Primer
 Squim  rates it:    Community rates it: (no ratings yet)
   217 of 465 readers found this review helpful.

Primer is a key example of how a good Sci-Fi movie can be made on a small budget. It has a barebones, documentary feel, with no special effects, yet it manages to succeed where so many other movies fail. It is not perfect, but it is one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies in recent memory.

Primer is about time travel. Two young entrepreneurs, Aaron and Abe, spend their evenings finding new ways to synthesis existing technologies. They create patetns for these new creations, in hopes of one day creating something that will make them rich. One of their creations ends up having the unexpected result of moving backwards in time to the moment it was first powered-up. At first Abe and Aaron are careful, using the machine as a way to make money on the stock market while keeping themselves hidden away in a hotel room. Imagine, spending all day alone in a room watching TV, when the market stock market closes, find the biggest gain of the day, go back to the beginning of the day, buy it, and sell it off during in its prime moment. Not a bad idea. After doing this for a while, the temptation of what else they could do becomes too great, and thus the dramatic climb begins.

The reason this movie succeeds is because it feels real. The dialog sounds like real people speaking, granted often its often tech speak, but real it sounds none the less. Some movies can pull of superb dialog that is far fetched from common everyday language, but often false dialog can just create a string of hollow exchanges amongst actors. This movie really does feel like you are listening to people who you may be having a beer with. The film's incredible premise is pulled off in a way that seems almost ordinary. The film does give you a similar feeling to a documentary, so if documentaries bore you, steer away from this one.

Though the film can be found at Best Buy and Blockbuster, it was done on an insanely low budget of $7000, a fraction of what The Blair Witch Project was made with. Don’t let that scare you away, it looks spectacular. It was shot on 16mm and looks as professional as most the of big independent films of today. Before I read about how much this film cost, I expected it to have a couple million dollar budget, which is only a testament to the talent and innovation of the filmmakers.

Now, with all this being said, this movie does have a serious problem. The last quarter of the film is really confusing. Not confusing in a David Lynch, WTF kind of way. Confusing in the way too much going on mixed with some sloppy direction kind of way. The movie is only about 80 minutes, so an extra 10 minutes to flesh out what is going on in the ending wouldn‘t have made it too long, and would have improved the overall product greatly . You can make sense out of the ending, but it is unnecessarily difficult to do so. Perhaps the low budget kept them from doing this, but I am not one to give a movie a higher rating based on a technicality. The ending, once you figure it out, is really cool, but it takes repeated viewings and patience to figure out what exactly is going on.

In closing, Primer is a good flick, one of my favorite Sci-Fi flicks in recent memory, but it is not flawless. The ending hurts the movie, but to those with patience, it is still worth a watch. If something like this can be done for $7000, I can’t wait to what other small budget wonders might come our way. 3 ½ Cans.

Added:  Saturday, May 21, 2005

Related Link:  Primer’s Official Website.[ Did you find this review helpful?  Yes  No ]
[ Back to reviews index ]

Want to comment on this review?
Register here for a free user account, and you'll be able to.