Is Time Fluid or Fixed? This Movie Says, "Yes!"

Rating: 6/10 (25 November 2006)

This is the kind of movie you enjoy seeing for the $10.00 multiplex experience: munching your popcorn watching capable actors in a puzzling, thrilling, well photographed action movie, with tasteful use of music, interesting and engaging characters with dialog and themes that appeal to your intelligence. Even scientific discussions of folding space and parallel time streams. But---- the ending may leave you either disappointed or perhaps pleased with its "Hollywoodness."
On the one hand, it tells you that going back and changing the past is no big deal, since you're just creating a new time stream to replace the one you just left ('Back to the Future: I' handles this idea the best). This seems to be the point of view that Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer-- having nicely put on weight to star in "Mickey Rooney: The Senior Years") abruptly and mysteriously adopts when he tells Denny "Be sure to lock up when you're finished," to send Carlin (Denzel Washington) back to change the past, despite the science nerds having argued earlier against interfering with it.
We can now guess the movie will change into 'TimeCop.' This kills the movie right there-- now the whole story, criminal investigation itself, and the characters' prior motivations, have no meaning since changing the past is now just a matter of routine.
On the other hand, it tells you that you can't change the past because events are predestined and will wind up the same some how no matter how you interfere. 'Retroactive' nails this theme well as does the fantastic '12 Monkeys'. This seemed to be the way the movie was supposedly going. After Carlin takes Claire (Paula Patton) back to her apartment to clean up, and notices that all the evidence of the crime scene is present (even though he had caused it to be there) he says something like "Nothing has changed."
In the same way that he was unable to prevent the different death of his partner, we expect that Claire will be killed (by the ship's propeller this time) and that the bombing will still occur. But no-- she survives, the bomb misses the boat, and the current-time Carlin (though the time traveling Carlin has died) meets her on the dock, and they drive off happily to the Beach Boys singing, "Don't worry baby, everything will turn out all right."
Seems like arbitrarily switching to the obligatory Hollywood happy ending, or is it just a new time stream?
You decide if you would have preferred fatalism over free will.
(Note: The super-patriot 'mad bomber' was much better done by Ed Harris as Brigadier General Francix X. Hummel in the 1996 film 'The Rock.' Carlin even uses the same quote about the "Tree of Liberty.")