You can absolutely dismiss it because the story isn't about that. It's a story about a character going from a person who is trying to kill his actual self so he can live out the rest of his life until his number gets pulled to a character that will sacrifice himself for others.
Sure, that's the heart of the story. I'm not saying it's not about that. There's great stuff in the movie, that's why wish I could like it. But I can't just separate it from the stuff that bothers me, because the flaws are right there in that central story.
The conversation between Bruce and JGL is fantastic, and the way his younger self gradually realizes the callousness of the person he'll become, and through that his own callousness, and starts to question his actions... that's all great.
It's a thought-provoking story. Which means I want to think about it. Which unfortunately in this case means that the whole thing falls apart when I do.
The ending is supposed to be poignant, when JGL's character chooses to sacrifice himself to break the loop his own selfish behaviour created. But wait... it didn't.
Bruce's character is stuck in a closed loop (The Rainmaker's goons kill his wife -> he goes back in time to kill kid rainmaker -> kills kid's mom -> kid becomes rainmaker --> the Rainmaker's goons kill his wife ). But there's no way for JGL's character to enter that loop, because the rainmaker doesn't exist outside of it. Without the rainmaker closing all loops he has no reason to go back in time and set the events in motion that created the rainmaker.
So maybe the Rainmaker already existed in the original timeline, regardless of the protagonist's actions? But that would mean that the kid becomes the rainmaker anyway, and the sacrifice at the end was for nothing.
The story could work with just a few tweaks. What's missing is the creation of the loop. Insert a timeline withouth the rainmaker, where Bruce's character tries to run away from his past self killing him (maybe because his wife gave him a new will to live), escapes to the farm, (accidentally?) shoots Emily Blunt's character, the orphaned kid becomes the rainmaker, creating the loop shown in the film. Boom, suddenly it works a lot better.
That's what bothers me. The story would be better with just a few changes, if RJ actually tried to figure out the logic instead of handwaving it away with a stupid "don't pay attention to the time travel, nerds" joke
As it is the sacrifice at the end that's supposed to be the great emotional catharsis of the story just fell flat for me.
