Project Almanac

Project Almanac

19th February 2015 - 20:50 Bolton

I only know of the word "Almanac" from the classic Back to the Future II, in which Biff changes the past by using a Sports Almanac from the future, and on booking the tickets for this film, that was all I was thinking about.

What I was not expecting to find in Project Almanac was Platinum Dunes logo at the start (The dreaded Michael Bay production company) or that the film was 100% found footage.

When the main character (I can't remember his name) sees himself of the same age in a reflection in a mirror at his 7th Birthday Party it leads him to finding a prototype time travel device that his late father was building.  Piecing it together through an Xbox 360, the device is used by a scooby gang for numerous gains.  As it is a high school group the main focus is revenge on bullies, passing tests and winning the lottery (which I must admit was a real laugh out loud moment).  Eventually, one of the gang uses it for personal use to improve his love life, but this has effects on the present date.

It is all leading to the initial viewing of himself at his 7th birthday party, and the pay off is not too great.  Don't get me wrong, it is a reasonably enjoyable film, but the found footage style and Michael Bay influenced down female tops or direct at girls butts approach are completely unnecessary and not needed.

There are a few major issues with the time travel element as well, were continuity goes out of the window and future selves should be present when repeating time frames, but hey ho, Back to the Future is not perfect on those fronts either

One of the reasons I don't know the name of the main character is becuase you don't really connect with them due to the found footage style, all conversations that would have been full of emotional are solely one sided as you cannot see the person behind the camera and how they are reacting