Volition

.....and this becomes a decent low budget sci fi movie. Sort of a poundland Looper meets Primer mashup.

I really wanted to like this. The leads are solid and attractive in their way, the concept is okay but breaks down over the course of the movie, and everything in it has been done over and over. And then reading all these reviews that swear it's the greatest movie since the last greatest movie, makes me think some reviewers are just not paying attention. I wouldn't pay to see this movie, and even finding it on Netflix I would come away a little disappointed.

I didn't really like the film's seedy, underworld, villainous scum environment but it provided a good setting for this presentation of time travel. Our protag "James" is played by a look-alike to Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" and all other actors are unknowns, too. Also, two of the villains who play cousins in the film are brothers in real life, so that's fun with meta. This is the editor-cum-director's first feature length film so you don't expect too much. And with time travel you tend to either love it or hate it depending on how well it's done. Though this iteration of time travel is different from most, it still didn't address the multiple-versions-of-the-traveller co-existing paradox. As such there's a recursive aspect to this as the director attempts to "unwind" the story towards the end. If you really care about this story you'll need to watch it two or even three times to fully process what's happening, kind of like what you needed to do for the more mainstream "Inception".

As a scifi fan with a penchant for time travel shenanigans this film was right up my street and for 90 minutes we were suitably entertained.

Is it Inception? No. So while the sniffy reviews are not completely wrong neither are they right. 5.4 is a silly low average score for a film this well made.

For a low budget small film that drops in at the required 90 minutes for easy Covid viewing it was just the ticket.

Yes, the characters are not massively deep enough, especially the "love interest". Yes, there are a plot few holes here and there with continuity bloopers. Yes, the "science bit" was a little low rent in its believability.

But put these aside and you'll find a fun Looper knock off to while away the time and a fun "time travel conundrum" with some great pay off's later in the film.

It looked like another psychic loser that couldn't make enough money to keep up his rent. In short order it turned into a semi-love story which soon morphed into an ingenious time-travel yarn! Unexpected twists popped up and the plot changed from a modest jog in the park to a to a warp-speed relay race.