Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Director: Alex Garland
Writer: James Morgan
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Domhnall Gleeson, Tim Roth, Morgan Freeman, Ian McShane, Winona Ryder, Michelle Dockery
Plot: On a snowy January night, Andrew Carlssin (Tim Roth) decided to rob the 7/11 on the corner of the surprisingly quiet New York street. Wearing a hoodie and a mask to make sure he wasn't recognized, Carlssin entered the small store at 10 pm sharp, with his small pocket knife in hand. He quickly asked the clerk for the register. A hero, an old black man, tried to tackle him down and Carlssin had to choice but to force his Swiss Army knife into the man's body. Carlssin managed to escape unarmed, with $800 in his pockets. The dead man didn't bother Carlssin, he showed absolutely no remorse. Heading back home, somehow, nobody noticed the blood stain on the pale hoodie he was wearing, even the guy who bumped into him.
On the same night, once brilliant journalist James Hampstead (Ian McShane) was once again trying to forget his problems by abusing of his precious alcohol. Living in his office for the past few days, Hampstead was never the same after his wife and his only son died in a car accident a few years back. Once a brilliant journalist, he was now relegated to minor news that nobody cares about, especially since his new boss, the pretentious Sandy Hearst (Michelle Dockery), inherited the newspaper from her deceased father. Hampstead despises Hearst, but he doesn't walk away from his job, because he knows that nobody would hire him elsewhere. He tried to complete his current assignment, but the booze got the better of him and fell asleep on his keyboard, just like yesterday and the day before.
When Carlssin got back to his flat, a small studio just two blocks away of the 7/11 he robbed just moments ago. He saw the blood on his hoodie, but he's not worried about it. In fact, Carlssin has this don't care attitude, nothing bothers him at all. He even stopped at the ATM on his way home. He wasted no time, looked at his notes and started to speculate on the stock market.
Two weeks later...
FBI Agent Danny Hawkes (Viggo Mortensen) couldn't believe what he was seeing. He got up of his chair and went directly to his superior, the respectable Samuel Towns (Morgan Freeman). He couldn't believe what he saw either. A man known as Andrew Carlssin turned $800 into $350,000,000 in two weeks. Hawkes immediately asked for the go ahead to arrest the newly rich man.
James Hampstead left the office for the first time in a week to refill his stock of alcohol when he saw the FBI vans stopping right in front of him with armed men quickly entering the apartment complex. At this moment, Hampstead became the brilliant journalist he once was and he decided that he wanted to cover the story. The FBI came out a couple of minutes later, Carlssin in handcuffs. Hampstead approached Hawkes, who appeared to be in charge, but he rapidly denied him. Luckily for him, Hampstead was the only witness of the scene and he was able to take some pictures.
Back at the FBI headquarters, Hawkes arrived with Carlssin and they locked him up in an interrogation cell. A rare particularity for an evident case of insider trading, the famous Samuel Towns requested to lead the interrogation alongside Hawkes. What many people don't know about Towns is, despite the fact that he looks so gentle and quiet, that he's the most ruthless and aggressive man on Earth when he's interrogating a suspect. Carlssin is suspiciously cooperative at the start, but he soon saw Towns' dark side after he claimed that he traveled back in time and that he was actually a man from 2256 who came back to become rich. He then asked for his lawyer.
Ellie Stuart (Winona Ryder), a struggling lawyer, was drinking her eighth coffee of the day when her phone rang. On the other end of the line, a man who was detained by the FBI, begged her for help and she gladly agreed to do so, but only because of the upcoming paycheck that will result of this. She packed a couple of snacks in her immense purse and immediatly left for the FBI and realised when she was going down the stairs that she didn't asked for his name.
James Hampstead still had his coat on when he burst into his boss' office. Sandy Hearst feels a feeling of absolute disgust every time she lays eyes on Hampstead. She faked being busy, just because she'll not have to listen to a washed up journalist stinking of alcohol. Only this time, Hampstead kept insisting. He then told her what he saw in the morning. She instructed him to do whatever he wants as long as he walks out of her office. Hampstead then leaves and went to his office and started to write.
Waiting for Carlssin's lawyer, Hawkes and Towns were talking about the possibility of time travel. None of them thought it was possible, just something you see in movies and novels, not in real life. Hawkes was skeptical on the matter, but the veteran Towns was certain Carlssin was bullshitting them. Hawkes then reasoned him that it could be possible after all, when he looked into Carlssin's personal history and saw nothing prior to his deposit at the ATM.
Ellie Stuart arrived at the FBI headquarters in a hurry, almost forgetting to pay the cab who brought her there. She ran inside and that's when she realized she didn't even know who she was there to see. After a shouting match with a security guard she was finally escorted to her new client. She got into his cell and he proceeded to tell her his story, omitting to tell her his name once again.
After the shocking revelation, even the great Samuel Towns started to think that Carlssin may not be a world-class bullshitter after all. Determined to find an answer to this complex situation, he called reclusive scientist Alec McDonald (Domhnall Gleeson) to help them on the matter. Once a renowned scientist acclaimed all over the world, McDonald spent the last 10 years hiding in his house that he turned into laboratory, deep in the forest. McDonald made the choice to go into hiding after he was laughed at by his peers when he talked about the possibility of time travel. McDonald then vowed to come out of hiding after he found a way to travel in time. Hawkes and Towns was uncertain how McDonald would react to the possibility of someone finding the way to time travel before him, he was good a scientist as he is unstable. Hawkes called him and he explained the situation to McDonald. He didn't say a word for the entirety of the conversation and replied saying I'm coming and hanged up immediately after.
Stuart was fascinated by Carlssin's story and swore to defend him no matter what happens to him. He promised her a substantial amount of money for her trouble and it was a decisive factor in her accepting his offer. Hawkes and Towns went back in the interrogation room and told Carlssin and Stuart that he needs to stay in detention for further interrogation, well, until McDonald shows up. Stuart vehemently disagrees with the proposition, claiming her new client doesn't represent a threat for society. It was Carlssin himself who ended the argument, admitting that he robbed a store, without mentioning the murder he committed.
The following morning, James Hampstead was thrilled to see his article was on page 5, the closer he'd been from the cover page in a couple years. He was sitting in his office, drinking from a glass of whiskey that he kept for special occasions only and they were pretty rare. He was interrupted by FBI agents, entering his office. When he asked what they wanted, they answered that they want to bring him in for questioning. A small crowd gathered around Hampstead's office and it got the attention of Sandy Hearst. They all let her through and she orders Hampstead to go with them and that he's suspended until he sorts things out with them.
Alec McDonald arrived at the FBI headquarters a day after he was summoned. He brought a van with him and what was in the back was going to revolutionized science as we know it. Hawkes asked McDonald what the huge machine was and the scientist became irritated that he called his unique invention just a bland machine. It was called a portal. Samuel Towns didn't believe what he was seeing, he didn't think it was possible to travel through time, he was dead certain about the matter. McDonald told them we managed to make animals vanish, sending them back in the past, but he couldn't know if they were really sent in the past, there was no way to verify. He was also able to bring them back, sometimes. Danny Hawkes, who absolutely wanted to know if Carlssin was telling the truth, told McDonald that he was willing to try it. Towns didn't agree about this, but after some arguing, he decided to let go and let him try. McDonald set up his machine on the correct time, the exact time Carlssin told them he was robbing a store, and the correct place to appear, an empty apartment right in front of the store. Hawkes entered the portal and just like that he was gone.
James Hampstead was pretty pissed about this absolutely unwanted interrogation, all he could think about was his job and how he's going to convince Hearst to keep his old job, because he knew suspended meant "fired" for her. They agents asked him to tell them exactly all he knew about the Andrew Carlssin, and it wasn't much. They ordered him to stop writing about that, as it was still an ongoing investigation and it was for the best that he simply forget about all that. They agreed to release him and declined their offer to escort him out of the building, he knew how to get out by himself.
Danny Hawkes woke up in a sleeping bag in a shitty, small and unfurnished apartment. He was still dressed up with the clothes he had when he "left", his favorite checkered shirt and his parka. He simply couldn't believe it, he traveled back in time and he was still alive! He remembered why he was sent back in time and looked across the street, in the department store. He saw a masked man come in, but he couldn't identify him. He saw him threatening the cashier and it was at this moment Hawkes decided to run downstairs and confront the guy. He rushed out in front of the store and bumped into Carlssin, with a blood stain on his hoodie and a knife in his hands. Hawkes didn't try to arrest him, he didn't have any weapon on him. Carlssin turned the corner and Danny faded.
Hawkes was brought back in the present by McDonald. Samuel couldn't believe it he actually sent one of his agents in the past to gather evidence. He decided he wanted to see for himself and asked McDonald to send him at the exact same spot and the exact same time he sent Hawkes just minutes ago. Still in awe that his invention worked for real, he vehemently accepted. Hawkes went back in his office and told McDonald to come and fetch him when Towns will be back. For a couple of minutes now, James Hampstead, who just happened to be passing by, was silently observing the portal from an air vent from the confined space of a toilet cabin, in the room adjacent to the empty storage room where they put the portal. When Hawkes left, Hampstead entered the room and begged McDonald to make him disappear from all his problems, threatening to beat him if he didn't accept, and McDonald proceeded. When he tried to bring back Towns, he only managed to bring Hampstead back, leaving Samuel Towns in the past for good. Hampstead then told McDonald that he saw Towns being killed in the 7/11.
McDonald went to tell Hawkes about the incident and he was absolutely shocked by it. He told McDonald that he did a great job and he informed Hampstead that he will have to testify at Carlssin's trial, because they were accusing him of fraud and now of murder and Hampstead will be the primary witness. Ellie Stuart was informed of the situation and asked to be presented the evidence and the FBI declined, to her disagreement.
The following day, Andrew Carlssin is sitting in the back of a FBI SUV, tasked to bring him to the courthouse. Hawkes was following the vehicle in his own, with McDonald and Hampstead on the back seat. Everything was going well until a small car came it at 80 miles an hour, Ellie Stuart behind the wheel, and hit the SUV containing Carlssin. The black SUV made several flips before stopping on the sidewalk. Stuart came out of her car, screaming to leave Carlssin alone and when Hawkes tried to find Carlssin in the damaged car, there was no trace of him at all.
The movie ends with Carlssin smiling, looking at the skyline from a futuristic New York City in a penthouse he bought with the money he made in the past, after killing Towns in the department store and vanishing with his portable portal after Stuart hit the car he was in.
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