Director
Shawn Levy
Cast
Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, Zoe Saldaña, Alex Mallari Jr.
What’s It About
The story is set in a world where time travel is real. Ryan Reynolds has to travel back from 2050 to 2018 to stop his father (played by Mark Ruffalo) from ever inventing time travel. However, he ends up landing in 2022. Now, Reynolds has to get back to 2018 with the help of his 12-year old self (played by Walker Scobell). Will the two be able to finally stop time travel from ever being a reality? Will the two be able to save the world? Well, for that you’ll have to watch the movie.
Watch Trailer
What’s Hot
Ryan Reynolds holds the film on his shoulders throughout. His comic timing is superb and the way he delivers his one-liners is as good as ever. It’s one of those action comedies that Reynolds has become a master of in the past decade or two.
However, the surprise package of the movie is Walker Scobell. He totally knocks it off the park as the 12-year-old. He is a loudmouth, sarcastic and, at such a young age, manages to stand tall and deliver a smacker of a performance opposite someone like Ryan Reynolds. His performance is a testament to how other child artistes should perform onscreen.
Cinematographer Tobias Schliessler has created a world that’s worth the visuals. The locales, and even when it’s shot in the studios, the world that he has managed to create is fantastic.
What’s Not
Well, Ryan Reynolds is playing too much into his comfort zone for the past many years now. While he is definitely good in the movie, as an audience you’re expecting to see him in some other character. Sadly, even this character is on the same arc as many of his recent films, and therefore a slight disappointment.
Actors like Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldaña have been given lesser screen time, and that invariably makes this film an entire Ryan Reynolds narrative. A bit more depth into building their characters would have made the story wholesome.
Director Shawn Levy is not in his ‘Free Guy’ mode. In his last film with Ryan Reynolds, ‘Free Guy’, he had sort of managed to get that perfect blend of imaginative creation. Here, even though it looks a lot imaginative, it never feels that way. The presentation could have been a lot smoother. The transition between what’s happening now and what’s happening in future and what’s happening in the past is a bit unclearly defined, which makes it difficult for the viewer to know the exact timelines.
The editing by Dean Zimmerman and Jonathan Corn is quite mismatched as the flow of the timelines isn’t too clear. Also, this is one of the very few films where the editor chopped it a bit too much, and a little more of a screen time for the supporting cast wouldn’t have had hurt the audience’s viewing pleasure. Rather it would have given a lot more depth and relatability to the characters.
Verdict
While this is not as fun or as well made as Reynolds-Levy’s ‘Free Guy’, this too is a good one time watch. I am going with 2.5 stars.
