Brick’s ending explains the true nature of the wall that had sealed everyone inside their apartments. Sometime around midnight, the black carbon-like particles, most likely nanobots, appeared near the windows and the doors and covered up all the entry and exit points of every building. This dark-grayish wall had an inconsistent rectangular cube-shaped pattern on its surface, with four large square blocks charged with a magnetic field. [Spoiler Alert] In the film, it was Tim, a computer game programmer, who deduced that the nanotech wall had an optical code, which meant that the mechanical wall could be unlocked using light. One of the neighbors, Anton, who worked as a senior programmer for a company called Epsilon Nanodefense, had developed a mobile application through which they could bring down the wall. They just needed to flash the light in the right combination, which Tim and his wife, Liv, ultimately figured out. But even though Tim and Liv were finally able to walk out of their apartment building, what they saw next sent chills down their spines. Almost every building in Hamburg, Germany, was covered with nanotech particulates. The whole city looked like a dystopian landscape with not a single soul present on the streets. It’s likely that everyone was tucked inside their beds when the nanotech wall first appeared, locking almost everyone inside. But the question that still bothers me is, who created this wall, and why was it triggered?
It Could Be A Malfunction
Brick suggested that this nanotech defense system, which turned the whole city into an apocalyptic bunker, was developed by Epsilon Nanodefense. The company’s office, located in the HafenCity harbor district, had caught fire, which the government officials confirmed triggered a serious malfunction in the secret defense system, leading to this catastrophe. Now, no one really knew what or who caused the fire. Was it an accident, or did someone deliberately sabotage the defense system to put everyone’s lives at risk and send a grim warning to the entire nation? I guess the sequel will shed more light on the company that designed these nanotech walls and maybe explore the real reason behind their creation. In the film, a person named Yuri, who had been living/hiding in Anton Berg’s apartment, believed that these walls were a defense measure to protect them against contamination or foreign attack. I mean, to me, he pretty much sounded like a paranoid conspiracy theorist who had read a lot about COVID or related stuff on Reddit. It was obvious that he didn’t know a thing about the wall and just murdered Anton because he didn’t want anyone to decode the wall mechanism. But the thing is, if in any film or show, a character like Yuri exists, then it’s probable that there are more folks like him out there, and one of them might have actually tried to break into Epsilon or started the fire to trigger the defense system. And why did they do this? Well, because they believed they were some sort of savior who locked humanity inside their homes for their own good. But maybe I am reaching too far, like Yuri, and it could all be an accident that led to the system malfunctioning.
The computers inside Epsilon might have flagged the fire as some sort of threat and raised the alarm, thereby activating the defense mechanism. I mean, these automated systems are designed to detect anomalies like sudden rises in temperature, damage to property, or smoke. Additionally, all the employees inside the office might have heard the fire alarm and quickly run out of the building, because of which there was no human around inside the server room to disable the mechanism. It’s also possible that the fire was a decoy so that the office building would be closed down for a day or two. If you remember, the news of the fire came at the beginning of the film, when everything was perfectly normal. So someone had broken into Epsilon later that night and activated the walls while all the programmers, including Anton, were away. However, if Anton can crack the code, then I guess there might be other programmers who knew how to unlock the walls, whom we can expect to meet in the sequel.
It’s possible that Anton, or his seniors at Epsilon, knew about an upcoming attack and therefore started surveilling people in his building. We know that these kinds of projects are often confidential, so even if anything went wrong inside Epsilon Nanodefense, or if they knew of an attack, they might not have informed the authorities and kept it hidden until it was too late. But I am pretty sure their secrets will be further unraveled in the sequel.
The Curious Case Of The Housefly
And last but not least, I want to bring up the mystery of the housefly, the one we saw from the very beginning to the end of the film. I mean, I understood the motif that the film was trying to establish through a housefly trapped inside a glass bottle, but I believe there was more to it than met the eye. It could be possible that the housefly that glitched twice, I think, could be one of the hi-tech gadgets designed by Epsilon or even a different corporation. Maybe this housefly could be the key to bringing down all the walls in the city, and its real significance will be further explored in the sequel. Well, to be honest, I am quite short on ideas here, so if you have any theories centered around the housefly, please do share in the comments box below.
The Film Can Follow A Template Like ‘Bird Box’
Netflix’s Brick has set a dystopian world where people are locked inside their apartments, and in the first film, we came across a bunch of individuals inside Tim and Liv’s building. In the end, it was only Tim and Liv who’d survived the ordeal, and the way they dropped their weapons and the phone (with the app that helped them escape), I don’t think the couple will be returning in the sequel. In the beginning, Liv had told Tim that she’d quit her job, as she wanted to go to Paris with them and try to give their relationship a second chance. However, Tim, who had found an escape in his work, didn’t want to leave everything behind. But now, when the world itself has come to a halt, I think Tim has enough reasons to go wherever Liv wants him to go. I mean, if they are not very keen on saving the rest of humanity.
So, based on this assumption, I believe in the sequel, Brick 2, we may come across a totally different set of characters facing a similar conflict. Yes, the sequel can revisit the night of the lockdown, but this time, with different individuals at the center of the narrative, and through them, the franchise can expand its story, answering questions that you and I have in mind. It’s what Netflix did with the Bird Box franchise. With that said, these are all the theories and speculations that come to my mind after watching Brick, but if you have anything to add or suggest, please be my guest. Do share your thoughts in the box below.
