It took me all of last night and part of today to figure out if I liked this movie or not. I don’t usually watch this kind of film, but it was different from how it was presented in the previews. I was expecting a sci-fi thriller, but it turned out to be a psychological thriller. The film was a relentless torrent of negativity. Things kept getting worse and worse for the characters by the moment, every time Kucher’s character went back in time to try to fix something. Incidentally, at no time was it explained how he was doing it. He just did it and we were expected to suspend disbelief and just go with it.

The movie had me in a constant state of discomfort. The scenes were raw and unpleasant. The movie pulled no punches with dialogue or action. In true psychological thriller style, many of the worst things that happened in the scenes were left to the viewer’s imagination. The atmosphere was heightened by the jarring special effects and soundtrack. I was actually impressed by Kucher’s acting. He made the transition from joke to serious actor much more smoothly than others who have tried. Although his performance wasn’t spectacular, he shows some promise.

In the end, I decided that I do like this movie. It succeeded in its goal of making me feel uncomfortable and tense throughout. And even though I could hardly wait for it to be over, it was because I couldn’t stand to see the characters suffer any more. I cared about the characters enough to wish that things would get better for them. And although I doubt it will garner any Academy Award votes, it did what it was supposed to do, and I guess that’s all we can ask.