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Some SPOILERS might follow
Time travel films vary in style, purpose, and quality. From the wacky shenanigans of Back to the Future to the horror-like thrills of The Terminator. However, one thing is always constant in them: Don't interfere, because the slightest meddling in past events can have tragic or maybe even catastrophic consequences.
Timecrimes takes that premise and brings it down into more personal stakes. The film follows Héctor (Karra Elejalde), a man who unknowingly walks into a time machine that takes him an hour into the past. This puts him in a time loop where he is attacked by a masked man, forcing him to protect his wife from him or others.
It is impossible to talk about this film without spoiling it in some way, so I won't try. I appreciate how economical the film is in how it handles its premise. With a low budget, and a cast of only four people, the script is clever enough to keep the focus, not necessarily in the sci-fi/time travel aspect, but rather in the choices this man makes as he explores this new reality. Like I said above, the stakes are not "world destruction", but rather to protect his wife at all costs.
There are some aspects of the story that might be predictable, especially if you've seen a film like Triangle, with which it has a lot of parallels. However, the twists and turns keep things interesting. I'm a sucker for time travel films, so I always enjoy how they spin their paradoxes in a way that can still surprise me to some extent. Plus, I really appreciated how the film behaves more like a slasher instead of a sci-fi film.
There is a bit of a stretch in how the main character goes from a bumbling, middle aged man that doesn't realize the consequences of his actions into a more ruthless sociopath that doesn't care about them. However, the positives in the film outweigh the logistical issues it might have. Overall, it's a fun ride, so I choose not to interfere with it.
Grade:
TIMECRIMES
(2007, Vigalondo)
A film with the word "Time" in its title
(2007, Vigalondo)
A film with the word "Time" in its title
"No matter what you hear, don't come out. Don't interfere."
Some SPOILERS might follow
Time travel films vary in style, purpose, and quality. From the wacky shenanigans of Back to the Future to the horror-like thrills of The Terminator. However, one thing is always constant in them: Don't interfere, because the slightest meddling in past events can have tragic or maybe even catastrophic consequences.
Timecrimes takes that premise and brings it down into more personal stakes. The film follows Héctor (Karra Elejalde), a man who unknowingly walks into a time machine that takes him an hour into the past. This puts him in a time loop where he is attacked by a masked man, forcing him to protect his wife from him or others.
It is impossible to talk about this film without spoiling it in some way, so I won't try. I appreciate how economical the film is in how it handles its premise. With a low budget, and a cast of only four people, the script is clever enough to keep the focus, not necessarily in the sci-fi/time travel aspect, but rather in the choices this man makes as he explores this new reality. Like I said above, the stakes are not "world destruction", but rather to protect his wife at all costs.
There are some aspects of the story that might be predictable, especially if you've seen a film like Triangle, with which it has a lot of parallels. However, the twists and turns keep things interesting. I'm a sucker for time travel films, so I always enjoy how they spin their paradoxes in a way that can still surprise me to some extent. Plus, I really appreciated how the film behaves more like a slasher instead of a sci-fi film.
There is a bit of a stretch in how the main character goes from a bumbling, middle aged man that doesn't realize the consequences of his actions into a more ruthless sociopath that doesn't care about them. However, the positives in the film outweigh the logistical issues it might have. Overall, it's a fun ride, so I choose not to interfere with it.
Grade: