Slipstream (2005)

Stuart Conway (Sean Astin) is an ordinary scientist with an extraordinary invention called the Slipstream Device - a time-travel mechanism that transports ten minutes into the past with the push of a button. During a test run Conway inadvertently intercepts a dangerous bank heist. Suddenly he has ten minutes to alter the outcome and save lives - including his own.System Requirements: Running Time 89 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 031398183020 Manufacturer No: 18302 Product Description

Worst Time Travel Movie Ever

I love time travel movies; in fact, it's one of my favorite subjects. So naturally I picked this movie up the moment I saw it. After seeing Sean Astin embarrass himself by awkwardly flirting with the bank teller he's ripping off with the help of his time-traveling IPOD, I knew this was going to be an unusual movie.

At first, the poor acting and unbelievable dialog offended me. After a while, I had to laugh, it was so incredible. I'm still trying to figure out what made the group of backward English bankrobbers choose southern California for their heist, which drives the (ahem) plot. And the FBI agent's boss helps provide the most unbelievable scene of the movie when he alternates between shouting and sighing about the disaster. If there was more blood, I might believe this movie was a TROMA special.

I would say never watch this movie, but it's worth the belly laugh to see a shootout at the bank filmed with all shooters in a circle as the camera that's in the middle pans around repeatedly to the sound of harmonica music. Oh, and no one gets hit. And the (ha ha) touching scene when the head bankrobber's fiancee is dying and they start discussing the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

If it hadn't been a time-travel movie, I wouldn't have finished watching it. If you're really into badly done B-movies, or if you enjoy time travel regardless of whether the moviemakers adhere to that old "suspension of disbelief" theory, you might want to see this. As for myself, I wish I had the magic IPOD, so I could get that hour and a half back. June 30, 2007

The Worst Time Travel Film Ever Made!

If someone was firing a machine gun at you just several yards away, would you just stand there firing a revolver, in return? Most folks with common sense realize doing something so ridiculous will get you cut to ribbons! But not the filmmakers of Slipstream! I could not believe my eyes! And this was portrayed over and over again, ad nauseum! Memo to Hollywood: Machine gun wins over pistol, not the other way around. When being shot at make sure you have some sort of cover, too! Wow, did the filmmakers ever bother to take any courses in physics while they were in High School? I guess not!

Nor was there a single character I could empathize with! In fact, the story's hero was so shallow and obnoxious, it ruined any fun one could possibly get from viewing this dull, plodding, two-dimentional piece of trash! October 6, 2006

An interesting take on time travel

I'd actually give this 3.5/5 stars. For the most part, the writing is fairly well done for such a film, though some elements feel a bit contrived.

The acting is surprisingly well done. Sean Astin pulls off the role as a socially awkward time travel researcher. Vinnie Jones works well as the sometimes menacing and sometimes lighthearted bank robber.

This movie keeps pace nicely and has some nice action sequences thrown in. The two bank shootouts are done interestingly, and the plane crash at the end was pretty cool.

I also really liked the soundtrack by Rob Lord. The music is matched with the scenes very well.

This is a good movie. It gives a perspective on time travel different from so many time travel movies out there, with entertaining characters and an easy to understand (if open ended) plot. Don't look for a lot of deep meaning here. But if you want a fun time travel movie, be sure to check this one out. February 5, 2006

A COUPLE OF BURKES

PLEASE NOTE: REVIEW DRAWN FROM AN ADVANCED SCREENER COPY OF "SLIPSTREAM" - FINAL EDIT, EFFECTS AND CONTENT MAY CHANGE BEFORE RELEASE. THANK YOU.

Although featuring a novel and seemingly fresh take on the nature of time travel, often creative camera work (plus a few cribs and a few camera shadows that can take you out of the moment), and good performances coupled with some solid and effective "time effects" (one I believe might be a first for any time travel film involving a jet - very well done), SLIPSTREAM is a great concept, but a standard film.

The trouble is, that while it is a time travel film, it borrows too heavily not so much from other time travel films (another first I believe for a time travel film - and just how many times have I repeated that phrase so far?) but from Guy Ritchie and RUN, LOLA, RUN. Starting with the concept of being able to travel (or here: replay) back ten minuets in time, the film adds into the mix two bank heists, two love affairs, two deaths and two second chances with one final twist - it's all good stuff, but the bank robbers come straight from the Guy Ritchie stock and trade of British Bank Robbers (rough accents, tough talk and guns, guns, guns - so much so, that VINNIE JONES, the brains behind the second bank heist was in LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS), and RUN, LOLA, RUN type "what if, or turn this corner instead" pacing - all of which is not bad, but still manages to drag the picture down with the feeling of "seen it, done it, rented it, returned it, caught it on cable" vibe.

Part of the problem is that the concept of time travel here is so fresh that you can't help wishing the film made it more of its focus, as opposed to pushing it into the background (the whole gimmick is run from what looks like an iPod, which our hero Stuart Conway (Sean Astin) seems to drop or lose at just the right and wrong moments - which is a cheap (and very SLIDERS) way of generating tension). In fact, it seems as if Phillip Badger (both story and screenplay) focused too much on making a gangster heist flick with time travel instead of taking the time travel aspect of the story to the next level - which is frustrating because that level is right there, all it needed was just one nudge to turn this from a run of the mill heist flick into a true breakthrough in the genre.

I don't want to give it away, but listen carefully to Conway's thoughts and speeches on time and moments (and repeating them) and you'll get the idea.

The ending is choppy and confusing - but since time travel is involved it might actually make some kind of sense, but you will be left wondering just how and what happened to Conway, and what, if anything, the ending has to do with the opening - (check out his watch at the start of the film and compare it to the time travel device during the film). Overall, SLIPSTREAM will play with your time as well, but may not bear repeating - but for the time you spend there are more good ideas than bad and some fun to be had.

October 6, 2005

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