Ok so spoilers if you haven't seen it. But I just watched this and it's been bugging me ever since I saw it.

Did anybody else think that at the end of the film, after everything is restored, that Tom Cruise's character should have ended up in the dream/prision?

Like the last shot should have been that he was still hooked up.

Someone posted a theory a while ago that once he's put in that prison thing, the rest of the film is a dream. I think any ending would have been better than what they went with. Such a cop out ending.

Nah, too Vanilla Sky. I like it as is.

Wow..."It was all a dream." That would such a clever ending that's never been done before!

I like the way the movie is now. Twist endings are starting to become trendy.

Actually, I thought the whole 'It was a setup!' ending was already too much of a twist. I would've found it a much more satisfying ending if he'd just killed the guy and ended up in prison.

It is a dream. He's still in prison. Most people won't accept that because it isn't handed to them on a plate, but if you analyze the film it's rather obvious.

Is the same true for Doug Quaid?

The movie already had a twist ending.

John Anderton: My God, I forgot there were so many.
Gideon: And just think, they'd all be out there killing people if it wasn't for you. Look at how peaceful they all are. But on the inside...
[taps his head]
Gideon: ...busy busy busy.

Apparently, one's mind is constantly abuzz while haloed. It could be seen that as soon as Anderton enters the prison and is given his halo, his "dreams come true", as Gideon puts it. He gets back with his wife and starts a family again and beats the murder rap.

Hell no, I am so sick of these ridiculous plot twists we see nowadays.

I don't mind it not being handed to me on a plate, but if that ending was true, then they did a horrible job of even hinting at it other than the short bit of dialogue posted above by DonnachaOne.

I don't believe it was a dream, because the wife found the evidence that was shown to us earlier in the film in a scene not involving Anderton. If Anderton was dreaming the ending, how did he manage to implicate the right person without having any knowledge of it?

Yes.

I don't buy that it was a dream. And I thought the ending was fine the way it is.

What it needed was that line at the end that was omitted. The one that said the following year there were X number of murders committed in the DC area. That would've made a great film even greater.

Now that I think back on it, the end of the movie could be a dream. Now i gotta go and watch it again to really see.

The ending of the movie wasn't a dream...

I was just reading a discussion/debate about this on another forum about a week ago. I still need to go back and re-watch it.

There's also the fact that the entire "wraps everything up so perfectly" ending happens AFTER a camera push into Tom Cruise's haloed head. In cinematic language, since almost the very beginning of cinema, such a move indicates that the next thing we see is happening in the mind of the person. All that's lacking is a shimmering screen and twinkling bells.

OK, I'll give you that, but it doesn't change the fact that the mystery that the audience is let in on (Burgess killing Witwer) isn't known by Anderton by the time he is haloed. So the fact that Anderton is able to figure out the mystery on his own while being haloed (which conforms to what the audience has already seen), seems extremely unlikely.

Edit: after watching the Anderton haloed scene again, there isn't a camera push; it just holds on him for a few seconds. Not that this matters, I agree that the cinematic language still holds up fairly well.

Was coming here to post that. That one line would have made this a truly great film because it wouldn't have let the audience off the hook so easily with an "everything is all wrapped up nicely" ending. I have no idea why Spielberg decided not to put it in.

Not a dream. I like it the way it is.

Nevermind the ending, can someone explain why someone would think "Sick Sticks" would be practical in a situation? It seems to work better AGAINST the cops.

I thought the whole twist was that Cruise actually did end up killing that guy (and the reasons why). The only thing preventing that from being a twist ending is that the movie continues for another half hour or so.

i thought that his wife figured it out after talking to anderton's boss?