I’m sure that many can say that a time travel plot for a movie has been totally played out for awhile now. “Project Almanac” is the latest one to enter this genre and try for a different spin within it á la found-footage. While many of the nation’s movie critics seem to have been far less than satisfied with the film overall, I on the other hand rather enjoyed it immensely. But maybe that’s because I have yet to grow weary of this genre yet or maybe it’s because I, like probably many others, have often wished I could go back in time and change things.
“Project Almanac” centers around a young man named Jonny Weston (David Raskin) who’s dream is to go to M.I.T. Upon discovering his acceptance letter in the mail, he finds the university was unable to give him enough of a scholarship to actually be able to attend in the fall. In frustration, Jonny begins to hunt around his attic for anything he could use as a science project in the hopes of attaching it to the only remaining scholarship he hasn’t applied for yet. While there, he and his sister find an old video camera with footage of his 7th birthday that arouses nostalgia in them both. But in a mere fraction of a moment, Jonny sees himself in that video staring back at the camera off in the distance. This incredible and seemingly impossible discovery is shared with his two best friends, which ultimately leads them all into the basement where his father’s old work lab once existed. It’s there they uncover one of his father’s old work projects that can only be described as plans for a temporal device. Through trial and error, they eventually get the device up and running, much to their delight and after setting some ground rules for its usage, they begin utilizing it solely to have fun and for their gain. But when Jonny misses out on an opportunity with the girl he likes in one of their time jumps, he starts breaking the rules and changing things to benefit himself, which only leads to a ripple effect and disastrous results, hence the butterfly effect. It’s then that the true premise of the movie takes off as Jonny attempts to fix time itself.
I’m quite sure the reason why critics haven’t really enjoyed this movie is for some of the plot holes that exist within it. Regardless, I chose to ignore them and imagine myself in Jonny’s shoes as the movie played on the large screen in front of me. At first, I think I think my ego would have been just like him and his friends, using the machine for money, popularity, and the like. But where my path might have diverged from his a little would have been me trying to change parts of my life that didn’t go over so well in the past, such as the day my father committed suicide, the day my drunk mom fell down the stairs and died, the day I chose to pursue a bed and breakfast that bankrupted me, the day I chose to enter many relationships that only ended in ruin, or the day any number of other difficult things happened to me. Yet it’s that butterfly effect that stops any of those thoughts in their tracks nowadays for me because I wouldn’t want to alter who I am today on any level. I actually like who I am now and who’s a part of my life as well, therefore the idea of any of that changing if I altered past events isn’t alluring whatsoever.
So in the end, I had a good appreciation for “Project Almanac” and its found-footage take on time travel, mostly because it was a fresh reminder of the dangers that could come from altering the past. Each of the trials and tribulations I’ve gone through over the years, while difficult in nature, have truly shaped and molded me into the person I’ve become now. And because I unconditionally love that person I’ve become, I wouldn’t want to change a single thing from my past. Thus maybe it really is a good thing that time travel doesn’t exist for any of us…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
