'Inception' looks like a Fisher-Price puzzle compared to this film.
"Are you hungry? I haven't eaten since later this afternoon."
http://qntm.org/primer - Excellent recap of the movie to help get all the details straight.
TLDR: Two idiots ruin their lives by unnecessarily going back in time for mundane stuff.. several times.
I watched this movie with too much hype for what it was. People were telling how great the time travel was and how twisted but consistent the time travel was, but I didn't feel the same
Yes, the kludged time capsules that travel through time at 1 second per second and that can't go back before they were turned on is original and interesting. Having to spend basically 12 hours to go back in time 6 almost defies the purpose of the whole thing.
But I have to say that in the end, I kind of disappointed me. The main failing, for me, is the whole party thing. I never was made clear what was so important about it. If Aaron had successfully defused the situation in the first place, why was is so important to go back? Also, it's not very clear how could they make many attempts since that nature of time travel in the movie means that they cannot go back to the same place at the same time without encountering their pasts selves.
A complex movie. Must be watched a couple of times.
I did not like this. I went on a time travel movie binge after pre-destination and this was recommended. So I was used to figuring out the intricacies of time travel movies. Normally I can understand them after a while, but I could not follow at all during this. Also, its a short movie so it ended before I could figure out wtf was going on.
A movie so complex you'll probably need to look for an explanation online. But when you do, it's complexity will blow your mind :P. One of the most well-made time travel movies I've seen.
Too confusing for it's own good.
Just rewatched it, I cant believe its been 20 years wow. Uh, this still holds up pretty well.
This is the kind of movie that you probably need to watch 2 or more times.
I enjoyed it, but I'm bias I like time travel shenanigan's.
This is officially the most complex piece of fiction about time travel I've watched
I usually love time travel movies but not this one... It's on the skirts of being a B movie, which almost adds to it's charm. In the end the writing is complicated just for being complicated sake. It's not entertaining. Major plot parts seem to be skipped over quickly and the viewer is left wondering what the heck is going on for most of the movie. It does not get better with time, only worse. I understand the basic premise of the movie and the machine, but never quite understood what the actors were trying to figure out or what the hell was actually going on. Terrible movie.
This movie was wiiiild, and I can’t say I fully grokked it. I was with it for most of the run time, and then in the last quarter things felt like they fell apart. Perhaps deserves a rewatch? Maybe with subtitles? I loved the overall style of the movie, especially the loose, technical, and naturalistic dialogue–but it did make comprehension a bit more difficult. Worth a revisit later.
Unbelievably dull is the only way I can really describe this movie.
I don't care how 'smart' or 'complex' it is. It doesn't matter how mind-boggling it is, not when the movie is boring. I didn't watch this movie with my interest piqued and thinking "What is going on?", instead, I watched it trying my best not to fall asleep or look at my phone. I really didn't care about anything that was going on.
I just watched this movie for the third time and while I understand what ultimately becomes of the characters and their fundamental differences on how to use their invention, the number of timelines and just how many carbon copies of themselves are existing at any given point escapes me.
I read a couple of papers by college professors about "Primer" and I'm not convinced everything that happens makes complete sense. I also realized that if I need to read several professors' thoughts on what happened during something as frivolous as a movie, it probably wasn't as good of a movie as I'd hoped.
Mile-a-minute science fiction revolving around the theory of time travel and the conceptual danger of a paradox effect. Though its production values are terribly low - the film was made for just $7,000 - Primer's discount visuals actually work well within the context of the story itself.
Narrow in scale but not in scope, it hones in on a small team of overworked engineers who discover functional time travel by accident, then set about (naturally) exploiting it to solve their money troubles. The air of intensity and excitement is palpable, with an almost nonstop track of dialog running from start to finish, and that really gives the scene a sense of authenticity.
True savants, these guys possess excessively bright minds, and clearly their mouths are struggling to keep up with the volume produced by their brains. It would be easy to get lost in the minutiae of what they're saying and miss the forest for the trees, were the discourse not so insanely fast and heavily loaded. We're dealing with a seriously complicated subject matter, after all, and not even the twin geniuses at its epicenter seem to fully grasp the particulars of what they're living through. Let's put it this way: this isn't the first time I've seen the movie, and I still had to look up a summary afterwards to work out a few of the details.
Distinct, intriguing and baffling complex, it's tough to watch without a furrowed brow and the nagging understanding that you're the dumbest person in the room. Open this puzzle box at your own risk - once it's out, there's no putting it back.
Time travel is really confusing...
The enjoyment of Primer doesn't come from understanding the spaghetti mass of time travel threads, it comes from being in awe at them.
Simply one of the best science fiction films ever released.
This is the kind of movie that demands a decent pair of headphones, a dark room, and your undivided attention. Anything less than that will not reward you.
Enjoy.
Don't get what all the hype is about.
Great movie and possibly the best time traveling movie ever. I will admit that after the first watch I was pretty stumped. I mean I pretty much lost it completely about half way in.
That alone is so refreshing. You never see that in movies ever. That you actually have to think and use your brain a bit to understand what's going on. My excuse for not getting it the first time round is that I really wasn't expecting it. It took me very off guard. And that says a lot of how movies usually are; very spoonfeeding and overly simplified to the point where you can almost sleep through it and still get it. If there even was anything to "get" in the first place.
I'm just saying that this movie made me look at other movies differently, and wish that they were more intelligent. That's how unique it is. It really leaves a mark on the mind, and makes you think stuff like that.
Anyway this was a refreshing change of pace, and it's definitely a movie that requires several spins to get full effect. Unless you're really prepared for it, which I seriously doubt is possible without reading some instructions on the internet (which would ruin your first watch of the movie).
Terribly confusing the first time through, but with a depth rarely seen in current movies.
So you thought Tenet was complex?
I have a very proud record of understanding every movie that includes time travel... until I watched Primer.
Although I managed to figure it out the second time. It's one of those films that rewards careful attention and analysis.
It seem to me the biggest misunderstanding of this movie, even by fans, has to do with the party and why/how they found another Thomas Granger with a few days worth of beard growth.
Bear in mind there is no exposition, the viewer must pay attention and watch the film multiple times to get a handle on the events. While most interpretations center around Abe using the box first and then Aaron somehow finding his failsafe box and using it to go back to before Abe first used the box, it is assumed that the first time we see Abe talking to Aaron on the bench, it is basically the original timeline and Aaron really is listening to March Madness in his ear. However, I believe that we NEVER see the original timeline because Aaron had already used the failsafe box to go back and rewrite history.
What did he rewrite? What was the original motivation for Aaron using the failsafe box in the first place? I think in the original, unaltered timeline, neither Aaron nor Abe went to the party and Rachel Granger was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend with the shotgun. That had to have been the emergency event that led Aaron to go to a grieving Thomas Granger, tell him about the box, and to Thomas going back and try to rewrite the events of the party. I think what we don't see is Thomas Granger using the box to go back and try to save his own daughter, but he was ignorant of which box to use and didn't go back far enough.
Aaron, realizing that Thomas had used one of the boxes and possibly changed the timeline, used the failsafe to go back and try to manipulate the events of the party. We really don't know how many times Aaron had to go back and re-work the events to get everything right; the phone call alludes it could have been dozens of times.
Ultimately, this movie is challenging and not dumbed-down for the average science-fiction fan. If you only watched it once, you certainly have no grounds to judge it.
Smart Time Travel Ideas, but weak execution. Although the image shooting and converations are acceptable and natural, it is somehow confusing and needs more attention to details. It felt like a documentary but not at the same time. Story was rigid, also it didn't present solid storyline. All was like puzzle peices that you shold comprehend and figure the plot out for your own. e.g. when the man who appears suddenly in the car behind, who some how knew about the box and was very exusted like he was travelling in time many times, but they both never tell anybody. They get scared and start to argue about the time travell should happen or not at all.
It was somehow interesting hypothitically & intellectually, but also very boring as a film!!
Maybe it was meant to be in the middle not to take any side of anything?! and to be realistic without any cinemagraphs or visual & sound effects?!
Look, I get it(for the most part) but it was very boring. A clever idea, to be sure, but the characters themselves were unappealing and the plot was both complicated and very simple concurrently somehow but that isn't enough to make it enjoyable. A waste of a good premise, I think.
Finally got to this one. I love the ideas quite a bit, but found myself losing focus more than I'd like to admit. Solid SciFi fare, but not the masterpiece I had been sold. 6.7. Good, but not spectacular.
The movie started out promising, but then at some point I started to get lost in the timeloops. Unfortunately that killed it for me. This is not a movie to watch when you cannot completely focus on the story, as you will get confused and lost and you wont be able to understand it any more at all. Perhaps a movie to rewatch some time, alone, with headphones on.
This is hard science fiction. You either get it (impossible in your first watch) or you don't.
I definitely am gonna have to watch this more than once to make sure I fully understand it.
Most confusing movie ever, I'm sure nobody understands what's going on with watching it only once, searching primer explained on YouTube helps you to get the story
Stopped halfway through, couldn't finish it, what a boring movie! Maybe I was sleepy at the time, but I was so lost I didn't know what the movie was even about!
This movie is 77 minutes, but if you want to enjoy, you will need to stretch it to 180 minutes of pause/play.
Also, at a budget of only $7.000. This is one of the cheapest movies I've ever watched!
Relativity and time machine. I got lost.
First time watching and: what? I'll have to watch again. I just got lost after 40 minutes.
Wow, very complicated but this movie is very good.
Enjoyable. Had to stop to try to understand what was happening. Not really sure if I get it yet. Might have to watch again.
Well, It's complicated... I lost it completely in the third act. However it's still enjoyable.
Hands down favorite movie!
Shout by Tobias WolterVIP 11BlockedParent2012-06-14T06:53:11Z
If you think Inception had a complicated plot, this movie isn't for you. Really. There's charts with loops on the Internet which show the plot and what's happening when. You'll probably need to watch this movie at least twice.
It's very, very good.