Stuart:

It’s Primer meets Steins;Gate in this found footage sci-fi flick about a bunch of teenagers that construct a time machine. Whilst the presence of the Platinum Dunes title card is enough to turn many off watching a film, Project Almanac turns out to be one of the most watchable films Michael Bay’s been associated with in a long while. (And at least it’s not based on an existing property.)

As a found footage film, Project Almanac cheats. A lot. Suspiciously convenient edits? Check. Sudden second cameras? Check. Non-diegetic music? Seriously? You’re not even trying! You basically have to switch that part of your brain off. They may go to the effort of having a character say, “From this point on, film everything!” but it’s still not going to pass any common sense test.

I said it was like Primer, but it’s a dumbed-down version of Primer. There is way too much expository dialogue (some of which sounds distinctly like it was written during ADR), and I guess they were keeping the younger target audience in mind. That being said, kids are going to understand the basics of time travel, surely? Do we really need the characters to explain everything to us?

The group of young performers do a good job. Jonny Weston, as central character David, manages to carry the film, ably assisted by Sofia Black-D’Elia, Same Lerner and Allen Evangelista. Virginia Gardner is particularly good as David’s younger sister Chris, but unfortunately spends most of the time behind the camera.

Speaking of the camera, I’m getting sick of found footage movies finding an excuse for the characters to film the female characters – usually in states of undress – without their knowledge. Despite the fact that it’s usually Chris filming, every time one of the guys gets hold of the camera, we get these voyeuristic diversions. In this day and age of revenge porn, it’s a little disturbing.

All these complaints aside, Project Almanac’s good fun. There are a number of clever narrative devices, particularly in the early stages when they’re still unravelling the mystery, and there are one or two ideas that I hadn’t seen before in a time travel film. If you’re familiar with the likes of Primer, Looper, Predestination or Steins;Gate, however, there’s very little here to surprise. At the end of the day it’s a well-paced, fun sci-fi flick.