Flashback

No spoilers cause there's nothing to spoil. Lots of obscure flashbacks into a man's past that lead back to a high school memory ... but the main actress has been directed to whisper her words making the meaning of the flashbacks less clear and much less interesting. Try to find a copy that allows captioning if you watch it at home.

90 minutes of my life I can never get back.

Mom is in the hospital, potentially brain dead. Our hero and his lovely young wife visit mom... but our hero is haunted with a memory from his past that he can't shake, so he investigates. As he goes down the rabbit hole it seems there is something much deeper to find which has been suppressed all these years. And just as if think a new reveal is about to happen.... it's 50 more minutes of video filters, scaryish collages, triple image effects, flashing lights, adding up to a whole lot of utter nothingness that doesn't even stop its metamorphasing until even the very last minute of the film. And boy does that non-ending turn into a non-tearjerking stinker.

There was a really good film begging to be unearthed. The performances are very good for what amounts to a whole lot of nothing. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. Imagine a 2 hour movie that reflects a minute for minute wandering daydream of a drug addict where the sum of all its parts can just be your mind on drugs. No wonder this went straight to video. A waste of good efforts by the actors.

Based on the acting I would have given a higher rating, you can't fault the cast. Dylan O'Brien does a great job.

The direction, storytelling was just convoluted and messy. It was trying to be smart and artistic but just didn't pull it off. A similar story that has been done better in other movies.

... and that's just the basis for the bizarre events you'll encounter but also good advice for anyone brave enough to tackle the multiverse probabilities of every decision they've ever made and their associated repercussions, consequences, causes and effects - every single one of them, alongside everyone else and their pathways of possibilities.

Seeing several comparisons of this film to classics as Donnie Darko and The Butterfly Effect, though in fairness. Flashback is not on those films' levels. Dealing with an interesting concept and a good leading actor with Dylan O'Brien, the problem lies more with the writing and overall script.

Too many flashback scenes, quick cuts, different timelines, fast forwarding and backtracking to keep up. The result is that it was a little too gimmicky and ending up being confusing. Perhaps if this movie was given more explanations and possibly added more runtime it would have been better.

There does lie an interesting concept but the end product is something which doesn't reach its full potential. Was expecting some sort of big reveal or twists in the end but nothing special occurred. Some intriguing moments but nothing special and not quite like Donnie Darko or the Butterflies Effect.