 Logan as mad prophet, ignored by the people he is trying to save. |
Arriving
at the city, the couple make their way back inside by swimming through underwater vents,
as the old man, who can't make it through the vents, waits outside for them to bring the
inhabitants to meet him. Once again, Logan finds himself inside the high-tech city. As the
inhabitants are going into carousel, walking through one of those large, mall-like plazas,
Logan stands above them on a balcony, a mad prophet, trying to convince them that
everything they have believed is a lie. "No," he screams, as the inhabitants stop and turn toward him to see what is going on. "Don't go in there. You don't have to die. Well no one has to die at 30. You can live! Live! Live and grow old. I've seen it. She's seen it. "Well look -- look -- look. It's clear," he screams, as he holds up his left palm to show them the blank crystal. Laughter comes out of the crowd as they turn away and continue going into carousel. Next, the voice of computer fills the space, naming the group of 30 year-olds who will "participate" in carousel that day: "Last day: Capricorn 29s. Year of the city 2274. Carousel begins." Finally, Jessica begins to scream at the crowd: "No. Don't go. Listen to him. He's telling the truth. We've been outside. There's another world outside. We've seen it," she screams, as she is grabbed by sandmen. "The life clocks are a lie. Carousel is a lie. There is no renewal," Logan screams, as he is grabbed, as well. Logan now finds himself in "surrogation," a debriefing in which the computer will draw his story from him through what look like holographic image surrogates, as he suffers through the ordeal, confined to a chair. During the interrogation, the computer learns that its facts have been wrong and there is no sanctuary, upon which it has one of those classic (and never believable) science fiction nervous breakdowns caused by the inability to deal with contradiction. Between that and the subsequent firing of a gun aimed at Logan by a sandman as he is escaping, which hits a part of the central computer room, and Logan's intentional firing at the computer, the entire system is destroyed. Things start exploding all over the city and large chunks of stone fly in all directions, as the city and its walls are presumably destroyed. The young inhabitants flee from the destruction, making their way passed the walls that no longer contain them and out into the world, where they see old age standing before them, and crowd around to see and touch it. Now, a new humanity, capable of work and love, and reconnected to life and death, will be born outside the city.
|
 Logan undergoing a mind probe, called surrogation. |
|
 Although it isn't shown, here, the special effects used to simulate the destruction of the city, like the effects of the destruction of Box and his realm, are ineffective. These, along with the depiction of the old man, and some of the stiffness of the plot, are the least effective elements of the movie. |
|
 Youth discovers age. ______________________________________________ |
