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I’ve said it before and by gum, I’ll say it again: time travel is awesome. There are so many variations of time travel in history and pop culture that to think about them all is as mind bending as time travel itself.
“Primer” approaches time travel in a very logical way and manages to present one of the best incarnations of its mechanics. Now, this doesn’t make the movie a spectacular one, though given its extremely small budget it is ultimately a successful one. The dialogue and the narration, with its step by step exposition, lends itself to more of a clinical or pedagogical type feel. Though we’re watching these guys discover and exploit time travel, it’s almost as if it’s a how-to video on how to successfully or unsuccessfully handle causality.
Some of you might remember in Highlights Magazine or Goofus and Gallant, good idea/bad idea. Those opposites are perfectly cast in Abe and Aaron. Abe being the careful, methodical one: showing the viewer step by step how to avoid messing with the time stream. Aaron being the loose cannon: wondering what can happen, consequences be damned. It’s no wonder then why we barely see or hear what Aaron is up to during his adventures in time. His impulsive nature doesn’t lend so much to the clinical aspects of explaining every aspect.
In the end, neither of these characters are wrong in their approach, but it does make me wonder what their futures would look like.
For a look at what the time travel in the movie looks like, here’s a handy guide for you!
