Review: ‘Project Almanac’ provides a solid time-travel adventure

Posted on February 6, 2015

By MARK VIOLA

Time travel is an amazingly versatile concept when it comes to movies, and there have been some really fun and exciting films to use it, including “Back to the Future,” “The Terminator,” “Looper” and “12 Monkeys.”

I went into the latest time travel movie “Project Almanac” with a bit of hope and a mild dose of trepidation. I came out thinking the film was actually quite enjoyable, and while it’s not perfect by any stretch, it still offers plenty of enjoyment over its rather lean 106 minutes.

One of the first things you need to know about “Project Almanac,” besides the fact that it is a time travel movie, is that it’s also a found-footage film, with all of the scenes appearing to have been filmed by the characters themselves. I’ve reviewed quite a few found-footage movies over the years. They had been becoming increasingly popular, at least until recently, when people seemed to tire of the concept, just like any over-used premise.

As a found-footage movie, “Project Almanac” is also pretty decent, making it reasonably believable–with several notable exceptions–that the characters would actually continue to film the events as they unfolded rather than just dropping the camera.

Overall, “Project Almanac” will not be long remembered as an excellent addition to the time travel mythology, but it is a solidly fun romp arriving at a time when there isn’t a lot of competition.

(This is a shortened version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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