Comments on: Review: TIMECRIMES (Los Cronocrímenes)

By: adam charles

adam charles — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:33:37 +0000

I’m not so sure the start of the story can be explained anymore than the start of the Terminator films, or 12 Monkeys. Things aren’t changed, they just are. You don’t go back in time to change what’s happened, you go back in time to do what’s already been done. The main difference is that Hector’s motive to doing what he does(at least the second go around) is to consciously preserve what’s already happened, and no other time travel film I’m aware of does this. Everyone is motivated by some outside threat that serves as a means for them to unconsciously do what has already been done. Kyle Reese makes the conscious decision to go back in time to protect Sarah Connor, when in fact he was always there in the past for a period of a few days. The reason it’s easier to swallow the story of The Terminator is because the motive is not to preserve the outcome of the events, even though that’s exactly what happens. Hector is motivated, initially, to preserve the outcome of the events which makes one wonder whether the motive provoked the events, or was there an ulterior motive that “started” it all and was changed later “after” learning what would happen if things didn’t happen the way they already had. If you accept that things happened in the film because they were always going to happen then there is no start. If you want a start to exist then you’d have to believe that there’s a reason Hector would do all of the things that he does before believing that he has to in order to preserve time. In essence, you’d have to believe that Hector is subconsciously a terrible person that would force a woman to get naked for his own enjoyment. Which isn’t out of the question considering that he chooses to investigate a naked woman on his own without telling his wife about it.

By: Peter Hall

Peter Hall — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:13:53 +0000

John, that is the core cause-effect discrepancy in TIMECRIMES. It fails the spirit of the rest of the movie and could easily have been assuaged with minor script tweaks.

Oh well.

By: John LaTour

John LaTour — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:23:58 +0000

Hector was a complete dope. I wanted him to drown in the white liquid.

Could someone PLEASE explain to me how this whole thing STARTED? (ROT13) Ubj qvq gur tvey jvaq hc chyyvat ure fuveg hc va gur svefg cynpr sbe Urpgbe 1 gb vavgvnyyl frr vg?

Arrrghh!

By: Matt Wells

Matt Wells — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:27:52 +0000

I agree with, if nothing else, your first paragraph here. So many shitty time-traveling games, movies, books but yet I find myself sneaking into the movie theater hoping that THIS one won’t suck.

One game series that did time traveling very well was the Legacy of Kain series (it also had the best voice acting I have ever heard with the main characters). Although, time travel wasn’t the main theme, it was more about fate; but both themes were quite intertwined at times.

By: Peter Hall

Peter Hall — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:40:21 +0000

I’m far from the biggest Giamatti fan, but yes, that is an excellent call.

By: William Goss

William Goss — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:05:12 +0000

Do you agree that Paul Giamatti would be most fitting for the remake?