Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama
Director: Shane Carruth
Writer: H.G. Hansen
Based on the novel by Blake Crouch
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dan Stevens, Felicity Jones, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jackson Robert Scott
Plot: Jason Dessen’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wife Daniela (Felicity Jones) convinces him to go to a celebration for Ryan Holder (Dan Stevens), though it’s family night. Ryan won the Pavia Prize. Daniela and Jason’s lives have been less dramatic in their achievements. Daniela had the talent but she was distracted by her marriage and having Charlie (Jackson Robert Scott). When Jason mentions the Pavia, Daniela tells their son Charlie that Jason was a genius but had given up his work for family. Jason agrees to go to the celebration but promises to be back soon.
As Jason visits with Ryan, Ryan tells him he always thought Jason would be him. Ryan seems to be of the opinion that Jason could have changed the world if he didn’t have a family. Jason leaves angry. Without thinking he steps in front of cab and nearly misses being hit.
On his walk back to his home, Jason notices someone following him. The person wears a geisha mask and holds a gun. He orders Jason to him drive to an abandoned power company. On the drive, the man asks personal questions like what his plans for the following day include. When Jason asks the man who he is, the man raises the gun.
At the building, the man directs him down a flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, the man gives Jason injections. Jason gets dizzy but fights the feeling. The man asks Jason if he’s happy with his life. Jason isn’t but regrets some things. Jason explains he had a big project but couldn’t get the time to work on it. He never regretted his life.
The man tells him that he can have everything he never got to experience. He watches as the man injects himself with something. When Jason asks what’s planned for him, the man responds “wouldn’t believe me if I told you”. Jason blacks out.
Jason becomes aware some biohazard suits loading him onto a gurney. In an operating room, a man welcomes Jason back and tells him: “Congratulations”. The man tells Jason his name’s Leighton Vance and says he’s the chief executive and medical officer of Velocity Laboratories.
Alone, Jason tries to piece together the last things he remembers. He struggles to bring to think of last night. Leighton tells him that his tests show he’s cleared from quarantine. Leighton takes him to a debriefing room. Amanda Palmer’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in charge of the debriefing. People standing behind glass are clapping and cheering for Jason. Amanda tells Jason he’s been the only one to return, but Jason doesn’t understand. Jason learns he’s been gone for 14 months and that the people want to know what he experienced. Jason finally recalls going to Ryan’s celebration.
Jason feels he needs to pretend to be the person it is believed he is. He asks Amanda for a break. Leighton leads him to a bathroom. In the bathroom, Jason locks himself inside. When Leighton realizes the door is locked he calls for a security team. Jason slides out a window in the bathroom. Jason knows he’s being followed but he continues to run. Jason arrives at what he believes is his home, he notices the door’s different.
Inside, more and more things aren’t like home. The house is expensively lifelessly decorated. A display case houses a certificate acknowledging that Jason is the winner of the Pavia Prize. Jason‘s so disturbed by what he finds in his home that he’s sick..
As he’s studying himself in the mirror, Jason hears footsteps downstairs. Leighton’s voice calls for him. Jason locks himself into the bathroom. He tries to decide how to get out. They break down the bathroom door just as Jason disappears down a laundry chute.
When Jason looks out and sees people searching, Jason heads to Chicago Mercy. The doctor asks Jason if he’s married that Jason discovers that his wedding ring’s missing. The doctor promises Jason he’ll try to get in touch with Daniela. Jason examines his finger there’s a slight indentation.
Jason learns that traces of a surgical anesthetic were found in his system along with traces of a strange psychoactive compound. The doctor tells him that they’re also not able to neither get in touch with nor find any trace of Daniela.
The doctor asks Jason his profession and Jason replies he’s a professor at Lakemont College. She tells him that they looked him up. She begins reading information to him. He’s become a huge scientific figure. A missing person report had been filed. He hadn’t been gone for more than one year.
Jason walks out of the hospital and finds a hotel. He decides to see if he can find where Daniela is. As a reminder of the indentation on his finger, Jason ties a loose thread. Jason notices an ad that advertises a show by Daniela tonight. At the gallery, Jason joins a group of people, the show begins. There’s a labyrinth of Plexiglas panels. Jason chooses an entrance and a series of looped images show on the panels. As the images fade and Jason’s able to see the other people in the labyrinth, he has a feeling of how indifferent they are all toward each other.
When he exits, Daniela’s standing on a dais talking to the people. He notices how energetic this Daniela is. She recognizes him and rushes up, putting her arms around him. She hoped he would come. Jason asks her where Charlie is. She doesn’t know who that is. Changing the subject, he says he came through the labyrinth. She tells him she got the inspiration for the project from him and a conversation long ago.
Ryan approaches the two. Ryan asks Jason if he wants to go for a drink. Before they part, Daniela requests Jason to attend a secret get-together later. Jason learns that Ryan is teaching. Ryan asks Jason if the compound he came up with for him had worked out. When Jason doesn’t talk about the compound, Ryan assumes he can’t because of non-disclosure agreements.
Later, at Daniela’s apartment, Jason is drinking with Daniela and Ryan. Jason asks Daniela and Ryan how well they know him and if they trust him. Even though it’s against his better judgment he tells them from a hypothetical standpoint the story of the night he went to see Ryan and wound up getting abducted. When Jason confirms that the man isn’t suffering a brain tumor and that the changes in his world are too complex to be a joke, Ryan thinks he’s crazy. Jason replies “I’m not crazy”. Daniela asks what he’s trying to tell them. He says he doesn’t remember the conversation with Daniela that inspired “Entanglement.” She tells him that he came by to tell her how he had messed up some choices but none so badly as the choice he’d made when it came to leaving her. Ryan offers to take Jason back to the hospital. When Jason refuses to go Daniela replies he can stay here. Ryan just walks out.
After a shower, Jason talks to Daniela about their lives together. He worries for a moment he’s put her in danger by making her part of whatever’s happening. She asks about Charlie and he tells her. Daniela has tears in her eyes when she tells him to stop. She reminds him that he broke up with her the day after she told him she was pregnant. Daniela asks him if she’s happy in the other reality, even without her art. That night he joins Daniela in the kitchen. She’s cooking an old family recipe that he remembers. He helps her cook without even having to be told the ingredients he needs or the steps to take. They have sex that night. It is like the first time they’re together.
Afterward, Jason tells Daniela he needs to get back to his house to see if he can find anything about his work. As Daniela’s offering to drive him there, there’s a knock at the door. A man breaks in the door. He points a gun at them and he shoots her between the eyes. Jason is incapacitated with a Taser.
Leighton visits Jason in his cell. He apologizes for what’s happened. Jason asks if Leighton had told the man to shoot Daniela. His refusal to answer is a yes. Jason pretends to calm down. Leighton comes to let out his restraints. Based on what he’s already experienced, Jason knows he needs to be the man believed he is or he’ll be killed. He says he ran as he was scared, because he doesn’t remember anything about the past ten years. When Leighton suggests that the real Jason is locked away in his head, Jason again questions himself.
Leighton asks Jason how he got to Daniela’s apartment. Jason lies that he isn’t sure; he only knows they had a past. He doesn’t mention talking to Ryan, even when Leighton asks if he’s sure he didn’t talk to anyone except Daniela. They killed Daniela only because they have to protect the project they’re working. He indicates that the man Jason had been would understand why she had to be killed. Jason asks to show him what they’re working on that’s so top secret.
Jason is awe-struck when he sees the box. It’s located in the hangar in which they found
Jason. Jason’s surprised because seeing the box is like seeing a dream. His early research was focused on a small box intended to put a tiny object into superposition, a state like the one that Schrödinger’s cat was placed into.
In a nearby control room, Leighton shows Jason the video feed of Jason entering the box. Later feed from a GoPro camera shows the box Jason entered is empty. Leighton shows Jason another video file where Jason staggers out of the box about 14 years later.
Leighton settles Jason into a bedroom with a laptop loaded with all his research. He’s familiar with the information in the early folders but the later notes are foreign to him. When Jason can no longer study the notes he tries to sleep but can only see the blood from Daniela’s bullet wound.
Jason is awoken by someone pounding on the door. It is Amanda. She asks Jason some questions but Jason tells Amanda about Daniela’s murder, something she knew nothing about. She tells him that she’ll be helping him to recover his lost memories using psychotherapy and/or hypnosis. Before she leaves, she tells Jason that she’s his friend and everyone here too.
When Leighton finally comes to get Jason he takes him back to the room where the first attempt to debrief Jason took place. After they sit, Leighton explains to Jason how the company has always been a family that has been built on trust. The people watching aren’t smiling at Jason this time. Leighton accuses Jason of lying to them and not being one of them. Jason tries to leave but the door is locked.
Leighton thinks Jason told Daniela the truth, and now he wants the same. Ryan’s face pushed against the glass. Jason notices he has been beaten. Leighton knows that Ryan knows the truth. When Jason thinks they tracked Ryan down, but Ryan came to them because he’s concerned about Jason for the things said at Daniela’s. When Jason wants to leave, but that isn’t likely because Jason’s the only one who’d successfully flown the box and thus, he is believed to have "critical knowledge”. Amanda appears to be trying to keep herself from crying.
Leighton asks questions about the box and where he is from. At first, Jason doesn’t answer. He finally tells Leighton he doesn’t want to talk to him. Someone slams Jason out of his chair and pins him to the floor and given an injection.
When Jason regains consciousness, he’s in a cell with Ryan. Ryan apologizes. He thought if he told what Jason said that perhaps they’d include him or reward him. Jason tells Ryan that he wasn’t the one who kept what was happening at the lab a secret and Ryan finally realizes that Jason told him is true. Ryan is asked to come out. Leighton tells Jason that what’s about to happen isn’t his choice, but Jason’s.
Jason sits in his cell in the dark and thinks about how much he misses his life. He suddenly realizes that the man who abducted him had followed him and studied him. It was the Jason who built the box who put him in that place. Jason realizes it’s some part of himself that did this.
The door unbolts. Amanda tells him that Ryan’s dead and that he’s next. He asks for her help. Amanda tells him that she can get him to the hangar. They make it to the access panel to the hangar and manage to get inside as several men running to them. They get inside the box and shut the door just as they catch up.
Inside, Amanda pulls out ampoules of Ryan’s compound. In order to get the compound to take effect faster, Amanda says they’ll have to inject themselves intravenously. They wake in a hallway stretching into infinity. Amanda asks what they’ll do. Jason tells her they’ll experiment by trying a door and seeing what happens. They select a door and walk into a destroyed Chicago. Ash falls from the sky, no signs of life and buildings ruined.
They take another dose to transport them back to the hallway. Amanda asks Jason if he is impressed with himself, since it was a version of him that built the box but he tells her that he still doesn’t understand how it was done.
They wind up back at Velocity behind the next door. They see themselves running toward the box. Leighton and his men catch up with them. They shoot Amanda and taser Jason. Amanda shrieks seeing herself get shot. Leighton notices them and is surprised. Amanda and Jason slam the door on the box. Jason opens door after door looking for a place to rest. They finally open a door where snow is falling. Amanda’s desperate to get out of the box.
They walk toward the houses but the subzero cold and wind soon becomes dangerous. He considers the possibility that they’ll freeze to death when he sees a house in front of them.
Later, Amanda and Jason thaw out by the fireplace. They realize there’s a possibility different versions of themselves had gotten caught in the hangar. They come to the conclusion they control what’s behind the doors.
They find a box buried in snow. Back in the box, they take another dose. Amanda tells Jason that he’s different from Jason2. Jason decides that it’s Jason2 who did this. Amanda mentions it made sense because Jason2 was obsessed with regret. She explains that Jason2 would’ve rationalized that he’s doing Jason a favor by allowing him the life that would have been.
Jason begins to become enraged but Amanda reminds him to remain calm. He’s slightly distressed but is determined that if Jason2 could figure out how the box works, he’d do the same.
Amanda reasons with him that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. She believes that in order for them to get different results, they need to separate.
In preparation for his next door, Jason writes about the first time he saw Daniela. Jason steps out of the box into the abandoned power plant. When he exits the box, he notices an empty ampoule.
At his house, Jason realizes it’s his home because things he remembers. When he stands up from examining his vehicle, Jason realizes that someone watching him. Jason chides himself for not being more careful.
Jason thinks through his plan to kill Jason2 and take his life back. Planning to buy a gun, Jason goes to Field and Glove. The woman at the counter recognizes Jason even though he doesn’t know her. She tells him that he has been in four times before to buy a gun, but didn’t have the money or the proper ID any of those times.
In a hotel’s business center Jason checks his email. He finds one entitled “Welcome Home the Real Jason.” A variety of other Jasons discuss their ideas to kill Jason2 and bury him in the same park that Jason considered.
Meanwhile, one Jason says he’s already killed two Jasons. Jason is so freaked out by what he’s learned that he leaves and goes back to his room. He realizes all of these Jasons want what he wants. He is stuck in a game of chess against himself.
The phone rings in Jason’s hotel room. Jason realizes it’s one of the other Jasons trying to locate him. He decides to listen to his gut and leave the hotel room. In the hallway, Jason watches as a man getting off the elevator. He points a gun at Jason. Jason runs down the stairs only to encounter another version of himself. This Jason has a knife. Jason gets away and runs to a packed sports bar where he hides.
After one of the Jasons checks the bar, doesn’t see the real Jason and leaves. The other Jasons are keeping an eye and trying to kill any Jason they see as a competitor.
Another Jason wanders into the bar, seems surprised to see the real Jason there. This Jason has a knife wound on his face. They discuss when they arrived in that world and then notice they’re finishing each other’s sentences. The man tells Jason the question which version of Jason deserves his family. He then mentions he’ll kill if he needs to.
He realizes that in order to beat the rest of the pack of Jasons he has to do something completely random that he’d never do. He buys a cigar and a lighter and then goes to a diner for breakfast. He makes a scene leads to him getting arrested.
At the police station, Jason calls Daniela. He asks her to bail him out, she refuses. After a good deal of time passes, Jason thinks that Daniela isn’t coming. The guard tells him that Daniela posted bail.
Jason is happy to see Daniela standing in the lobby of the police department. He knows she’s his wife. Daniela immediately realizes that Jason looks different. He asks her to sit with him for a minute and talk. He tells her that he’ll explain everything. She balks, but he asks her to trust him.
Jason tells Daniela what happened to him the night of Ryan’s party but she thinks he’s trying to trick her. Telling her that he should be in his office at the college, he dials his office on her phone. It’s Jason2 who answers. Jason arranges to trick him by a trip that never happened. Jason2 responds that they’ll make it work somehow.
Jason tells they’re all in danger. After they pick up Charlie, Jason tells them everything. When he’s finished, they believe him.
Daniela asks why Jason got himself arrested and lured her to the police department. He tells them about the other versions of Jasons. She asks if these versions of Jason are trying to make their way back to them like he was. He nods. Sensing they’re not safe there, Jason asks Daniela if she’s with him, which she is.
Jason and Daniela clear out their accounts. They put a rental car on credit card and take off with no destination. Daniela gets texts and phone calls. All of them claim to be Jason and she isn’t safe. Jason has them to turn off phones since they can be tracked.
They reach an isolated, abandoned cabin which they break into. Jason learns about new things in Charlie’s life. After Jason tucks Charlie into bed, he hears Daniela crying in the bathroom.
Jason can’t sleep and logs onto the chat room. 109 versions of Jason are communicating on the site. Jason tells them that Daniela and Charlie are with him. He suggests that they meet back at the old power plant and have a lottery to determine who gets to stay with Daniela. He also suggests that they destroy the box so that no other Jasons will be able to find their way to that particular universe.
The next morning, Jason tells Daniela about his proposal to the other Jasons, which upsets her. He tells her it’s the only way to make life safe for them. That night they walk to the village where they eat dinner and watch a movie. In the middle of the night, Daniela wakes and tells Jason she doesn’t want him to leave. Jason wakes later and goes to the sink for a glass of water. He notices a strange shadow in the yard.
An injured man is dragging himself to the house. Jason meets him in the yard. The other version of himself tells Jason that another one of them injured him in an attempt to kill him. As the man dies, the real Jason looks around and notices the tires of his rental car have been slashed. He hears a gunshot in the distance. Inside the cabin, Daniela’s calling for him. He tells her the other Jasons have found them.
As Jason moves to make sure the doors are locked, he tells them to gather their things. In the living room Jason notices how cold it is and realizes the doors must have just been opened. A lamp turns on and the Jason with the knife slash orders appears. There’s another Jason lying on the floor, dead.
When the Jason with the slash tells Jason he’s already killed four of them and will kill him as well, Jason realizes not all of them are alike. The real Jason runs for the Jason with the slash and manages to break his nose but the Jason with the slash overpowers him and has him on the floor. A gunshot rings out and the real Jason looks up to see another Jason, Jason2, holding a gun. The real Jason knows it’s Jason2 by the stolen ring.
Daniela orders them to stop. To the other Jason she asks how he could do what he did. He replied he’s haunted all of his life because she’s the one things that he hadn’t gotten. She criticizes him, telling him that he should have stayed.
Jason2’s critical of the real Jason. Jason tells Jason2 if he kills him, it won’t win Daniela. Charlie distracts Jason2. Jason knocks the gun out of his hand, grabs the knife and stabs Jason2. As Jason2’s dying, he gives Jason’s ring back. He tells him to look in the glove box. As they run for the car, they continue to hear gunshots. They try to drive away, but one of the versions of Jason stands in front of them and fires his gun.
Once they are on the road, a safe distance from the other Jasons, Daniela asks how they’ll live if there’s versions of Jason who plan to try to hurt them. The real Jason isn’t sure but he asks Daniela to look in the glove box.
When they arrive at the power plant, the real Jason realizes the other Jasons didn’t leave but showed up early for their chance at the lottery. Daniela whispers that they won’t run. She has them link arms and walk toward them. They’re between them and the box. They tell the Jasons there’ll be no lottery because some of them broke the rules by attacking.
One of them speaks up. This is decision of what Daniela wants. She orders them to let them pass. They leave to their dimensions. Jason gives them all doses of the drug. As they walk through the corridor of doors, Daniela thinks they may try again. Jason says that won’t happen because Charlie will choose the door.
Charlie opens a door and Jason sees the sunlight, smell the earth. They all walk through together.
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