Timecrimes

Oh my God the time traveler in this movie is an idiot! Do as the time machine guys says and DON'T GO ANYWHERE FOR ONE HOUR. But nope, he's gotta go meddle with the timeline and create multiple versions of himself and events. I'm a sucker for time travel flicks, and for a very low budget Spanish import, it was fairly entertaining, but check out the much better "Predestination" instead if you haven't seen it.

Timecrimes (2007), titled initially Los cronocrímenes, is one of the best time-travel movies available. Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, it was made in Spain and performed in Spanish. Reading English subtitles will not distract, however, as much of the movie is visual, and the pacing is not slow but methodical. The story revolves around Hector and starts at his house, which he recently moved into. He sees something in the woods behind his house and goes to investigate. He is stabbed, and while running away from the mysterious masked figure, he enters a secret lab in the neighboring…

Before I say a word about the movie itself, let me advise you that if you haven’t already seen the preview for this movie, do yourself a favor and Don’t Watch It! Never have I known a preview to give so much away, and it it is particularly heinous in this case as it is a time travel movie, with plot shifts that should be experienced in real time, so to speak. I would have been some old mad if I had watched the preview first. But on to the movie itself. This is a Spanish language movie with subtitles, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it. It is nicely set up and cleverly done. At…

Timecrimes is a simple yet clever sci-fi thriller that makes the most of its small-scale production. Most of the movie takes place in just three locations—the house, the woods, and the lab with the time machine—but it never feels limited. Instead, the confined setting adds to the intensity and focus of the story. The acting was solid. It wasn’t flashy or overly dramatic, but it felt natural and believable, which kept me invested. The plot is straightforward enough to follow, but it still manages to surprise you. It’s one of those movies where everything clicks into place by the time it wraps…