Flicking through the user reviews I see a lot of people asking 'how can anyone rate this lower than 5? (I think I know why!)' or something similar.
So, I'll be clear: I believe this movie is intended to be primarily a love story albeit one wrapped in a veneer of sci-fi concepts. It fails on both fronts and hence to rate it as a 5 would be over generous.
I would be lying if I said my girlfriend and I were not entertained, but this was almost entirely through our discussion of how ridiculous and poorly thought through this was. I would be willing to forgive any plot failings if the film succeeded in evoking the relevant feelings.
In order to convey emotion to an audience the writers/actors/director need to evoke some feeling in the viewer. Simply filming two people telling each other how much they love one another does not convey that love. The viewer should be sharing the main character's (Nick and Janine) desperation to discover each other. While I could clearly see the movie was trying to get me to feel this - I did not.
I did not feel much for any of these characters, the grey minimalism of the character's home environment was mirrored in their emotional depth and conversation - I would not be shocked if someone revealed this movie was actually written by AI. As just one example, the attempt to illicit emotion by repeating the 'love is a circle' monologue simply had the reverse effect.
On the sci-fi front: it is not enough to just present an interesting premise - time travel stories are very hard to get right and it's easy for huge plot-holes to emerge (as occurs here). I could go into detail, but I try to avoid spoilers.
The primary fault here is the writing, the original premise is a good idea but the gaping hole where the core of the movie should be mean this one is 'pretty vacant'.
So, I'll be clear: I believe this movie is intended to be primarily a love story albeit one wrapped in a veneer of sci-fi concepts. It fails on both fronts and hence to rate it as a 5 would be over generous.
I would be lying if I said my girlfriend and I were not entertained, but this was almost entirely through our discussion of how ridiculous and poorly thought through this was. I would be willing to forgive any plot failings if the film succeeded in evoking the relevant feelings.
In order to convey emotion to an audience the writers/actors/director need to evoke some feeling in the viewer. Simply filming two people telling each other how much they love one another does not convey that love. The viewer should be sharing the main character's (Nick and Janine) desperation to discover each other. While I could clearly see the movie was trying to get me to feel this - I did not.
I did not feel much for any of these characters, the grey minimalism of the character's home environment was mirrored in their emotional depth and conversation - I would not be shocked if someone revealed this movie was actually written by AI. As just one example, the attempt to illicit emotion by repeating the 'love is a circle' monologue simply had the reverse effect.
On the sci-fi front: it is not enough to just present an interesting premise - time travel stories are very hard to get right and it's easy for huge plot-holes to emerge (as occurs here). I could go into detail, but I try to avoid spoilers.
The primary fault here is the writing, the original premise is a good idea but the gaping hole where the core of the movie should be mean this one is 'pretty vacant'.