Heh, yeah, that was my first reaction too. It makes me feel somewhat better than one of the more intelligent minds here on the BBS was as confused as I was. For me, a second watch really cleared things up, but I've found others are not always willing to invest the time. If you are interested, here are a couple of things that might help it all make sense.


[spoilers galore]
1. The theme of the movie, regardless of time travel, is all about trust and how it relates to extreme technological advances. By the end of the movie, not only can these two friends not trust each other, but they cannot even trust themselves.

2. The really imprtant thing is to realize how the movie deals with paradoxes, which is that they are allowed. If you go back and change history, that revision "sticks", even if you make it so that you never could have possibly ended up going back (i.e. if you knock yourself out and lock yourself in an attic so that you never got in the box in the first place, then the universe doesn't stop. There are now, however, two of you running around). The director has said something about this the the effect of: paradoxes are a human limitation. If you create one you won't break the universe, but you'll probably break yourself.

3. The movie follows Abe's prespective throughout. Thus, while it's difficult to tell when Aaron goes back and uses the device, or what revision he's on, we are alsways seeing the latest revision from Abe's perspective.

4. By the first park bench scene, Aaron has already gone back and used the "failsafe" box at least once, drugged himself, and put him in the attic (his wife complains about birds in the attic). Since this action has over written the previous version of events, we don't ever see them.

5. By the end of the movie, the two guys have messed with their past realities enough to have created at least two permenent versions of Abe and three permenent versions of Aaron.

6. The voiceover is the "second Aaron" (the one wearing the hoodie who drugged the origional Aaron) who left when he fought with the "third Aaron", who was completely obsessed with being the hero at the party. It appears that the voicover is a phonecall that the second Aaron has placed to the origional Aaron in order to explain why he was knocked out and stuck in an attic for a while ("I have repaid any debt that I might have owed you").

7. There is no information given as to how Granger has gone back, or what really happens to him. The point of this is that these two guys who are thinking they can control everything are now at the mercy of someone else and his revisions of history. That what's going on with Granger is completey unknowable is part of the theme of secrecy in the movie.

8. One of the telling thematic things in the movie is how the character's react when the find themselves at the mercy of someone else who has gone back. Aaron muses about what he did "the first time"- that he simply went to work and didn't know anything about the machine, and there is definitely a sense of loss about this that his reality was changed by Abe. So he goes back and makes himself the "hero" at the party, because that is what really motivates him. When Abe experiences this later, with the Granger incident, he freaks out and decides to "reset" the entire experience. Unfortunatly he can't becase Aaron had already found the "failsafe" and used it.
[/spoilers galore]


Anyway, that's really way too much to write about a silly little movie, but there you have it. That doesn't explain everything, but at least most of it is pretty understandable. I think the problem with understanding the plot is not how confusing it is, but how so much is explained right at the end with the voicover. Your mind can’t adjust to the new information being given before more is thrown at you. I have heard of some people saying they got it all the first time, but they might have been lying

I enjoyed this movie a lot, mostly because I kept thinking about it once I left the theater, but I fear it defintely isn't for everyone. No matter what, I still think it’s an impressive achievement for $7,000.