Primer

April 29, 2005

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 77 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This movie is a bit of a morality tale with a heavy scientific hand, weighty on dialog, light on action that shows us what ‘we’ would do if we could have anything and do anything with no fear of consequence or repercussion. Does that sound cool to you? It didn’t to me but since I was feeling adventurous I decided to give it a shot.

Primer Set mainly in a hotel room, garage, kitchen and storage locker with only 2 characters worth mentioning, this would be about as far off the mark for MFG as you can get but it kept me watching from beginning to end. I think I only looked at my clock twice in 77 minutes. Not too bad considering no one gets shot/stabbed/bludgeoned/electrocuted, gets laid or blows anything up. The main characters of Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) are wannabe Bill Gates’ that build stuff in their garage to make extra cash and try to invent the the next Brock Lesner along the way. They talk about a bunch of potential ideas and in a blink we have this funky box thing to look at. They show me what it does but never tell me what it is for almost half of the movie, now usually that would be enough to yank this puppy and watch more Miami Vice but against my better judgment I stuck it out some more. Turns out it was worth it.

The function and description of the ‘box’ is the whole focus of this movie so I will quit here and just tell you to rent it or add it to your Netflix queue and see for yourself. Having been made by the writer/producer/director/star Carruth on a shoestring budget of about 7 grand and with zero special effects this VERY SCIENCE, sci-fi movie is pretty cool. I have heard some compare it to Memento and Usual Suspects in the sense that you get more out of it the second viewing… I think those people’s benches are too close to the bus terminal and they have inhaled too much transportation residue. One viewing will do it so don’t buy it. If you pay close attention you will get everything it has to offer the first go around with no questions unanswered… That is, no question the filmmaker doesn’t want left unanswered?

Although I can be far from classified as the ‘artsy’, indy film fan of the group, that would be Chris (weirdo), I liked this one. I liked it, I didn’t love it. I understood it and at times I would even say I was intrigued by the scientific principles involved but for me, I prefer T2 or Back to the Future and I could take this one or leave it if I was forced to watch it again.

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 3 Stars, DVD, David Sullivan, Drama, PG-13, Shane Carruth, Thriller