Timecrimes - Murder is only a matter of time - DVD

Film: Actually, Héctor (Karra Elejalde) just wanted to relax a little on the terrace of his new home. But when he spots a young woman with his binoculars, exposing herself to his delight, only to suddenly disappear from his field of vision, Héctor sets out to see if anything has happened to the young beauty. When he finds her, that's exactly what seems to have happened, as the woman lies motionless on the floor. Before Héctor can attend to the stranger, he is attacked by a masked man. His only option is to flee from the brutal attacker, which leads him to the laboratory of a scientist (Nacho Vigalondo). There he hides in a strange contraption that turns out to be a time machine that transports Héctor back in time by about an hour. From there, he tries to track down the strange events - with fatal consequences.

With Timecrimes, Nacho Vigalondo has succeeded in creating a great fantasy thriller that uses the simplest of means to captivate for over 90 minutes. The first moments still come across as a bit worn and some more impatient viewers might be inclined to switch off prematurely. But this is strongly discouraged, as Vigalondo's film quickly emerges as an extremely clever and enormously suspenseful thriller that delights with plenty of surprising twists and turns and a fascinating lead character.

When it comes to the subject of time travel, stories usually only stand up to logical scrutiny for a very short time. This may be true of Timecrimes as well. There are many elements of the story that could be considered illogical or not really comprehensible. But it should simply be refrained from questioning too much here. Because by doing so, the fun and entertainment factor of the movie will be diminished completely unnecessarily. If you just get into the story and don't insist on logic at every moment, you will be rewarded with high tension and a lot of clever ideas.

Meanwhile, intensive work is being done on a US remake of the 2007 time travel thriller. Whether this will then work similarly well, can be doubted. Because it is not only the story and the good actors - especially Karra Elejalde with a very intense performance - but also Vigalondo's almost minimalist staging, which makes this film so effective and atmospheric. With the simplest of means the director, who himself also plays a central role in front of the camera as a mysterious scientist, has created an extremely effective mytery-thriller, which even without big special effects and without crude shock effects gives you goosebumps and really good entertainment. Absolutely worth seeing!!!

Picture + Sound: The picture quality is definitely indicative of the film's low budget. Here and there are minor dirt to make out, image sharpness and contrast could also be better in places. Only the coloration can fully convince. The sound is relatively unspectacular, but the eerie atmosphere of the story is captured coherently and the dialogue is well mixed. For this, despite the visible weaknesses, there is definitely still a: Good!

Extras: The single DVD has only the trailer to offer the film. But then on the double DVD, which is also available, there are even more extras, such as the film in chronological order, a making of and a short film.

Conclusion: Timecrimes is an original and extremely exciting time travel thriller that knows how to captivate until the surprising end. However, the logic of the story should not be questioned too much. But what Nacho Vigalondo has created with little means can be seen in every respect. The technical realization leaves something to be desired and extras are only available on the Special Edition. Nevertheless applies - no matter in which version: absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp