I enjoyed the "What iffery?" aspect of this movie. I've seen variations of it in other films and fantasy TV series - in "Star Trek" for one, it's the Prime Directive, where the rule is that even if you could and even if you meant to do good and even if it's just a tiny thing you alter, you don't mess with events that happened in the past. Aston Kushner's Evan character actually has the power to do just that, a trait which he's apparently inherited from his institutionalised dad and his dad before him.
We're immediately dropped in on Evan on the run in a hospital where he's being treated for his condition. He's frantically scribbling down the latest in a lifetime's worth of similar experiences even as time literally runs out for him. How did he get here and what will happen next in his life of extremes, where one minute he's luxuriating in the love of his pretty young childhood sweetheart Amy Smart's Kayleigh, the next he's fighting for his life in a maximum security prison. We also see the contrasting levels of devastation and consolation his time-hopping wreaks on those with whom he comes into proximity as Kayleigh herself goes from being a blissful girlfriend in one timeframe to addled crack-addict in another, their chubby friend Lenny, played by Elden Henson arcs from a catatonic loner to Kayliegh's happy boyfriend and Kayliegh's brother Tommy, (William Lee Scott) from violent psychopath to the best boy in school.
Rather like Evan's tumultuous state of mind, it was a lot to keep up with as the past continually rewrote iitself with every well-intentioned intervention he makes. His problem is that the law of unintended consequences keeps coming into play as what may be good for one individual means something goes wrong for another, usually catastrophically so. As time circles in on itself at the end and if you've been paying attention to all the Easter Egg prompts from earlier, you arrive at the natural inevitable ending.
I'll admit I struggled a little at times to keep up with all the tumult and of course if Evan's life had turned out to be a quiet, uneventful one, he wouldn't have had to go back at all but then of course there'd have been no movie at all.
The special effects as Evan crashed his way through each regression were effectively rendered and I thought all the young leads were well played, in particular I thought by Smart. I get that the movie probably wasn't aimed at my own demographic but this literally mind-blowing feature certainly connected with me although I doubt it will stop me or indeed any of us thinking, to quote Cher of all people "If I Could Turn Back Time"...
We're immediately dropped in on Evan on the run in a hospital where he's being treated for his condition. He's frantically scribbling down the latest in a lifetime's worth of similar experiences even as time literally runs out for him. How did he get here and what will happen next in his life of extremes, where one minute he's luxuriating in the love of his pretty young childhood sweetheart Amy Smart's Kayleigh, the next he's fighting for his life in a maximum security prison. We also see the contrasting levels of devastation and consolation his time-hopping wreaks on those with whom he comes into proximity as Kayleigh herself goes from being a blissful girlfriend in one timeframe to addled crack-addict in another, their chubby friend Lenny, played by Elden Henson arcs from a catatonic loner to Kayliegh's happy boyfriend and Kayliegh's brother Tommy, (William Lee Scott) from violent psychopath to the best boy in school.
Rather like Evan's tumultuous state of mind, it was a lot to keep up with as the past continually rewrote iitself with every well-intentioned intervention he makes. His problem is that the law of unintended consequences keeps coming into play as what may be good for one individual means something goes wrong for another, usually catastrophically so. As time circles in on itself at the end and if you've been paying attention to all the Easter Egg prompts from earlier, you arrive at the natural inevitable ending.
I'll admit I struggled a little at times to keep up with all the tumult and of course if Evan's life had turned out to be a quiet, uneventful one, he wouldn't have had to go back at all but then of course there'd have been no movie at all.
The special effects as Evan crashed his way through each regression were effectively rendered and I thought all the young leads were well played, in particular I thought by Smart. I get that the movie probably wasn't aimed at my own demographic but this literally mind-blowing feature certainly connected with me although I doubt it will stop me or indeed any of us thinking, to quote Cher of all people "If I Could Turn Back Time"...