Spoiler Discussion

1. Usually the starting with the future, and then telling a huge flashback that’s the main plot, before going back into the first scene doesn’t work for me. This is because it ruins the surprise of what’s going to happen or lessens the impact. In the case of this movie, the obvious and just jarring distinction between John in the first scene from John in the first chronological scene made me invested in what was going to happen to him.

2. The ending – from the moment John meets Sutter in the confessional booth and they talk about religion to the end of the movie, I couldn’t believe how meta the movie really got. I don’t know if John was retroactively created as a result of the book or if time warped his creation. The movie poster outside of the theater lists all the characters in the movies as actors in the movie- which just showed level of detail at selling the horror of what was going on. Once i realized the theater was empty, I think I put 2 and 2 together. Everyone saw the movie, which was the book, which causes people to kill others, so everyone in the theater would end up killing the others. Or not. That’s why the re-watch is necessary.