I stumbled on this movie this afternoon. It’s no blockbuster, but it’s a genuinely rare gem. The cast gives me the same feeling as watching a DND live-play video. The imagination runs wild, it’s got a real spoof vibe, and it’s a lot of fun. Halfway through I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt.
This is nothing like the flood of pretentious sci-fi films that try so hard to be rigorous and end up riddled with holes. This movie doesn’t wrap itself in blockbuster packaging, its visuals are nothing special, and it doesn’t pile on VFX to sell some legendary future world. The whole thing is just a bunch of sci-fi maniacs playing a drunken game where you can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.
A movie like this is something to enjoy as a casual game among friends letting their imaginations run loose. There’s absolutely no need to take it seriously — just enjoy how entertaining the ride is. By the time it ended, I was beside myself with laughter.
I saw people on Douban tearing into this film as low-quality, complaining that it tosses around terms like “chaos theory” without being able to justify any of it. Personally, I don’t think there’s any need to be so serious. The opening already tells us: “As for how time travel works, the more you think about it, the less clear it gets.” It’s a humorous, wildly freewheeling fantasy farce from the start — it doesn’t owe reality anything, and the audience doesn’t need to go poking around hunting for bugs.
Speaking of this film being disgusting, it reminds me of that new Journey to the West TV series that was in the news not long ago — the master and his three disciples all have romance subplots! Now that’s what you call cringe-inducing. Now that is what you call disgusting.
Just a thought. There’s plenty of legitimately well-funded, big-budget garbage out there, and plenty of gems made with rough, knockoff-style craft. Every tier of film has its good and its bad. What’s most disgusting isn’t a knockoff spoof — it’s the self-serious trash.
Btw, I watched the first episode of Fringe season 2 this afternoon and was a bit disappointed — maybe my expectations were too high.