95ers: Time Runners

This is a hard review to write - I don't want to oversell this film or sell it short. I caught it while idly flicking round British TV one afternoon. I had better things to do but minute by minute it managed to keep me away from them and I didn't regret it.

At first I thought 'Cheap afternoon TV movie'. A few minutes later I added the rider, 'with solid production values and an above-average level of effort and energy.' A while later again: 'And an astonishing amount of care and ingenuity over detail. Did you see what just happened in the mirror? And did they hire a troupe of boisterous improv actors as extras? I need to find out who wrote and directed this.' Then: 'The special effects are too good for a TV film, especially the excellent time-line display gizmo. It must be a bigger-budget studio number. Why haven't I heard of it? Probably one of those things that came out in the wrong week or something and slipped under everyone's radar.' And soon: 'There is so damn much in this film in the way of backstory and world-building and little loving doodles in the margins, too much for a normal film. It must be an extraordinarily faithful adaptation of a book - not just a book, but the first in a whole series of books. They must be big in America. So well-loved that the fans would lynch people if they left anything out, so they've put it all in and are making quite a good job of explaining it to the rest of us.' And eventually: 'Who cares what it is or where it comes from? I'm still watching and it's getting even better.' By the end I was not only completely gripped and invested but so moved I had to stifle a little manly tear at one point.

Bear in mind: it IS low budget, albeit usually very well disguised. And you've seen most of the things in it before, but they're done with slightly new spins and so much verve in execution they come to seem fresh.

The first half of the film is - not exactly slow, but stays mysterious for an unusually long time. This can be a bonus if you enjoy making guesses. If you're impatient or are used to being spoonfed, forget it. (I think a lot of the people who've given absurdly negative reviews must fall into this category. Although I suspect those who've been over-critical of the acting of malicious trollery - the acting was either perfectly good or quite perfect.)

The best thing in the film, and the best example of the care and inventiveness that's gone into it, is the main gimmick (there are several). One of the characters in effect has a sort of superpower. This is very well handled. We are gradually shown rather than told and I was deep into the film before I fully grasped it. All the implications of it were thoroughly worked out - including the ingenious ways that enemies could counteract it. Most importantly, it was handled in such a way that, rather than becoming the equivalent of a Get Out Of Jail Free card, it actually had the effect of doubling or tripling the tension.

All in all I enjoyed it a lot. I would like there to be a sequel (for one thing I would love to see what happens when one '95er' fights another) or, perhaps better, a TV series. Most of all I would like the director and his collaborators to be given a bigger budget to play with. Congratulations to all involved on some remarkable work.

A very small budget Science fiction movie, possibly made for TV that kept me entertained throughout. I am a sucker for time travel, but it had some original ideas that impressed me. The effects are really not that important, use your imagination, the plot kept me interested and the acting was reasonable. Special note for the character called Brego, a person from the distant future with a wonderfully camp South West English accent, put a smile on my face every time he opened his mouth. Anyone who is a lover of Sci-fi should give this movie a try, far better than some of the Hollywood rubbish.

For me,in general,a movie has to be pretty awful to merit anything less than 3 stars.........and this one came pretty close.

I don't expect a lot from low budget affairs. As long as a decent effort has been made to entertain the viewer,then much can be overlooked or forgiven.This movie however, (and I use the word "movie" in the loosest term) has probably some of THE worst acting I have ever the misfortune to witness. The performances from all concerned are so stiff and wooden,that you could turn the awful script into a baseball bat and hit a home run!! Particularly annoying is Joel Bishops narration throughout this mess.It really does sound like a 5 year old reading from a school play script and is pretty soulless in it's delivery.In fact a 5 year old could have done a better job. The rest of the cast really don't fare much better either.Nobody puts in a decent enough performance to make their characters convincing and look like they'd really rather be somewhere else. It really was unforgivable.I'm sorry.........if you want to put yourself in front of a camera and entertain,then you really should at least try to do better than this!!.

I did,however,note that "some" effort was made in the special effects department,and given the budget,they weren't bad at all.

Oh sorry......the plot.

Forget it.......

It's something to do with time travel but really,please don't waste your time.It's so confusing that I really cannot explain exactly what the hell was going on.

I dare say that with a bigger budget,script writer and cast,this could be made into something better.

Apparently this was based on a book.I wish I had read that instead.

3 out of ten and that's only because I've seen worse........

No really I have!!

Watch at your peril

So let's get one thing clear and set the record straight right from the get-go: all the reviews here on IMDb that are 9s or 10s are clearly not real, but rather faked reviews by people who worked on this low budget flick or are friends or family -- for this is surely NOT a 9 or a 10, Hell, it's not even a 6 7 or 8. I LOVED the idea of the plot/storyline; time travel is my thing. So seeing that it was free due to Prime, I figured "why not? It's Sunday morning and I'm not even awake yet." Within a minute or two I heard what could possibly be the worst, and most unprofessional and amateurish dialog by a male actor being delivered that I've ever heard in my life -- seriously. And I work IN the entertainment business (obviously), so I've seen and heard it all. But this was just AWFUL. BUT I hung on simply due to the fact that I was intrigued by the alleged storyline. Honestly glad I did. Though this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen -- in terms of the art craft and science of movie-making -- clearly a very low budget indie film made by amateurs, it also has had me thinking about it and it's ramifications non-stop since I watched it. It IS a good story. Interesting, well thought out, intriguing. It's just not a "professional" movie. That's all. If you can accept that from the start, AND you dig sci-fi and/or time travel movies, then you just may enjoy this indie movie. Everyone has to start somewhere... And this is where this crew happened to start. Frankly, for the alleged $750k budget they had to work with, one could almost applaud their effort. So 5 out of 10 is a fair assessment.

I don't review movies often, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to take the time.

However, after reading so many negative and almost hateful reviews, I wanted to leave something else.

This isn't a 'great' film, but I found it intriguing and even a little emotional.

A few keys to remember as you watch:

1: Its a LOW BUDGET film. I'd be willing to bet, it was a labor of love for those involved.

2: Its an art film of sorts. What does this mean? That its ending is sort of open.

3: Some people aren't making the big bucks as actors for a reason, but it doesn't mean they're bad.

There is a story that slowly unfolds before you. A person who changes and fights against everything to change her future, anyway she can.

If you can't get past the budget and lower grade actors, then stop watching and give up. You've set higher standards than this film can live up too.

Personally, I've always had the ability to look past actors I don't like, to enjoy a movie. Sometimes, I just want to get lost in a story and I did with this one.

Kristy C