‘Boss Level’ Ending Explained: What Happens In Frank Grillo’s Time-Loop Movie?

Warning: This article contains major Boss Level spoilers. Save this one for after you’ve watched the film!

If you’ve ever gotten stuck on a video game level because you just can’t get the timing of your jump right, you know exactly how Frank Grillo‘s character feels in his new Hulu film, Boss Level.

Directed by Joe Carnahan, this new sci-fi thriller is a fast-paced and fun take on the time-loop genre, that also answers the age-old question of action hero movies: How the hell did he do that? Well, in the case of Grillo’s character, Roy, the answer is practice, practice, practice.

But as with most time loop movies, the semantics of how a time loop ends—or doesn’t end—can get tricky. The Boss Level ending keeps things open-ended, but we have our theories. Read on for Decider’s breakdown of the Boss Level plot and the Boss Level ending, explained.

What is Frank Grillo’s Hulu movie about? What is the Boss Level plot?

Roy Pulver (Grillo) is a retired special forces soldier who has been stuck in a time loop for months. Every day he wakes up in his bed and immediately fends off no less than twenty murder attempts by a bunch of assassins. Though he’s gotten pretty good at it, so far he has never lived past 12:47 p.m.—much like getting stuck on a level in a video game. And every day, he has to relive the news that his ex-wife is dead.

In a flashback, we learn that the day before the time loop began, he visited his ex-wife Jemma (Naomi Watts) at her mysterious job at a high-tech research firm. Unbeknownst to him, Jemma’s creepy boss Clive Ventor (Mel Gibson) watches on the security monitors.

Jemma tells Roy that she’s working on something top secret that “unmakes all of time and space and destroys the universe if improperly used.” We also learn that Jemma and Roy have a son together, but that he has no idea Roy is his father. Then Jemma urgently tells him that she wants Roy to prove that he is worthy of being a father to Joe, gives him a hug, and whispers one word in his ear: ” Osiris.” Huh, that was weird!

Later that day, Jemma calls Roy at the bar and tells him she is going to do something drastic, but before she can give him the very important information he needs to know, the call breaks up.

Back in the time loop, Roy finds a gift from Jemma: A book titled Iset and Osiris. When Roy finally gets a chance to read the book, he learns that Iset and Osiris were husband and wife. Iset was an Egyptian high priestess who protected the dead and transported them to the afterlife. Osiris was killed by being dismembered into 14 parts and scattered across Egypt by his enemy. Then Iset resurrected her dead husband, and Osiris became the lord of the dead in the afterlife. Fun!

After a lot of trial and error, Roy eventually figures out that Jemma’s boss Clive plans to use the time loop technology to rewrite history. You know, kill baby Hitler, stop 9/11, that kind of stuff. Jemma put Roy in the time loop, trusting him to stop Clive.

How does Boss Level end?

Roy eventually manages to kill Clive—he has to learn how to swordfight, first—but just before he does the deed, Clive informs Roy that his son is in danger. Clive also says something about Roy being “a missing mass.” Roy rushes to the video game tournament where he knows his son will be and finds him dead.  He realizes he has let his son die over 100 times. Then the world ends, presumably because Clive has gone and rewritten history, or something.

Roy falls into a depression and stops trying to “win” the time loop. Then he decides to use his loops to get to know his son, Joe (played by Frank Grillo’s real son, Rio Grillo). They spend dozens of days together, each time the loop resetting when the world ends. Then on one of the loops, Joe reveals that he spoke to his mom on the phone that morning and that she told him to call Roy if she got into trouble. Roy realizes that Jemma isn’t dead on the morning of the loop, and that he still has a chance to save her—but that he only has 14 minutes by the time he wakes up to do so.

Roy makes it to the facility in 14 minutes by hijacking a helicopter. He expertly kills everyone in the building and saves Jemma. Roy reveals how much he has gotten to know his son, and Jemma is touched by his dedication to fatherhood.

What is the Boss Level ending, explained?

Roy walks through a big fancy time loop machine thing at the research facility. Jemma tells him that if he “returns his mass his mass to the core,” that the time loop will reset and then move forward. In other words, the day of the time loop will reset one more time but then won’t loop anymore. But Jemma warns him that he might not make it.

“Going in there will likely kill you, and you’ll have to repeat the day one more time,” she says. “And if you die then, there’s no coming back.”

Roy enters the machine and wakes up on the morning of the loop. “OK, asshole, just don’t die this time,” Roy says in a voice-over. “Piece of cake.” He ducks out of the way of the incoming knife, as he always does. (And yes, I’m fairly certain he does duck out of the way, even if the shot is slightly confusing.) With that, the movie ends.

We don’t get confirmation as to whether he makes it through the day alive, but based on Grillo’s cocky grin and bulging muscles, I’m willing to bet he pulled it off.

What’s less clear is whether Roy manages to make it to the research facility within 14 minutes to save Jemma’s life. But he does say, “Wait for me,” to her before stepping into the machine. So I’m willing to bet that he did save her, too. If there’s anyone who can beat the boss level twice, it’s Frank Grillo.

Watch Boss Level on Hulu