Volition (2019) User Reviews

Enjoyable 90 Minutes

[daveparkinsonuk · 7/10 · 12 July 2020]

As a scifi fan with a penchant for time travel shenanigans this film was right up my street and for 90 minutes we were suitably entertained.

Is it Inception? No. So while the sniffy reviews are not completely wrong neither are they right. 5.4 is a silly low average score for a film this well made.

For a low budget small film that drops in at the required 90 minutes for easy Covid viewing it was just the ticket.

Yes, the characters are not massively deep enough, especially the "love interest". Yes, there are a plot few holes here and there with continuity bloopers. Yes, the "science bit" was a little low rent in its believability.

But put these aside and you'll find a fun Looper knock off to while away the time and a fun "time travel conundrum" with some great pay off's later in the film.

Decent Sci-Fi movie

[Alexander_Law · 6/10 · 28 January 2021]

Movies like this can be a tough sell. Time travel obviously does not exist, yet there are many out there who are quick to say "That wouldn't happen". Yes, the writers have to have some creative freedom to break away and develop their ideas, but they also have to somehow convince us at the same time, so it can be a fine line.

In Volition there were definitely a few elements which I have seen played out in other time travel movies, mainly the whole cause and effect scenario, however they did try to put their own twist on things which I liked.

As much as I enjoyed those time travel elements I did find myself at times questioning the story. But overall there was some strong performances and enough to keep me entertained throughout.

Definitely worth a watch

[sirspamalot-60746 · 7/10 · 27 May 2022]

If you liked Timecrimes aka. Crono Crimenes, you will most likely enjoy this movie, too as it heads in a similar direction. It is short enough to not get boring and the story, while rather unbelievable on the science part, is really entertaining. The actors are likeable but not outstanding. All in all, it is definitely an above average movie. 6.5/10

But then again, I am a big fan of time travel / time loop movies, so I might be biased.

Don't expect too much.....

[stevelivesey67 · 7/10 · 7 February 2021]

.....and this becomes a decent low budget sci fi movie. Sort of a poundland Looper meets Primer mashup.

i am writing to you from the past

[pauleisman-908-355286 · 7/10 · 14 November 2020]

DO NOT READ THE REVIEWS

there is noting original in these reviews

you will most likely chose not to watch this movie

but then yow will miss your chance at watching a good effort

not the best movie ever, but not the worst, it will be how you choose to perceive it

holes? maybe? would you make it better? maybe? who cares? its a movie!!

Lots of 10 star reviews from 1 review accounts

[Xavier_Stone · 4/10 · 6 November 2020]

Hmmmm. Just annoying that IMDB lets these accounts continue. They are indeed created or at least assisted by this website, hence the long standing accounts, sometimes 3-6 years, with only one review. This movie has 31 reviews at the time of my writing and has at least 4 reviewers plugging this trap of a movie. Hopefully in the future we can see these accounts deleted and it will give a more accurate representation of the movies. The movie is barely watchable and fails in so many parts that most will be unable to finish this low budget miss mash.

Criminal scum and Time Travel

[TheTruthofItIs · 7/10 · 23 July 2020]

I didn't really like the film's seedy, underworld, villainous scum environment but it provided a good setting for this presentation of time travel. Our protag "James" is played by a look-alike to Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" and all other actors are unknowns, too. Also, two of the villains who play cousins in the film are brothers in real life, so that's fun with meta. This is the editor-cum-director's first feature length film so you don't expect too much. And with time travel you tend to either love it or hate it depending on how well it's done. Though this iteration of time travel is different from most, it still didn't address the multiple-versions-of-the-traveller co-existing paradox. As such there's a recursive aspect to this as the director attempts to "unwind" the story towards the end. If you really care about this story you'll need to watch it two or even three times to fully process what's happening, kind of like what you needed to do for the more mainstream "Inception".

Not even a good deus ex machina

[SATerp · 5/10 · 18 July 2020]

I really wanted to like this. The leads are solid and attractive in their way, the concept is okay but breaks down over the course of the movie, and everything in it has been done over and over. And then reading all these reviews that swear it's the greatest movie since the last greatest movie, makes me think some reviewers are just not paying attention. I wouldn't pay to see this movie, and even finding it on Netflix I would come away a little disappointed.

This is an okay movie

[nickpedersen · 7/10 · 29 December 2020]

Many of the reviews claim that it is a rip off from other movies. Well all movies are rip offs! This one is a well thought and well executed movie. I can recommend you to see it.

Just ok enough to watch once. It will leave you feeling let down and robbed of a decent ending

[gpsychos2-239-278464 · 4/10 · 10 July 2020]

So this movie was just ok. Nothing spectacular and definitely nothing new. As a matter of fact this story arc has been done a million times. This is one of those movies you already know how its going to end a quarter of the way into watching it. I held out for maybe a genuine twist something I hadnt seen before and now I wish I hadnt because it ended exactly how I imagined it would. Good guy beats bad guys and saves girl by time traveling only it seems he wont because it gets all convoluted. The End. Only this ending is probably one of the worst ive seen as the main character doesnt even try he just decides to stop in the middle of his time travel loop therfore avoiding a bloody end? Wow is it really that easy? Guess in Hollywood movie making it is.. Booooooriiing

This thing catches fire in the middle and doesn't slow down

[hankbrns · 8/10 · 10 July 2020]

It looked like another psychic loser that couldn't make enough money to keep up his rent. In short order it turned into a semi-love story which soon morphed into an ingenious time-travel yarn! Unexpected twists popped up and the plot changed from a modest jog in the park to a to a warp-speed relay race.

Choice

[Stanlee107 · 7/10 · 16 July 2020]

Wow this is great. This reminds me of Twelve Monkeys. The plot has been done many of times before but I appreciate the dark ending and the concept of fate & destiny. This felt different as at least I cared for the protagonist in this film and the plight he must suffer to try and prevent a tragedy.

Ridiculous!

[rsvp321 · 21 July 2020]

I enjoy almost anything sci fi, but this one is frustrating to watch.

"Hey, I think I'll give this loser $10million worth of diamonds to try to find a seller, while I work in my hardware store. What could go wrong? "

Rife with bits of good ideas plagiarized from several other recognizable stories - zero original content in this one.

Watch it yourself, and you'll see the other reviews are as ridiculous as the movie

Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

[tchristophermiller · 3/10 · 23 August 2020]

A prime example of why time-travel is considered the weakest of crutches for 'science' fiction. This movie can boast excellent acting, decent production and passable script, but fails miserably on either the 'wow' factor of good science fiction or the catharsis of revenge on the villains, whom you come to root for as miscast heroes slugging their way through a story that should have been round-filed. Surprising that the writer/director has actually been nominated and won several editing awards. It begs the question, if this is what wasn't cut out, how horrible are the excisions on the cutting room floor?

Pretty good

[lcherresse · 7/10 · 18 July 2020]

This movie gave me a low budget Butterfly Effect vibe. I went in with no expectations. I did enjoy it.

Hitting the reset button

[jimbo-53-186511 · 6/10 · 10 March 2021]

A clairvoyant man James finds his world being turned upside after brokering a deal with some small time crooks and a series of events following this meeting leads to James fearing for his safety after he starts to envision his own murder...

There are a long list of films that Volition borrows from and it's probably fair to say that if you broke it all down in to little 'fragments' there would probably be very little of it that is original. However, despite the familiarity Volition still manages to be fairly engaging and entertaining. At just 90 minutes in length, it gets the job done without ever becoming boring and the film is also anchored by a very good performance by leading actor Adrian Glynn McMorran (particularly when looking at how much more he had to do here compared to the other actors).

Director Tony Dean Smith handles things fairly well; the film has a nice fluidity and flow about it and it has a bit of style about it in its own sort of understated way. However, I can't say I'm totally sold on how the time travel is applied here and did find some of the supporting actors to be a tad weak, but having said that, they all do dovetail together to make this a reasonably distracting 90 minutes of cinema.

It's not mind-blowing, nor is it as clever as it thinks it is, but taken for what it is then it is quite enjoyable.

Ultra predictable

[avnash · 2/10 · 27 April 2021]

Really just a re-hash of previous ideas on the topic of time-travel.

For me it wasn't very original or very strong in writing, however it does work to some degree if you can bear to get to the end.

The main character decides to do some really stupid things in order to maintain the existing timeline - i found it hard to believe that he would have done those -hence the whole film was pretty unconvincing for me.

Timeline theme but...

[ks-60500 · 4/10 · 30 July 2020]

Such topic is always interesting but this one is little copycat from what many have filmed before. The incidence happened bit not Wow feeling, storyline is a problem.

Good try guys... But, this movie is NOT as clever as they make it seem to be...

[lathe-of-heaven · 5/10 · 29 November 2021]

Basically that... Yes, the movie is intriguing to start with and for about the first half of the film it does hold your attention, and technically it is done well.

BUT... in retrospect, without giving anything away, as clever as the filmmakers are trying to be, you realize that fully about half of the movie is pure repetition, but NOT in a particularly cool way, not when you truly analyze it. YES, there are a few sharp 'Moments' in the movie that are pretty good, but quite honestly it simply does not make up for the whole rest of it.

I don't want to spoil it, so I'm not going to go into detail. But, pretty much what you have here is taking the truly cool element of say 'PRIMER', just that one sliver of a good idea, but honestly doing nothing particularly clever with it. Even some of the themes, such as they are, that are running through the film, such as Fate and Choice, still, again I can't say it enough, they just simply do NOT develop them or do anything else very effectively with the rest of the story.

The ending after wading through the entire movie is pretty good, the last 5 minutes or so are okay. But, when you look back over the movie you see that no matter how slickly or stylishly or even technically they try to execute the story, there just really is no actual substance there. I mean, it's a fair way to pass the time, I guess. And, the acting is very good, especially the guy playing Ray. And, the technical elements are done well, but the basic premise and what they do with it in my lowly and wretched opinion is completely wasted.

Normally, I don't go out of my way to give movies a negative review, but since I feel specifically that if a person truly has any brains at all and really likes this 'Type' of film, I feel that there is a good chance that you are going to be disappointed by the result.

Great film with a low score - it does happen

[ListenToChris · 8/10 · 12 July 2020]

At the time I watched this the average score is 5.4, but this can happen when there are so few reviews. I'm sure this will rise when more people who've actually seen the movie give it a score. The movie is interesting all the way through, and gradually cranks up the complication as the story develops. Good fun to try and anticipate how it will play out.

Terrible Sci-Fi film!

[reve-19003 · 1/10 · 31 January 2021]

I know that sci-fi is FICTION.

But this film is ridiculous. The amygdala is in the brain, which is in the skull, not the buttocks. The hippocampus is involved with memory, while the amygdala is involved with emotion. Of course time travel is impossible. But I forgive the film all of this, and so many more inaccuracies.

What I cannot forgive are the rampant inconsistencies even within its own 'suspension of disbelief'. How many times must a man die before he gets it right at the end? He forgot how many times he died in the final half hour. He had run out of his time travel injection long before the last time he tried to get it right. He died (really) at least once before the end. He was shot more than six times yet still carried the wounds in his reincarnations!!

And the happy ending, with him and his beautiful girlfriend alive and well!

This film is absolute nonsense! It is not even entertainment.

So much so that I joined IMDP just to tell everyone what a terrible film it is, especially after reading 10/10 reviews.

Seen similar ones

[baunacholi-86159 · 5/10 · 2 May 2022]

It has very clever moments, esp towards the end when the multiple versions appear and interact - sort of - with each other & change the future for the good... this said, there're other movies out there with a similar plot. Some worse and some clearly better. Reminded me in parts of butterfly effect (7/10) timecrimes (3/10) and triangle... the last one mentioned in my pov superior in all aspects (9/10).

Went downhill

[elliotjeory · 5/10 · 3 February 2021]

Started interesting despite the low budget and amateur acting, it however failed to keep my interested, it went a bit overly complicated. Overall not good.

Volition

[henry8-3 · 4/10 · 3 February 2021]

James has clairvoyant tendencies and sees his own murder and must look for a way to stop this happening. It soon transpired that there is more to his gift than meets the eye.

An intriguing premise around time travel is often great fun allowing for endless Back to the Future type story tricks. However once the cat's out of the bag and the mystery revealed, they're laid on thick and fast with the usual array of 'oh, that's what the noise was we heard in the bushes the first time around etc', which somewhat takes the thrill out of the whole thing. So these trick and revealing what we've just seen is all there is with the makers devoting all their time to revealing their trick, which eventually just runs out of steam.