A typical American road movie, with its ingenious storyline, superb acting skills, and my preference for thriller and suspense, I couldn't help but share it. What's more interesting is that the wonderful in-depth analysis on the Internet will make you feel that the fun is not limited to the movie itself...
Summarize the outline of the story in one sentence: A newlywed couple rescues a dying stranger, Bloodyface, on their honeymoon. The stranger not only doesn't appreciate them, but tries to kill the male protagonist Dick, but Dick misses and kills each other during the fight. Helping to bury the corpse and destroy the trace, I thought everything would end, but the terrifying journey has just begun...
Analysis begins. . .
You will suddenly realize when you see the ending. In fact, it is an infinite endless loop similar to "Terrorist Cruise", but the film is full of a lot of elaboration, details and echoes of the beginning and the end. The reality and the fantasy of the hero appear alternately, and it is difficult to distinguish if you are not careful. If you don't really understand the movie, if you don't believe me, check the following details if you have noticed:
Detail 1: Who killed the heroine?
From the perspective of the male protagonist, bloodyface crawled out of the cemetery to kill, but it is not difficult to see from the ending that it was actually done by the male protagonist with a split personality. The male protagonist has multiple personalities, the superficial personality likes blondes, often falls in love at first sight, gets married in a flash, quits his job, withdraws all his savings in the bank, and leaves with his wife. On the way to the honeymoon, his wife mysteriously disappears, and he returns to Las Vegas to find his target again; the subconscious personality is a A perverted murderer, after meeting a blonde for the first time when he was a child and killing her, he committed several crimes in the past 30 years, and finally died in a car accident when he committed the last crime (please pay attention to the opening of the male protagonist explaining to the female protagonist that he met him when he was sixteen years old. In the case of a blonde: I looked at her from a distance and didn't even dare to speak to her, "I followed her out of the station. She went one way and I went the other." Obviously the male protagonist was lying, the actual situation It was he who accosted the blonde, had sex, followed her out of the train station, and killed her, "She's on the road of no return, and I'm on the path of a perverted murderer."); advanced version of superficial personality bloodyface, he is the superficial personality who guessed the truth. He has experienced everything that the superficial personality has gone through, and finally tries to stop the subconscious personality from killing the blonde he loves, but every time he is helpless by the new superficial personality in the next reincarnation as the murderer , and finally killed by the powerful self (people's biggest enemy is themselves, sure enough!). The subconscious personality is fierce and decisive, but he hardly faces the audience directly, but many scenes suggest his existence, such as the expression on the heroine's face just before the real death (mentioned below), I believe it is the subconscious personality who has appeared, and The dialogue between the two when the female protagonist helped the male protagonist to bury the corpse, the female protagonist suddenly became extremely cold, and when she found that the hole dug was too small, it was suggested to cut off the head of the corpse. This is actually a subconscious personality marrying her own thoughts Blame on the mistress. The superficial personality yearns for love, kindness, and likes kittens, but the heart is more contradictory and repeated. Although there are two Chinese characters "trust" tattooed on his arm, he often suspects his lover's infidelity, and finally ruins his painstaking love due to suspicion. When bloodyface was talking to the male protagonist in the car, bloodyface heard the male protagonist's voice separated by a thumping heartbeat, which also implied that it was actually a conversation between himself and himself.
Detail 2: When did the heroine die?
There are many guesses, I think the most reliable one is that shortly after the male protagonist killed Bloodyface by mistake, that is, at 37 minutes and 50 seconds of the film, the female protagonist cried out "This isn't happening...This can't be happening", and was suddenly startled In the same way, I took a breath and stepped back a few steps against the car door. This clip is very abrupt. In fact, the subconscious personality killed the heroine at this time. When the heroine's body was found, she was wearing the same white suspender dress as in the opening scene, instead of the cardigan and shorts that she later changed into at the rest stop. But what did she mean when she said "This isn't happening... This can't be happening..." before she died? What did she see? My understanding is that she saw the male protagonist fighting with the air on the ground, and perhaps heard him muttering words, so she would say such words, which also proves that the male protagonist has a split personality.
Detail 3: Why did the pistol turn into a mobile phone?
It is also the fantasy of the male protagonist. Out of distrust of his wife, he imagines her silver-white mobile phone as a revolver, thinking of the female protagonist's previous passionate performance in the car, and then firmly believes that she is not a serious woman. , Later, the male protagonist saw that the pistol turned into a mobile phone was back to reality.
Detail 4: The corpse disappeared mysteriously, and the tomb was empty?
This scene is also a short-lived reality. In fact, the heroine’s help in burying the corpse is an illusion of the hero. I remember that the hero asked the heroine to bury the pit and then went back to the car to drink water. At this time, the heroine disappeared like a phantom. In front of the headlights, and then suddenly appeared in the co-pilot's position. The real situation at this time is that the male protagonist dug a hole, but left without filling it. The male protagonist carried the female protagonist's body to the rest station to bury her body.
Detail 5: There are many obvious "piercing shots"?
Since the male protagonist fought with bloodyface, there have been many obvious "wearing shots". The blood on the female protagonist's arm has been hidden from time to time, and the two obvious bloody handprints on the trunk of the car have mysteriously disappeared in the end (note that you are resting When standing, they only cleaned up the interior of the carriage, and did not wipe off the bloody fingerprints on the trunk), in fact, when there are bloodstains, it is the hallucination of the male protagonist, which can be found by carefully analyzing the demeanor and language of the female protagonist in the two situations. . Finally, after the heroine's body was dug up, the hero first saw her wearing a low-cut cardigan and shorts, which was an illusion, but when the camera turned, it turned into the white suspender skirt at the beginning of the movie. is reality.
Detail 6: The age of the male protagonist?
It is estimated to be 46 years old. I learned from the male protagonist that he committed the crime for the first time at the age of 16. Later, I learned from the police that the place where the body was found was a rest stop 30 years ago. The station was abandoned, it can be seen that the male protagonist may be 46 years old.
Detail 7: Who is the mysterious man at the beginning?
The detective in charge of this serial murder case. But it was pointed out that the dialogue at the beginning did not come from the detective's mouth, because his mouth shape did not match the dialogue, and in some places he did not even speak, and the low voice was very strange. After careful observation, after the car of the male and female protagonists drove away, the camera was fixed on the stand of a tall old Indian chief, and the Indians in the eyes of Americans have a supernatural mysterious power. The opening dialogue is very It may be his advice to the male protagonist. Later, the male protagonist kept repeating the cycle of his own death, which was also the punishment of the old Indian chief to him.
Detail 8: What is the profession of the heroine? Dealer or hooker?
I think she's just a dealer, the male protagonist's swaying superficial personality always suspects his wife's infidelity. Although bloodyface has experienced everything in the superficial personality and has seen a lot of facts, it is clear that the source he learned that the female protagonist used to be a hooker is Last bloodyface, so not credible.
Summarize
The retro background music of the movie and the strong contrast of light and dark tones have the feel of American Western movies. The passionate performance of the heroine in the car is also very interesting. Although the hero is not handsome, the more he looks, the more man he becomes. Super attractive. Of course, there are also some minor flaws in this film. For example, after the discovery of bloodyface, the heroine could not call 911 and said "no service", but we all know that the United States, like China, can dial emergency numbers such as 911 even if there is no mobile phone signal; in addition, At the end of the film, when chasing the male protagonist, at least 6 or 7 police cars suddenly appeared. It is a bit illogical that so many police officers suddenly appear in the desolate desert. Anyway, it's not easy for Thomas Jane , who is directing a movie for the first time . It is not easy to set up so many details and suspense, but also to consider the logic to echo the front and back, and to play the leading role. Personally, I admire him very much. While there are still a lot of questions about the logic of the film, I think the director combines realism (the background of the serial murders) and surrealism (the bizarre storyline and the endlessly looping ending), and in the end is just trying to Send a positive message - that there is mutual trust between people and unfounded suspicions will only end up hurting others.
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