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[bugmenot1526]

What is the logic behind the clone-like "doubles" that seem to be left at the end of this movie?

I can understand there being temporary "doubles" for the shared period from when the person arrives in the past to when they left the future - but these are still the same person, not a clone or copy. Aaron1 is just a younger Aaron2, not a totally different person. In 1 week's time, Aaron1 will be doing what we see Aaron2 doing now... and everything that we see happening to Aaron1 now will be in Aaron2's memory - they are the same person.

At the end of the movie though, it appears that somehow we now have multiple copies of the same person at the same age who can live side-by-side indefinitely.... if Aaron1 never gets in the time machine, then surely Aaron2 never exists (except maybe in an alternate reality where Aaron1 _does_ get in the machine an so becomes Aaron2 - in any case, they can't both exist in the same reality outside the overlap period).

It seems to me this is a big hole in the plot - either Abe/Aaron1 go in the time machine, and hence become Abe2/Aaron2, or they don't, and hence Abe2/Aaron2 never exist. How is it possible for there to be 2 Aarons after the entry (or lack of) into the time machine?

I've though about it a lot and see 2 ways to fit this is with the movie, neither of which make me happy.

1. The logical way - the scenes at the airport and with Abe watching Aaron's family happen very early in the timeframe - Monday (or earlier?). Aaron flies away to live a new life (and build things in France), Abe sticks around to stop them using the time machine in the following days. The scenes of the drugged Abe and Aaron waking up also happens early - Monday or Tuesday. They wake up get on with the time machine stuff and the older Abe _fails_ to stop them. They go back in time and the story unfolds similar to what we see, ending up with Aaron in France and Abe taking over his life (but a week or so older) from the point where his younger self uses the failsafe. This is logically consistent yet not consistent with the intention/sense I get from the final scenes of the movie, so that I can't believe that the writer intended it.

2. The illogical way - Abe stops the younger Abe and Aaron using the time machines but he and the Aaron in France continue to exist anyway... this creates a temporal paradox because the only reason the young ones don't use the time machine is because when they are older Abe comes back and stops them (if they don't use the machine, Abe can't come back to stop them so they will use it, in which case Abe will come back and stop them from using it, in which case Abe can't come back... etc. etc.). The young Abe and Aaron continue their lives without time travel, the older Aaron is in France building a big time machine, the older Abe does... what....?. sticks around and "looks after" his younger self from behind the scenes? Does he have a time machine? From my interpretation of the ending this seems to be what the writer intended, but it contains an unsolved paradox and turns the movie from "good sci-fi" to "cheap sci-fi". All that mystery just becomes cover for a story which breaks the rules... you spend hours on the Sudoku only to find the answer requires a "10" in one of the boxes....

I'll have to watch it again and see if there's something I missed that sheds light on either of these 2 possibilities (or a 3rd I haven't considered)

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