This was confusing to us as well. And if it was intentional, it was badly handled to just give the audiences conflicting information from the same person. Also odd, the guy from Oceans who I can’t remember that shows up says something like “he said it was dangerous” and “he liked the plan” and the like, indicating He is someone she would want such feedback from. I assumed at the time it was Cloony, but his happens right after “you better be in there” which is just… such an incredible thing to say to your brother’s coffin? So fucking weird.
Oh yeah, Ruben. I got the impression he was trying to talk Bullock out of going ahead with her planned heist, and maybe the whole thing had been her brother’s idea but he discarded it as too dangerous? But then they make a point of mentioning that Bullock has been planning the heist the whole time she was in jail, so that must not be right.
She asked him something like “so did he look it over? what does he think?” so I think she came up with the plan, somehow got it to the mysterious “he” and wanted feedback. “He” thinks it’s brilliant and blah blah whatever Ruben then says. The question is who is “he” then, if not Cloony? Whose opinion would she care about? It’s super strange.
Unblurred spoilers in my response below
I don’t think there was anything contradictory in the script, but I agree it’s a weird way to bookend the film.
In the beginning she’s saying he’d “better be in there” as in she’s going to be so pissed if he’s doing some con and he isn’t really dead. She would, of course, be glad to discover he’s alive, but she would be mad he tricked her too and put her through that grief, so it’s a little bit of gallows humor.
Reuben refers to Danny in the past tense, saying he thought it was dangerous or wouldn’t have wanted her to do it or whatever, not indicating to me that Danny was still alive, just that he had been aware of her plan. She did spend her entire incarceration working on it, and his grave indicates he just died this year.
At the end, telling him he would’ve loved it would apply whether she’s more convinced now that he really is dead, or just in the “wherever you are, you would’ve loved it” sense.
Her conversations make sense to me for someone who believes Danny is probably dead but has at least a sliver of doubt (and they remain ambiguous enough that the audience certainly doesn’t have to buy it), but for the movie it puts such a weird emphasis on an anti-cameo that it felt strange in that regard.