BLAlley Review of The History of Time Travel

The History of Time Travel (2014)

Clever idea but ultimately disappointing

[4/10 · 24 June 2019]

I usually enjoy mockumentaries, from Zelig to The Last Dragon. Time travel is prime for such a treatment, but this version falls flat due to the complete lack of effort put into the time travel mechanism. The machine is laughable, not just for being a video game console but for completely lacking any plausible source of power or ability to isolate the traveler from the desk, chair, or room. Also, current history would not change only after altering events in the past, it would change the moment you departed (assuming your actions aren't already part of history). The way historical events repeatedly change as the film progresses feels more like an SNL skit and is certainly not the way temporal mechanics would work. Had they instead built a complete alternate history and then slipped in hints of that history would have been far more effective. The period footage and photographs were also not convincing. Adding a little grain to footage shot with modern cameras and lighting is not enough. There are other cues like clothing, lighting, and human behavior that make us realize it's from another time period. Shooting on old 16 mm film would have helped, as would a few dropped frames here and there.