Why does Kyle know how to shop?
How many supermarkets are there in this movie's 2029 Los Angeles?
We are shown there's a full-blown war against machines that obliterate people night and day. There's no infrastructure, no money, no barbers, no manicurists.. yet Kyle's hair is impeccable, relatively short, very well combed and brushed, even to create a 'style'. His fingernails, same thing, very well groomed.
It's a bit contradictory; on one hand, he's so well groomed, on the other, he doesn't mind using smelly hobo pants for the rest of his life, even when he stumbles upon a clothes store. Let's take a jacket, shoes, shirt - but better pants? Nah, it's cool to steal from a hobo and I like the smell of the pants. What?
Then Kyle is an expert on how supermarkets and grocery stores operate - he has no problem locating one, behaving 'normally' in a place he has never been to before, and knows how to find items, select items, collect them in shopping cart - although he has never used one before - and all the little procedures that involve a 'shopping experience'. No problems whatsoever. Nothing overwhelms him at all!
This is so not believable. Think about if you go to an alien world, and you have to suddenly do 'shopping', but in a way you have never done it before, completely different from anything you know, and .. it's just not believable that you would just be able to do it all without problems.
In America, this is even more complicated because of the sales tax that is NOT included in the price!
(This was shocking to me - it's like they lie about how much something costs, because suddenly you have to pay extra tax when you buy something.. it doesn't make any sense, especially if you're used to shopping in other countries that do not conform to this kind of insanity and lying)
So basically not only do you have to know everything about shopping (does Kyle even know how to read, and why would he, do they have schools in the future? Apparently barbers and manicurists are an everyday luxury in the war-torn future though - shouldn't everyone have long, unkempt hair in the future, not this sleek, groomed look? Just look at the scene just before Kyle starts that 'I love you' crap, and pay attention to Kyle's impeccable hair - you'd think they have more important things to worry about in that particular future)..
..he is able to perform it quickly and efficiently, doesn't even try to hoard things (when you've known starvation and scarcity all your life, then you're suddenly in a supermarket with ABUNDANCE of objects, wouldn't some kind of hoarding instinct kick in? IN FACT, this was even shown in a Vietnam war movie, when a Vietnamese woman sees an American supermarket the first time, she tries to hoard an enormous amount of rice - but not our KYLE!)!
He is able to CALCULATE the sales tax and knows currency well enough to be able to pay the correct amount, and even the sales clerks' robotic smalltalk doesn't phase him at all. Wow!
Never mind fighting some robots, this 'first time shopping trip' is what amazes me about Kyle the most, I could NOT do that if I was him, I would be lost in the city for 5 hours before stumbling upon a 'supermarket' (how would I know what one looks like, what they sell, where they sell what, and so on), and then I'd be lost there until someone sends a cop to figure out what's wrong wtih me, I would suffer a breakdown from the SHEER ABUNDANCE of everything, try to hoard things, pay the wrong amounts, get startled about the sales clerks' interactions, not know what to do at the checkout counter, try to take things 'for free' because how the heck can I know you are not supposed to take objects beyond a certain point, etc.
..etc..etc.etc..
but not KYLE!
He must have stronger psyche than The Terminator!
A completely different world than he's ever been to before, and he's like fish in water, completely comfortable 100% of the time. He doesn't mind just staring out the window instead of wanting to fo exploring this amazing, wonderful world (well, wonderful compared to where he's from), he's not thinking each breath in this actually functional world with proper infrastructure is a miracle worth stopping to enjoy it for a moment every few minutes, etc..
Think about the psychological ramifications this movie doesn't address at all. I know there's 'cut footage' that tries to show how overwhelming the 'beauty of nature' is to him, because he's never seen it before, but it should go much deeper than that.
A shopping trip to Kyle should be like going to alien planet would be to us.. it would take WEEKS for him to be able to shop 'normally and quickly'. The supermarket would overwhelm him for so many reasons and levels simultaneously.
Why did Kyle even know what money or currency is? How does he know AND remember to somehow 'acquire some' (and this movie cheats by the line 'I don't want to know where you got it' or something)? How does he know what money looks like or where to get it or anything?