In the Shadow of the Moon

Rya kills the militia members because they are responsible for a terrorist attack that triggered a civil war in 2024, killing many including her mother when she was just nine years old. She uses time travel to eliminate them before they can carry out the attack, viewing her actions as executing justice against those who caused unfathomable tragedy. Naveen Rao explains that Rya believes she is punishing the people responsible for the future atrocities.

The 1997 and 2006 killings are foreshadowed by the original 1988 murders, which share the same pattern of puncture wounds.

The time travel technology is developed by physicist Naveen Rao, who creates a machine that allows Rya to travel back through time. She uses an injection that enables her to eliminate targets from the timeline, appearing every nine years to carry out her mission. After she completes her task in the altered timeline, Rao activates the injections that erase her targets and the tragic events they caused from history.

Physicist Naveen Rao first suggests time travel as an explanation in 1997 when the keys point to an aircraft from 1996.

Rya is Thomas Lockhart's granddaughter because she is the daughter of his child who was born on the same day his wife died in 1988. The woman he killed in the subway that day, his granddaughter from the future, had traveled back to that time to begin her mission against the militia. When Lockhart wounds her in 2006, he doesn't know she is his own descendant, making the revelation in 2015 a devastating discovery.

The suspect in 1988 reveals intimate details about Lockhart's life, including that his wife is giving birth that day, hinting at a deeper connection.

The suspect doesn't age because she is traveling through time using Naveen Rao's technology. When Lockhart encounters her again in 1997, she appears unchanged from 1988 because she has been moving through time, not living through the intervening years linearly. This is the key clue that leads Lockhart to eventually accept the time travel theory.

Lockhart notices in 1997 that the suspect appears exactly as she did in 1988, which contradicts any normal aging process.

Lockhart feels guilty because he was directly responsible for Rya's death in 1988. During the subway confrontation, he pursued and struggled with the woman who was actually his granddaughter traveling back in time. When the train collided with her, he killed her without knowing who she was. This guilt drives his obsession throughout the film and ultimately leads him to support her mission in 2015.

The 1988 subway chase ends with the suspect's death under the train, establishing the tragic event that haunts Lockhart for decades.

At the end, after Rya completes her mission to eliminate the militia members, Naveen Rao activates the injections that erase the tragic events from history. This means the civil war in 2024 never happens, and all the deaths caused by the militia are prevented. The film ends on a hopeful note with Lockhart reuniting with his family in 2015, now able to embrace a future alongside his granddaughter who never had to make the difficult journey.

The timeline is already shown to be mutable through Rya's repeated visits across different years.

All the victims are connected to the militia because Rya's mission is specifically to eliminate its members before they can carry out the terrorist attack that triggers a civil war. The victims include both the militia leaders and their associates, such as the ex-girlfriend of the militia leader whom Lockhart discovers during his investigation. Each killing is calculated to prevent the future tragedy that destroyed Rya's life when she was nine.

Lockhart discovers the connection to the militia in 2006 when he finds an unlisted victim linked to the 1988 murders.

Maddox dies during the chaotic altercation when Lockhart reunites with the original suspect from 1988. During the struggle, Maddox is accidentally killed as the suspect attempts to escape. Her death deepens Lockhart's trauma and intensifies his obsession with solving the case, as he loses both his wife and his partner to events connected to this mysterious woman.

The reunion with the suspect in 1997 is foreshadowed by the unresolved 1988 case and the copycat killings.

Lockhart borrows Holt's badge because he has become a private investigator and no longer has police authority. Desperate to investigate the militia connection further, he uses Holt's badge to gain access to information and locations he wouldn't otherwise be able to reach. This impulsive decision leads to his arrest after he wounds the suspect during the chase.

By 2006, Lockhart is no longer a police officer, having lost his badge due to his obsession.

The injection is the mechanism that allows Rya to travel through time and eliminate her targets. Developed by Naveen Rao, the technology enables her to appear at specific points in the timeline and kill people using this method. The injection appears to be both the means of time travel and the weapon that causes the puncture wounds observed on all the victims.

The puncture wounds on all victims are consistent throughout the timeline, suggesting a singular weapon or method.

Naveen Rao helps Rya because he believes in her cause. He confesses to being the mind behind the time travel technology and supports her belief that she is executing justice against those responsible for future atrocities. Rao personally activates the injections at the end to erase the tragic events, effectively rewriting history to prevent the civil war and its aftermath.

Rao's explanation in 2015 about the technology reveals his long-term involvement and philosophical alignment with Rya's mission.

Lockhart supports Rya's mission because he is consumed by guilt over killing her in 1988 and wants to make things right. When he learns that the militia's acts of terrorism resulted in a civil war that killed her mother when she was nine, he understands the weight of her purpose. Rather than stop her, he chooses to stand by her resolve and allows her to fulfill what she believes is necessary justice.

Lockhart's guilt from 1988 and his growing understanding of the future tragedy drive his decision to support Rya.