# Your own Movie Theories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766 "2011-06-17T00:47:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/21 "2011-06-17T10:28:16Z")
James Bond is just an alias used by British Intelligence, and the agent working that identity has been killed in the line of duty 5 times. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/22 "2011-06-17T11:19:46Z")
Everything we see in _Inception_ was within a dream. His wife really did escape into the real world, as she expected to, and only seconds have passed since she woke. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/23 "2011-06-17T11:33:41Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Not really a theory _per se_, but I always wonder what happens immediately after the end of **Terminator 2**. I mean, not months or years later, but 15 minutes later. Don’t the cops have the steel factory totally surrounded by now? And Sarah Conner is still a wanted fugitive, and is now injured… This is beginning to perhaps be a cue for a new thread, but… In a similar vein, I’ve often wondered what happened next after the end of The Wicker Man. Imagine a final shot of the next harvest festival. Which would be the creepier proposition: that the crops failed again, or that they didn’t? Which scenario would be more likely to provoke a bigger, better sacrifice the next May day? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/24 "2011-06-17T12:27:55Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > In a similar vein, I’ve often wondered what happened next after the end of The Wicker Man. Imagine a final shot of the next harvest festival. Which would be the creepier proposition: that the crops failed again, or that they didn’t? Which scenario would be more likely to provoke a bigger, better sacrifice the next May day? I think it is implied that the crops will fail again, and that Lord Summerisle will be the next sacrifice. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/25 "2011-06-17T13:35:11Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > James Bond is just an alias used by British Intelligence, and the agent working that identity has been killed in the line of duty 5 times. Seconded to this as well. I think the director of Casino Royale even wanted to include a scene depicting “James Bond” receiving the name, but was shot down by the producers. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/26 "2011-06-17T13:42:25Z")
I kind of like to daydream that \*nothing at all happened \*in **The Usual Suspects**. They picked up Verbal on a vagrancy charge in the park, and he spun the entire yarn out of whole cloth. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/27 "2011-06-17T13:52:47Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I think it is implied that the crops will fail again, and that Lord Summerisle will be the next sacrifice. Sergeant Howie says that’s what will happen, in a desperate attempt to save himself. Round about the same time as his rant “Killing me won’t bring back your apples!”, which is one of my favourite lines in the film. But what if the crops _didn’t_ fail? What if killing him seemingly _did_ bring back their apples? Would that make the islanders more or less likely to repeat the sacrifice, or even seek out a bigger or better one? That’s what has always intrigued me. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/28 "2011-06-17T14:18:56Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I kind of like to daydream that \*nothing at all happened \*in **The Usual Suspects**. They picked up Verbal on a vagrancy charge in the park, and he spun the entire yarn out of whole cloth. Nice, but they’d need to cut out the scene with the guy in the hospital and the police artist, and subsequent fax of Verbal’s face for that to work. Not to mention all the questions the cops ask Verbal and the pressure they put on him. > [@Scougs](#): > > But what if the crops _didn’t_ fail? What if killing him seemingly _did_ bring back their apples? Would that make the islanders more or less likely to repeat the sacrifice, or even seek out a bigger or better one? That’s what has always intrigued me. Exceptional circumstances called for an exceptional sacrifice, so it seems likely they would return to giving a normal sacrifice if the next harvest was good. Sacrifice is about appeasement, it’s not a transaction. Either way, I agree with Howie that Lord Summerisle is ultimately doomed. He may escape next summer if the harvest is a success, but there are likely to be poor harvests in the future. Luring Howie to the island was quite a coup, but not one the villagers can afford to keep repeating. A single vanished policeman can be attributed to an accident, but multiple disappearances would draw scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/29 "2011-06-17T15:46:27Z")
The Ark of the Covenant’s power was hidden in Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/30 "2011-06-17T15:48:40Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Sean Connery’s character in The Rock is James Bond I don’t buy this at all, I think this was just the filmmakers winking at the camera and saying “Oh aren’t we clever.” There is a line in the movie about how much information Sean Connery’s character has, including a line about the aliens in Roswell. If the thought that Connery is really James Bond, then you would have to believe that aliens populate the James Bond “universe” and that is just too much for my fragile little mind to handle. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/31 "2011-06-17T15:51:48Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > and that is just too much for my fragile little mind to handle. Hand in your intergalactic gladiator license. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/32 "2011-06-17T16:45:00Z")
**Pan’s Labyrinth** - The fantasy world is the girl’s escape from harsh reality, and she has one final happy vision before dying. It’s a victory of sorts, especially as her actions mean her half brother won’t be raised by her step father. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/33 "2011-06-17T17:16:33Z")
Ethan Edwards is Martin Pawley’s biological father in _The Searchers_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/34 "2011-06-17T17:33:10Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Everything after Tom Cruise is put in that “filing cabinet” for criminals near the end of **Minority Report** is just a fantasy in his mind. I think this was Roger Ebert’s theory, too, and I like it. Seems quite plausible to me. Notwithstanding the timeline provided by several ST books, a full ten years have passed between the end of the original _Star Trek_ TV series and Kirk returning to the _Enterprise_ in _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_, just as in real life (1969-79). C’mon, the characters are obviously about a decade older, and that’s with ultramodern healthcare - don’t try to convince me that only three years or so have passed. Tom Cruise’s character in _Knight and Day_ is actually Ethan Hunt, his character from the _Mission: Impossible_ movies, gone slightly mad as a result of stress and PTSD. This theory has the advantage of making K&D an even better movie! ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/35 "2011-06-17T17:38:32Z")
I don’t like at all the idea that James Bond is a code name. It would ruin the series for me if it’s not the same character in every movie. Also Roger Moore goes to George Lazenby’s wife’s grave. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/36 "2011-06-17T17:47:41Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t like at all the idea that James Bond is a code name. It would ruin the series for me if it’s not the same character in every movie. Also Roger Moore goes to George Lazenby’s wife’s grave. Yeah - and they all drink watered down martinis? Does that make Moneypenny a loose woman? They all prefer the exact same gun? Have the same verbal ticks (Bond, James Bond)? No - too far-fetched. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/37 "2011-06-17T18:18:52Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t like at all the idea that James Bond is a code name. It would ruin the series for me if it’s not the same character in every movie. Also Roger Moore goes to George Lazenby’s wife’s grave. Well, you can safely ignore it, as it’s clearly not the original author’s intent. > [@Munch](#): > > Yeah - and they all drink watered down martinis? Does that make Moneypenny a loose woman? They all prefer the exact same gun? Have the same verbal ticks (Bond, James Bond)? No - too far-fetched. All part of the act my man. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/38 "2011-06-17T18:23:18Z")
I like to believe that Helen Hunt came to her senses and ditched Jack Nicholson after the end of _As Good As It Gets_. I mean, Jack Nicholson is already repellant; the character he played simply amplified the ickiness. She’s better off boyfriendless than with that jerk. Yeah, he paid for her kid’s medical care, but still. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/39 "2011-06-17T18:40:41Z")
It wasn’t the original author’s intent to make a movie series lasting so long as to necessitate the casting of multiple actors for the same character. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766/40 "2011-06-17T18:42:13Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Hand in your intergalactic gladiator license. I would note that _Unlicensed Intergalactic Gladiator_ sounds even more awesome. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-own-movie-theories/585766.md?page=3)