This used to be one of my top-five time travel movies, but it has moved down the list slowly but surely over the years. Maybe it's because Belushi's broad caricature of a rural Texas hick has started
to grate on me, or maybe newer, better cinema has shown me the terrible errors in lame acting on the part of a lot of the cast, but this movie doesn't have the same appeal it did for me ten years ago.
I still would rather watch this than Looper. Have I mentioned I hate Looper? I'll tell you why later this week.
Karen, a police psychologist on leave after a hostage situation in Chicago went horribly wrong, is beating herself up about her spectacular failure and is headed to her hometown near Galveston. When her car breaks down on a lonely stretch of Texas road, she accepts a ride from small-town redneck Frank and his meek wife Rayanne to the nearest tow-truck. When tempers flare and guns start going off, Karen runs for safety in a nearby building... which happens to house a secret military-funded project in time-travel. Now Karen is reliving the last half hour... can she prevent tragedy? Or will she just make it worse?
I'm not doing my usual counts this week, as I have seen all the time-bending movies on my list at least once, and a lot of them I have viewed many, many times. Since this movie isn't heavy on visual details though, I think it's safe to say it's a good movie to craft to as long as it's not too complicated a pattern. If you're really familiar with the time-travel genre and how it works, then definitely.
I would say that there are a few eyeroll moments, especially at Frank. I mean, there's repellent characters, and then there's Frank. Hair-trigger temper, misogynistic, and a terrible sense of humor.
This movie handles time-travel very well, exploring many of the possible ways a timeline can change. The changes are clearly defined and explained without getting into "the audience is stupid so let's paint a neon sign on it" territory. Ten years ago I would have said the characters seem very real, but now Karen seems stiff and slightly boring, and Frank seems over-the-top... an exaggeration of a bad guy. The rest of the characters are fine... which is a shame since Frank and Karen are the two we see the most.
If you're a fan of the genre, it's worth adding to your collection for $11. Otherwise I'd stream it on one of the "free" services like Amazon Prime or Netflix. I've downgraded it to three and a half out of five stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment