This is pretty good, but there's a couple of problems with your analysis. The reason that Aaron used Abe's failsafe had nothing to do with the party. Altering the outcome of the party only really became part of the plan after the Granger incident, since Aaron said Abe couldn't watch Rachel all the time and if her crazy ex would wave a gun around at a party, what will he do when she is alone? Aaron used Abe's failsafe simply to usurp control. He did not want his knowledge of time travel to be erased. He did this a short time after the party, immediately after discovering Abe's failsafe. We know from the dialogue that, in the timeline that hoodie Aaron came from originally, neither he nor Abe went to the party: "The gunman never fired... Not when I wasn't there... Not when I was and I rushed him and, from what Robert tells you, he doesn't tonight"... which sounds like a third iteration, but is simply a restatement of the first iteration. So, the gunman did come, but he didn't shoot. When Abe is chewing out Aaron over rushing the gunman, he is saying that Aaron has a wife and kids, but it is the Arron in the attic who has a wife and kids. Hoodie Aaron felt heady with the ability to change things and decided to rush the gunman, since he knew he wouldn't fire anyway. Also, it is a phone call, not a voicemail, and the call is actually to original Abe, in order to explain why the boxes aren't working anymore. The two time traveling Aarons agree that the time traveling Abe's plan to sabotage the boxes won't work. And they both owe their very existence to the trust that Abe placed in them by telling them what the machine was. This is the point of the big speech about trust that Abe makes before revealing the secret, and this is why the narrator says at the end "now I have repaid any debt that I may have owed you"... Also, at the very beginning he says that the person he is calling should not interrupt and shouldn't say anything. Abe is basically a doormat throughout the movie. Can you even imagine Aaron obeying such an instruction? He also says "some of this you know" because Abe already knows that he has built a time machine since he has built the failsafe. These are the only bits of dialogue I can find to support the assertion of Shane that the recipient of the call "could only be Abe"... The two Aarons agree that Abe's plan to sabotage the boxes won't work, because "yours (the fresh copy of your original self that you gassed) already knows what they've built"... Being as there are already two Aarons that know about time travel, there'd be no need for a third. Let him stay with the family. Lastly, there's literally no way to know which Aaron is working with the French speaking interpreter. The narrator does voice over this part, but he voices over the whole film, so that means literally nothing. In either case, Aaron from the Granger incident sure as shit told hoodie Aaron all about everything that went down when they talked and hoodie Aaron decided that v-neck sweater Aaron "had more invested" in the outcomes of the next few days.

As to the nature of the machine, you are correct - the machine was designed to make thing weigh less and watched some interview with Currath that the idea was inspired by inventions where an unexpected use/effect turned out to be much more important that focus of the original idea.

Thanks a ton!

But the Aaron who brought his cell phone was already breaking symmetry from the beginning, therefore either he was simply not as invested in the rule about not breaking symmetry as Abe since he knew it wouldn't be a problem, or he wanted to demonstrate this fact to Abe. Remember that he had already rushed the gunman at the party and changed that event... So, he conveniently "forgot", but on purpose, to teach Abe to relax a little bit about breaking symmetry. He knew from the second he drugged the milk and stuffed himself up in the attic that the past could be changed.

Thanks Darren! Adaptation is on my list of films to react to! so ill get to it eventually

Another great film with a convoluted plot is The Prestige, if you haven't already seen it.

That trailer is a crime. It just gives away everything.

@@Corn_Pone_Flicks nooo..did you watch the trailer prior to the movie??