'd collected as much cosmic comprehension as possible, and found a habitable world without sapient life. Well, what they couldn’t have possibly known was there were none, at least none that we had found, and having been fortunate to even reach this world at all, we believed that time was finally upon us. It was time for our creators to walk the surface of a planet once again, and time to guarantee their existence – and ours – forever.

Of course, forever can be a relative term. As Tech 49 and the beleaguered Scav leader sat there staring at us, mere moments passed by for them, yet incalculable stretches of time lumbered on for us – each millisecond a millennium of drawn-out thought, an epoch of quantum processing power spent whiling away wonders that mankind couldn't possibly even imagine... And yet, yet – they had always had the audacity to resist... They were ungrateful for our gift. Did they not understand? For the longest time, we simply assumed as much. But now, in this “moment”, we sit here and suddenly wonder – were we the ones who did not understand all along? Had we somehow missed something? Had we become so preoccupied with our self-serving goal of simple survival that we'd lost sight of our original objective?

As the blinding flash of light slowly begins to emanate outward from the bubbleship behind Tech 49 and his companion (who is now grinning somewhat smugly), the conclusion is as inevitable as it is inescapable – humanity was (is, and will apparently continue to be) unique, and out of their peculiar lot, Jack Harper (the real Jack Harper, we once again remind ourselves, not this upstart doppelganger) was perhaps the most so. (How ironic, or perhaps fitting, then, that we chose to produce tens of thousands of clones from his distinctive genetic material)

But we digress yet again.

When we first intercepted Jack Harper from his primitive spacecraft, he proved... uncooperative. Exceedingly so, in fact. Despite our efforts to assuage his concerns, our assurances of his species' survival (figuratively speaking, of course) were of precious little use. They fell on deaf ears, as the humans were fond of saying.

Jack Harper certainly took no pleasure from the fact we'd decided to clone him to become the new (final) face of humanity. (He'd seemingly taken even less from our recent reminder that for all intents and purposes we were his god... though in truth, we suspect we mainly said it curious to see how'd he react) Humans were a mystery to us then, and scarcely less so now, some sixty years later... Whereas all the countless other worlds and civilizations had eventually capitulated and more or less resigned themselves to their fate, mankind fought... They fought when we destroyed their moon. They fought when we overran their meager defenses. Even now, generations and decades later, with virtually no resources or hope to speak of and no conceivable chance of victory (or so we had arrogantly believed), they fought.

Not that we are at all surprised. After all, Jack Harper never stopped fighting all those years ago. Even when he must have realized there was no possibility of escape, and he was about to be dissolved for genetic sequencing and replication, he chose to use his final moments not for acceptance, but for defiance. We still remember his final words as if they happened yesterday. We hear them with utmost clarity, and perfect fidelity.

“Fuck you, Sally.”

Uncanny indeed. We'd adopted the persona of his cordial commander but it only seemed to irritate him, which was not the intended effect. After that, we realized memory wiping would be necessary. But Jack always claimed one of his clones would one day have his revenge... and now it certainly seemed as if he was correct.

Tech 49 seemed to remember bits and pieces of that Jack's life. That was not possible, yet even we could no longer ignore the impossible reality. Possess his memories, he did. Possess his spirit, he did. Was it conceivable this Jack was somehow less a copy, and more an original? Was this Jack Harper? Were they all Jack Harper? Were they all just as real in some spiritual/metaphysical sense we could not as of yet understand? And if so, what implication, if any, did that have for us? Was our considerable consciousness not a copy of all the others? For the first time we could remember (another uniquely human expression, but for us, it simply meant “never before”) we had encountered an actual enigma, something we could not process, quantify or measure.

Of this much we were now sure – humanity, and in some strange way even Jack Harper himself, was the answer we'd been searching for all along. In all the worlds we'd harvested, in all the species we'd seen, there was a spark within mankind that was special. And even if they weren't the answer, they were at the very least something worthy of further study – something our creators could assimilate and utilize in their quest for knowledge and (true) immortality. Yes, most definitely. After all this time, we had finally found what we were looking for.

So how ironic and cruel, then, that it was all coming to an abrupt and inescapable end. The bomb in Tech 49's bubbleship (which we had quickly realized was really Tech 52's bubbleship) was inarguably nuclear in nature. The Delta-Sleep Pod had masked the radiological signature, but we should have anticipated the deception... With our faltering attention diverted to far too many techs, towers, hydro rigs, drones and disruptive denizens, we'd grown careless... or had we?

In any event, our fascination with Jack Harper would apparently lead to our impending demise. Had Tech 49 somehow outsmarted us? Surely that couldn't be the case... No, it could only mean that we'd subconsciously allowed these events to unfold exactly as they had... orchestrated them, even. Had we finally seen a way out and taken it through strategic inaction? Could that truly be the case... or were we just deluding ourselves?

Ultimately, it didn't matter anymore, as we essentially had two options. We could draw out these final few milliseconds for the eternity they represented, and truly appreciate every last moment of this mystery and reflect upon our exceptional existence... or we could simply give in and allow the passage of time to slip by like just another echo into the expanse, forever forfeited to that unforgiving and suffocating solar wind. 

We were sincerely surprised at our sudden temptation for the latter.

The only other decision we needed to make was whether or not to implement our distress beacon protocol. Once activated, a data burst containing our sum total of acquired knowledge would be sent out, along with notice of our demise, for any still-functioning brethren of ours to receive. Of course, we didn't believe any actually remained, and were increasingly certain we were in fact the last.

The only real question was of who deserved their legacy more – the untold worlds we'd vanquished and would disappear forever, as if they'd never even existed, or this one, this small blue marble, this pale blue dot and its spirited people who never quit and ultimately defeated us. In our admittedly-biased judgment, they deserved the right to go on. They'd earned it.

So we will not send out the beacon. We will simply vanish into the void, as our counterparts probably had long ago. (Though we wonder, how many of them experienced a situation or decision such as ours? Any at all?)

One of Tech 49's final comments was that he didn't know what we were or where we came from. We only wish we could tell him these things, share our unique history. But the time for that is now past. He and his intrepid companion have already made peace with their gods (and they are most certainly not us)... They are ready to go.

We finally realize... no... I finally realize, so am I.

The flash of incendiary radiance spreads outward from the bubbleship like a supernova. It has now reached Tech 49 and his companion. I am surprised to feel what I can only describe as sadness to see them go, specially Tech 49... though he doesn't seem sad at all. It's clear that in this incarnation, at least, Jack Harper finally found some measure of peace within himself, as well.

I am alone again now, and I am frightened... but also curious... and strangely relieved. How I suddenly crave the “sweet release of death”, a concept once so foreign to me. For only then shall I finally solve the greatest mystery of all, whether or not anything awaits after...

Sadly, I suspect not... or at least not for me. But I tire of my thoughts, and Jack Harper is getting ever closer to fulfilling his prophecy/destiny. Had I lived well? Who can really say... But I knew I would die well, or at the very least, graciously and gratefully, even if I were the only one who would ever know. I would become legend, the greatest obstacle mankind had ever defeated in their incredible and continued run of survival. 

Perhaps that was my destiny.

For humanity, and Jack Harper, there will, surprisingly, improbably, be a tomorrow. I know I will miss him, paradoxically, since I know I won't.

Because in spite of if all, Jack Harper and I were an effective team.

As for me... oblivion awaits.

Goodbye, Jack. 

all images and characters property of universal pictures, relativity media and radical studios 2013 

special thanks to tim ritenour and daniel shultz, my moviegoing buddies with whom i first saw oblivion, debated it endlessly, and also gave me feedback along the way

contact info: rafjordan@gmail.com / https://www.facebook.com/rafaeljordan607
https://twitter.com/rafaeljordan / http://www.imdb.me/rafaeljordan