This is a time-travel movie with a perfect logical closed loop.
From another perspective, the film is actually based on the story of Cassandra in ancient Greek mythology. Cassandra was given the power of prophecy by Apollo, just as James in 2035 was chosen by scientists as a volunteer to return to the past, so he knew the future. While Apollo couldn't court her and curse Cassandra, she could still know the future, but she could neither convince others of her prophecy nor change what was about to happen. As in James' situation, he was seen as a lunatic at first, and even after Kathryn believed in him and helped him, he struggled to stay in the world. There is no way to escape the ultimate fate. And Kathryn in 1996 knew everything, but just like Cassandra's curse, no one would believe her, and the future wouldn't change.
The setting in the movie is not an absolute parallel world, because James' past behavior can leave clues to his future self. Also, I don't agree with the claim that James's efforts contributed to the spread of the virus, he just inspired Jeffrey, and the assistant professor should have been guilty of spreading the virus. He and the future scientists are also apocalyptists. They have no intention of changing the past, perhaps because in the future scientists will be the absolute rulers. In a pandemic era, this movie really "has a lot to do with me", especially when scientists stress that they need to get the pure virus, because the current virus has been mutated, I can't help but think of the mutated virus in the UK. It's a time of personal peril.
The relationship between Kathryn and James, I think a lot of it was due to Stockholm Syndrome, they reminded me of the desperate couple, Bonnie and Clyde, and at the end Kathryn went around looking for the childhood James and the look at him at the end was so sad .
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