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Christopher Nolan's time inverting spy film that follows a protagonist fighting for the survival of the entire world.
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Nolanfan93
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I think this is a really good theory and most likely what might turn out to be true.

One confusion:
So when you exit from the red chamber at the end, you start seeing yourself exiting from the blue chamber (as you see everything reversed and entering that chamber will be reversed, as well as everything you did).

But how does your now normal self see yourself on the "other side" reversed as well, if you were just there doing your stuff (with forward mind and everything), just everything else around you being in reverse and not you?
Last edited by Nolanfan93 on May 2nd, 2020, 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ninenin
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DHOPW42 wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 1:38 pm
 Nice, and I can see this being very close to the real workings of the story! I can even buy the
"don't interact with your surroundings" part, but aren't all of them interacting with their surroundings when they're driving cars, or operating large ships? And, okay, breathing is a very obvious way of interacting with your physical surroundings, but surely there are other biological processes taking place when your skin is exposed to air, sunlight, etc.
It's not that they shouldn't interact with their surroundings while going in revers, just that it is difficult to do in a normal way. Someone in the reddit forums mentioned that the large concrete version of the machine is large enough to fit vehicles or multiple occupants. It could be that if you wanted to drive in the reversing time-line you would have to take a car with you. That way you can drive as you normally would, rather than having to drive in reverse to go forward. I'm wondering if the same is true of guns and weapons, like you have to bring your pistol into the machine with you for it to operate properly while reversing. I think the shooting range in the trailer is for this purpose... the uneven surface with bullet holes is for training how to reverse shoot a gun, you have to learn to aim at different angles to catch the bullet in your gun.
The Special One
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quite brilliant theory
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MMatt
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Doesn't the prologue throw a big monkey wrench into that theory...
The guy who saves JDW is reversing, but then returns to normal and runs down the stairs. He should've been reversing down the stairs backwards if a machine was required to change states.
Nicewatch
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MMatt wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:27 pm
 Doesn't the prologue throw a big monkey wrench into that theory...
The guy who saves JDW is reversing, but then returns to normal and runs down the stairs. He should've been reversing down the stairs backwards if a machine was required to change states.
He could be running up the stairs backwards from his POV so that he blends in with the forward timeline.
ninenin
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Nicewatch wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:37 pm
MMatt wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:27 pm
 Doesn't the prologue throw a big monkey wrench into that theory...
The guy who saves JDW is reversing, but then returns to normal and runs down the stairs. He should've been reversing down the stairs backwards if a machine was required to change states.
He could be running up the stairs backwards from his POV so that he blends in with the forward timeline.
This. I think it will be brought up in the movie that to remain covert during time travelling one should try to move backwards to avoid suspicion. Periodic movements like chin-ups would also be ambiguous and avoid detection. I'm quite sure the machines have something to do with and are necessary for the time travel. There's just too much evidence for it; unless there is a more basic form of very localized time reversal (what appears might be the case in the prologue, if the mystery guy is actually moving forward) which is separate from the full-blown reversing through time on a global scale which requires the machine. Either way the theory I proposed has been the only one I could think of so far that is consistent with what we have seen so far.
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AsianVersionOfET
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Location: “Where are you?!” “HERE.”
I need this movie
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Oku
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Yeah, the method described in the above spoiler tags is probably spot-on.
It's such a cool freaking time travel mechanic too, with how mechanical and grounded it sounds, and so different from how time travel is handed in every other Hollywood film.
The more that I think about it, the more appreciative and excited I become (whereas before, I was just 'curious').

Same with Dunkirk and how he picked the battle that was both a victory and a defeat, how it involved all the three branches of the arm forces so that he could set up a triptych with each escalating time spans, and so on...

It's amazing how he keeps finding all these fresh new approaches that have never(?) been done before, and he gets to do it on a blockbuster scale.
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speedy117
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ninenin wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 8:21 pm
Nicewatch wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:37 pm
MMatt wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:27 pm
 Doesn't the prologue throw a big monkey wrench into that theory...
The guy who saves JDW is reversing, but then returns to normal and runs down the stairs. He should've been reversing down the stairs backwards if a machine was required to change states.
He could be running up the stairs backwards from his POV so that he blends in with the forward timeline.
This. I think it will be brought up in the movie that to remain covert during time travelling one should try to move backwards to avoid suspicion. Periodic movements like chin-ups would also be ambiguous and avoid detection. I'm quite sure the machines have something to do with and are necessary for the time travel. There's just too much evidence for it; unless there is a more basic form of very localized time reversal (what appears might be the case in the prologue, if the mystery guy is actually moving forward) which is separate from the full-blown reversing through time on a global scale which requires the machine. Either way the theory I proposed has been the only one I could think of so far that is consistent with what we have seen so far.
But wouldn't that be incredibly difficult? Trying to fit in the forward timeline by moving backwards? I don't think that's the case. Also when JDW was doing the chin ups, it didn't look like anyone was near him, so what would the point of doing them be? Also are they just supposed to hope that there is a bar nearby so they can just do chin ups?
ninenin
Posts: 210
Joined: December 2019
speedy117 wrote: ↑
May 3rd, 2020, 10:55 am
ninenin wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 8:21 pm
Nicewatch wrote: ↑
May 2nd, 2020, 7:37 pm

He could be running up the stairs backwards from his POV so that he blends in with the forward timeline.
This. I think it will be brought up in the movie that to remain covert during time travelling one should try to move backwards to avoid suspicion. Periodic movements like chin-ups would also be ambiguous and avoid detection. I'm quite sure the machines have something to do with and are necessary for the time travel. There's just too much evidence for it; unless there is a more basic form of very localized time reversal (what appears might be the case in the prologue, if the mystery guy is actually moving forward) which is separate from the full-blown reversing through time on a global scale which requires the machine. Either way the theory I proposed has been the only one I could think of so far that is consistent with what we have seen so far.
But wouldn't that be incredibly difficult? Trying to fit in the forward timeline by moving backwards? I don't think that's the case. Also when JDW was doing the chin ups, it didn't look like anyone was near him, so what would the point of doing them be? Also are they just supposed to hope that there is a bar nearby so they can just do chin ups?
The whole chin-up thing was just me throwing things out there willy-nilly.. I don't actually think they would use repetitive motions to confuse people in the movie, but it's an interesting thing that Nolan and co. probably capitalized on while shooting reverse scenes with some characters moving forwards. They had JDW doing chin-ups since the direction is ambiguous enough to make the illusion work.

With regards to the time-reversal in the prologue though, I'm quite certain that the mystery SWAT guy is travelling backwards in time during the entire scene Which would mean he is walking backwards up the stairs, making it appear like he is running down them. The reason I believe this is more likely than the possibility of local time reversal of certain events is what would be the point of reverse shooting the guy who had JDW held-up at gunpoint? He could've just shot him normally from behind without using the time reversal tech to shoot him in reverse.. It would only make sense if he had no other choice; that is, he was went back in time to rescue JDW, or he happened upon the terrorist attack while time travelling and decided to intervene
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