by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

If you were a teenager and had the ability to change time, what would you do? Project Almanac, a new film by director Dean Israelite, ponders the ramifications of messing with the past to create a better future. Presented in found footage format, the story allows the audience to join in the time travel adventures of David Raskin and his friends in a fun and exciting manner.

While searching for a way to cover his tuition costs for MIT, David Raskin (Jonny Weston, Taken 3) stumbles onto a secret invention created by his late father. With help from his friends Quinn (Sam Lerner, The Goldbergs) and Adam (Allen Evangelista, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), sister Christina (Virginia Gardner, The Goldbergs), and classmate Jessie (Sofia Black-D’Elia, Gossip Girl), the group embarks on a journey to create a working time machine. The kids determine that if they are going to travel through time, the jumps must happen as a group. With the power of time travel, school bullies, popularity issues, failed tests, and monetary challenges are a thing of the past. With great power comes great responsibility, which is a lesson that they must learn the hard way. The fun and excitement turns to tragedy as the butterfly effect kicks in with a vengeance following a solo time trip to right a wrong. Now David must find a way to save his friends and reset time before his friends are lost to him forever.

For those of you who are worried about this film having heavy science fiction elements, you can rest assured that this film is as approachable as Back to the Future was in the 1980’s. In the case of Project Almanac, the mechanism that makes time travel possible was created by David’s father and hidden away right before he died in a car crash 10 years earlier. David finds the device along with blueprints to create a working time machine. While it sounds like time travel is basically handed to the kids, that is actually pretty far from the truth. David and his friends then attempt to assemble the machine using modern technology. The scientific method of “trial and error” leads to some of the best moments of the film, leading to the ultimate creation of a portable time device. You might also presume that David uses the time device to save his father from his fate, but luckily the film avoids that paradox altogether.

The best comparison for the film would be Josh Trank’s 2012 film Chronicle, which featured a found footage story focused around a group of kids who suddenly develop super powers. Much like Chronicle, the story feels like a genuine accounting of the events by the lead characters as they traverse this new terrain. These are human characters with flaws, and the first person perspective actually helps to tell the story in an honest and believable way that would probably have been less engaging in conventional film-making. The found footage format is handled in a smooth and logical manner that truly enhances the overall experience for the audience.

In terms of casting, the creative team behind this film brought together a fantastic group of young actors. Jonny Weston, Sofia Black D’Elia, Sam Lerner, Allen Evangelista, and Virginia Gardner work so well together as an ensemble, that it is very easy to believe that this group of kids have been friends for a very long time. The chemistry among the cast helps to sell the outlandish events as a plausible contemporary story.

Overall

Project Almanac proves to be the first bright and exciting adventure of 2015. The concept for the film might sound like something you have heard before, but the execution and cinematography allow the characters and plot to excel. I highly recommend checking out this movie in theaters.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Project Almanac 4.5 out of 5 time travel stories.

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