Primer (2004)

This will be the most challenging review I have ever attempted. Primer was the "Grand Daddy", "Take home all the Awards" show at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in Utah. My brother has been after me to watch it for 2 years. It was originally rated R, then they took out the language. The disk says it is rated PG-13, the MPAA website says PG-13, IMDG says PG-13, the Netflix sleeve that comes in the mail says PG-13, but Netflix.com lists it as R. I watched the movie in captions and there was one swear work, the Lord's name in vain. No nudity, no kissing, very little violence that doesn't show anything. I would give it a PG rating. Primer is for people that enjoy non-linear movies. The beauty of the movie is that it leaves a lot of guessing at the end, and I believe that was the intent. It was made by a first time director and he spent $7,000 making the movie. Take it for what it is. It is difficult to pull off a time travel movie, but given the brilliance of the plot, and for how much money they spent, I will give the work 3 solid stars. It made me think about a lot of things. If I were to travel back in time lets say a week, the real Ryan would still be alive, and the person that traveled (clone #1) would have to stay out of the way of the real person's life, otherwise there wouldn't be symmetry or you would throw off the time space continuum (Back to the Future definition). It gets even more complicated if you add a clone #2. Who is the real Ryan? Can all three people co-exist. What happens when you get to the point in time where no one is traveling in time, do the clones die and the original live, do all three live, does one person kill off the other two to be the only Ryan Lambert? This movie is like Inception, in that you learn more by reading on the Internet the day after you watch it. It is safe for kids to watch. The audio is bad, and it is hard to hear in some parts, so I suggest watching in captions.