Genre: Crime/Sci-Fi
Director: Doug Liman
Writer: John Malone
Based on the television series
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Bryan Cranston, Katherine Waterston, Anson Mount, Scoot McNairy, Ruth Wilson, Ray Winstone, Desmond Harrington, Makenzie Leigh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sissy Spacek
Plot: LAPD Detective Sam Tyler (Bradley Cooper), along with his partner/girlfriend, Maya Roy (Ruth Wilson) are hot on the trail of a serial killer having pinpointed his location to a warehouse district in Los Angeles. They split up to cover more ground with plans to meet up a few blocks away. Maya goes missing, and Tyler begins searching the area frantically, afraid that the serial killer has abducted her. He gets into his squad car and radios for backup. When he exits the car again he is hit by another car, savagely hitting his head on the pavement. Maya emerges and calls for an ambulance.
Tyler wakes up to find himself in the middle of a vacant lot. A 1970s car is parked next to him with the engine running and "Life on Mars?" playing on the car's 8-track player. A policeman arrives and begins harassing him about parking in the lot and asks to see the car's registration. The car is registered in Tyler's name. The policeman gives him a warning and leaves. Tyler begins to take in his surroundings and notices a billboard advertising The Exorcist in theaters.
Tyler gets in the car and heads to his precinct, the 125th, hoping to find some answers. Everyone there treats him as if he has just transferred from the Bay Area. He starts to flip out, only to have his ranting and raving interrupted by Lt. Gene Hunt (Bryan Cranston), who pulls Tyler violently into his office and punches him in the gut for causing a scene on his first day at the precinct. Tyler is confused about whether he has traveled in time or simply lost his mind, and is depressed about being unable to get back and help Maya. He sits at his desk, complaining about his head. Annie Norris (Katherine Waterston), a policewoman, is told to check on him. He tells her his story, but she just thinks that he is disoriented from hitting his head. She takes him to the apartment the precinct procured from where she shows him that all his stuff has been moved in, and reassures him that he's not from the future.
At the precinct, a serial killer is on the loose with the same modus operandi as the killer Tyler hunted in the future. Tyler figures that if he solved the case in 1973, he can save Maya in the future. He pulls a synthetic fiber from underneath the victim's fingernail, and calls a meeting with the other detectives on the case: Det. Ray Carling (Anson Mount) and Det. Chris Skelton (Scoot McNairy), as well as Hunt and Norris. At the meeting Tyler calls out Norris to help him since he has learned that she has a degree in psychology. She reluctantly steps up, and after a few minutes of discussing the case, the rest of the precinct shuts them both up and gets back to work. Tyler and Annie go for a walk and they happen upon a record store where Tyler bought his first album when he was a child. He notices a sound booth and realizes the fiber that he found under the victim's nail is sound proofing material.
Det. Skelton unearths a complaint record made about a noisy neighbor. Skelton and Tyler goe to re-question to person who filed the complaint and discover that the noise from the neighbor's records stopped after her complaint. Tyler and Skelton go to neighbor's address. Inside they a room lined in the sound proofing material and a young woman tied to a chair with a record blaring at high volume. They arrest the suspect when he returns home. Back at the precinct, Hunt and Tyler discuss what will happen with the killer. Hunt believes he will go down for life, but Tyler knows that because of a psychiatrist's report found at the house, he will most likely be sent to an institution and be back out on the streets after 20 years. Tyler struggles with his conscience, but follows Hunt's advice and throws out the report. Hunt officially welcomes Tyler to the team.
That night in his apartment, Tyler sleeps, dreaming of his childhood, only to be woken by the phone ringing. He answers it, but all he hears on the other end is the beeping of some sort of machine. He hangs up, but is unable to fall back asleep. He decides to walk around near the area where he grew up. He spots a man (Desmond Harrington) roughing someone up, the man is unfazed by Tyler and tells him to run along. Tyler chases the man down and brings him and the other man down to the station. The victim refuses to press charges and the man is still cocky, leading to Tyler insisting he is charged with resisting arrest. Carling sees who Tyler has just arrested and informs Hunt. Hunt tells him he has arrested Charlie Edwards, and that they have a deal with Edwards' boss, Stephen Warren (Ray Winstone). Warren keeps the serious criminals off the streets and the cops don't hassle his thugs. Against Sam's protests, Edwards is set free, and Hunt invites Tyler out for a drink that night.
That night, Tyler and Hunt arrive at the Roxy, a trendy club featuring rock music and go-go dancers in cages. Carling, Skelton and Annie are all there, all on the guest list courtesy of Charlie Edwards. Genesis is on stage performing "Watcher of the Skies". Tyler expresses his excitement to see Phil Collins. Norris makes a comment about it being odd how excited Tyler is to see the drummer of the band. Hunt takes Tyler up to a VIP lounge where Warren and Edwards are. Edwards apologizes to Tyler, while Warren passes out cigars and drinks and tells Tyler to enjoy himself. Downstairs Annie and Tyler share a dance, which is interrupted by a woman named Joni Newton (Anya Taylor-Joy) asking Tyler to dance. As everyone is leaving, Tyler finds a roll of money in his jacket pocket, Hunt tells him it is a thank you from Warren.
The next morning, Tyler decides to visit his mother, Ruth Tyler (Makenzie Leigh), at the apartment his parents lived in before he was born. He pretends to be investigating a a break-in at one of her neighbor's apartments. Their conversation is interrupted by the landlord barging in, but Tyler bodily removes him. His mother starts to cry about their money trouble, and Tyler decides to give her some of Warren's money, which she refuses. He tells her to put all of her money on the Miami Dolphins to win the upcoming Super Bowl.
Tyler enters Warren's office and slams the money on the desk. He angrily tells Warren that he is going to make life difficult for him. Warren calmly tells him that others have tried and failed to bring him down. Back at the precinct, Tyler tells Annie that he met his mother. He asks her about Warren, but she grabs a newspaper and recommends they go see a movie, suggesting "The Sting". They are interrupted by a secretary telling Tyler that Joni Newton is in a holding cell asking for him. Joni tearfully tells Tyler that she works for Warren and wants to quit but fears he will kill her rather than let her go. She talks Tyler into letting her stay with him for the night, after which she says she is planning on leaving town with a friend. Spotting the two leaving the station together, Carling makes a few crass remarks to Skelton.
Tyler cooks dinner for Joni and himself and learns about Joni's life working for Warren. She describes Warren threatening to rape her. Joni offers to sleep with Tyler, but he declines her invitation. He goes to sleep on the couch. He wakes up to find Joni, naked on top of him, and himself handcuffed to the bed. Tyler passes out again and is woken by Hunt pounding on the door. Tyler tries to get up, but is held by the handcuffs. Hunt breaks down the door and Tyler is humiliated by being found naked handcuffed to the bed, even more so when Annie comes in. Back at the station, Tyler tries to collect himself, but Hunt tells him that he has been given LSD. In private, Hunt tells Tyler that Joni was lying to him about Warren, as Warren is a homosexual. He tells Tyler that there are now likely pictures of him and Joni naked, to be used against him if he tries to cause trouble again. Tyler asks Annie if she still wants to see a movie, but she declines.
Tyler goes to Warren's and confronts Joni. While leaving, he overhears Hunt and Warren arguing. Joni shows up at Tyler's apartment and apologizes and tells him she is leaving town with her mother the next day. She gives him the photo negatives before leaving. That night, Hunt picks up Tyler and takes him to a crime scene where Joni's dead body has been found. Carling says the girl's death is Tyler's fault. Tyler attacks him and has to be pulled off. Hunt calls Tyler into his office in the morning, offers him a drink, and tells him a story about how when he was a rookie he reported a veteran officer for taking bribes. That officer hung himself, and a month later he accepted his first bribe. Tyler and Hunt both agree it's time for things to change. Hunt and Tyler grab Edwards while he is out collecting "protection money" from a butcher shop, strip him down to his underwear and throw him the freezer. Edwards eventually cracks and tells them that Warren personally killed Joni. Tyler and Hunt burst into Warren's private office to find him having sex with a young man. They arrest him.
Tyler turns up at his mother's apartment, but finds it empty except for a picture of his parents which he takes. That night Tyler goes to sleep, in his sleep he hears his mother's voice telling him that he will wake up soon and that she will be there when he does.
Tyler enters the precinct and hears a phone ringing in Hunt's empty office and answers it, despite it being disconnected. He hears his mother's voice on the line telling him that she is going to disconnect his life support at 2:00. Tyler becomes determined to show signs of life to his doctors in the real world. He starts throwing and knocking things over throughout the office. Annie comes in and tells him that someone has taken hostages and threatened to kill someone at 2:00. Tyler leaves the office, telling Skelton that nobody will die today. Tyler tries to start a dialogue with the hostage-taker, but Hunt hangs the phone up, telling Tyler they will simply shoot the hostage-taker once they have a clear shot. As 2:00 approaches, the sniper still hasn't gotten a clear shot. Tyler prepares to die. Hunt gets fed up and bursts into the building drawing the hostage-taker's fire, taking a shot to the chest. Skelton and Carling quickly follow and take out the hostage-taker. Gene sits up, revealing that a flask in his jacket pocket stopped the bullet. A nearby payphone rings. Tyler answers it and hears his mother's voice say that she won't switch off the life support because at 2:00, she saw him smile.
That night he hears in his sleep, a voice saying that he has a tumor in his brain that is operable and very well could bring him out of his coma. The next day Tyler tells Annie that he may have to go away for a while and wants to spend more time with her before he goes. They end up spending the night together.
In the morning, Hunt tells the team that they have received a very solid tip about a large drug deal about to go down. The bust turns out to an ambush planned by Warren's crew. Hunt, Tyler, Annie, Skelton and Carling are all pinned down and trapped in an underground parking garage with Edwards and a group of men spraying machine gun fire at them. A bright, white light appear as they all make a run for hit, and all of Tyler's team are shot down one by one. Tyler follows the light and wakes up on a hospital bed. His mother (Sissy Spacek) sits silently at his bedside. His mother sees that has woken up and tearfully hugs him. He tells her that he felt more alive in his coma than he ever had before. Tyler leaves the hospital room and goes up to the roof of the building. He runs toward the edge and leaps off.
Tyler arrives back in 1973 and shoots Edwards in the head, leading Edwards' men to surrender. Hunt, Annie, Carling and Skelton aren't sure how Tyler managed to save their lives, but they thank him anyways. That night, Tyler and Annie share a kiss outside of the precinct. Hunt interrupts them as he runs past with Carling and Skelton telling them that a robbery is in progess and they must go.
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