2 gibbles outta 5

Director: Shane Carruth

I’m surprised that I disliked this. It sounded right up my alley – confusing, over logical, very few characters. I generally enjoy movies that are very focused and almost a challenge to watch. However, if the main criticism about this movie is that the scientific jargon makes it difficult to follow, that I had no problem with. Not that I understood anything that was said (I mean, I got a vague grasp thanks to a quick physics explanation online, love ya internet wink wink), but I felt that this kind of structure – heavy emphasis on staying true to character and atmosphere and thus not comprising for the viewer – is easily swallowed with the suspension of disbelief that any frequent movie watcher should have. You get a gist of things, and that’s what’s important. And so to that do I give the filmmakers much credit – they remained incredibly faithful to their science but somehow managed to show the viewer what was being discussed in such a way that we don’t feel too excluded. So, no, that was fine.

Here’s my main problem: There’s just not that much going on plot-wise. Time travel movies are normally tripping over their own inconsistencies, so it’s smart to play it relatively simply, but I just felt like this was a one line plot on a piece of paper that was then fleshed out with scientific conversations. I was left with a feeling of “That’s it?” While there is a cool “twist” to how one of the characters works the situation, while sensible, it just seemed too much like a sudden deus ex machina and not… twisty.

Lastly, the camera work and staging was pretty awesome for its minimalism, but that damn voiceover just took me waaaay out of the movie. So: fasinating. But, by my opinion, the fasination only distracts from the fact that it’s not a very good movie.