#projectalmanac

Project Almanac falls prey to the Achille’s Heel of bad time travel films: its characters are stupid, rules inconsistent, and science dubious. Even if you eliminated the plotholes, you'd be left with weak character motivations and an irritating use of the found-footage gimmick.

17-year-old high schooler David (Jonny Weston), his sister Chris (Virginia Gardner), and his best friends, Adam (Allen Evangelista) and Quinn (Sam Lerner) discover the blueprints to a time machine. Once they complete the device, they have the time of their lives until David’s longtime crush, Jessie (Sofia Black-D’Elia) becomes involved.

The time machine our protagonists build has some limitations, which sets us off on the right path. This avoids the potential ramifications of assassinating a young Mike Schneider before he directs Night of the Living Dead Re-Animated or other history-altering moves. Instead, the teens use the device to “skip” school, ace tests, etc. Disappointingly, the more trips they take, the more the picture becomes prey to standard time-travel tropes. In this film, if two versions of the same person come face-to-face, it creates a sort of feedback loop, which threatens to erase you from existence. Why? Does it have anything to do with altering the past? No, because whether messing with the timeline is perfectly fine or threatens all of existence depends on the scene. I understand the choice to pay homage to classic sci-fi stories like A Sound of Thunder, but here, the central conflict doesn’t really make any sense. I can believe that killing a prehistoric butterfly would change the future because millions of years have passed. Who knows how much happened between then and now? One little experiment causing the death of hundreds through a bizarre Final Destination-like chain? That's a stretch.

You might be able to forgive the numerous inconsistencies (I don’t) but you'll have a tough time accepting where this story goes. David is one of the most handsome nerds you'll ever see, he’s got the skills to put together a working time machine… but his actions are so stupid they’ll drive you nuts. In fact, none of these characters are particularly smart. Why bother distracting your past self so that you can take the test instead of them… when it would be much easier (and less risky when you consider that feedback loop thing) to send yourself a text message or a note? It’s not like the time machine is a secret!

We didn’t even cover the found-footage aspect, which is contrived. These kids are documenting themselves performing a bunch of crimes. Why? Wouldn’t you leave that out of your home video? There was no reason for this film to be shot the way it was, except to jump on the money-saving bandwagon. The shoddy writing and camera techniques wind up drowning everything the movie does well, a big letdown because it shows promise at first. I can see those who aren’t critical of science fiction films giving Project Almanac a pass, but under any scrutiny, you'll realize you're settling if this is what you choose to watch. (March 10, 2017)