(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A quantum physics student must fight for his life and the girl he loves when he discovers the universe is governed by 7 parallel time-lines and her estranged ex-boyfriend is out to kill her in every single one.”
The very nature of independent filmmaking means that storytellers typically have to work a lot harder to develop something special.
You see, indie filmmaking – often dubbed ‘guerrilla filmmaking’ – doesn’t have any of the flash and sizzle generally associated with studio efforts. These auteurs don’t have as much money to spend, meaning that they’re usually hampered with unpaid or lowly-paid screen talent, nor can they throw a few bucks into costumes, art direction, or special effects. The lack of such extras – more often than not – does get covered over to a degree with smart, snappy direction or some fascinating premise – an inspired nugget that helps bring all of this to life. But when you have absolutely nothing else to bring to the picture … well … then you end up with efforts to look very much like The Time Vortex (2025), an ill-conceived and poorly-made quickie that winds up feeling nearly empty of characters and emotions.
Nathan Dubrowski (played by Alex Kraft) is a graduate student who stumbles across the ability to travel between several overlapping timelines when – ahem – he spills his energy drink on the experiment. (Who would’ve thought that the missing ingredient to dimension-hopping was a Red Bull knock-off?) Lo and behold, the university’s evil student janitor Carter (Bryan Barron) decides he can use the technology to track down and kill Inaya Gupta (Rabbani Kaur), the one-time girlfriend who turns against him once she ‘takes a shine’ to Nathan. Before these universes collapse upon themselves, Nathan must vanquish the enemy, win over the girl, and somehow come to peace with his bitter, dying father Clem (Randy R Roberts) in what might be one of the most unnecessary subplots in the history of indie film.
Well …
On one level, it’s difficult to process an ‘attempted film’ like Vortex because, frankly, no one wants to be cruel critically. These are not marquee names associated with the project; and the whole mise en scene throughout has the feeling of being a student flick, something that sporadically feels like it surpassed the level of commitment and/or interest of all involved along the way. For example, in what world does a professor wait for a round of applause from his students for simply completing the day’s lesson plan? Furthermore, why would an editor insert frames of black between continuous scenes playing out on screen, an insertion which normally signals the end of sequence, when the action hasn’t concluded? It’s this kind of clumsiness that plagues Vortex, so much so that there’s really no way to ignore the elephant in the room.
Writer/director George Kaplan may’ve bitten off more than he can chew here.
An experienced director can sometimes do something special with an inferior script by imbuing the work with some technical flourishes here and there; but when that doesn’t happen in some way – be it vivid visuals or squeezing a notable performance out of an actor or two – there’s little else to stimulate the viewers except the strength of ideas. A quick look at the man’s profile on IMDB.com suggests that this is early in his career, so as a storyteller he didn’t quite have enough in his bag of tricks to pull anything off of note here. While Vortex tries to make bank with the idea of these overlapping universes slowly failing, there’s just no palpable tension conveyed by what’s captured on screen. The lack of any sense of urgency – along with Thespians who just couldn’t dial it up to eleven when needed – robs this one of life itself when all audiences needed was a pulse.
The Time Vortex (2025) was produced by Lot1 Productions and Prolific Pictures. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Allied Vaughn. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the minimally requirements of having a motion picture have been met here … and I do mean minimal. (There’s one painful sequence involving the university’s ‘subterranean lair’ that’s some terribly obvious post production effects work, so try not to laugh.) Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? You’re going to have to look elsewhere because this is a bare bone release.
Alas, folks, this one remains … Hard To Recommend.
To the film’s benefit, The Time Vortex tries fairly late in its presentation to ramp up the excitement and make a little something of itself for the audience; but writer/director Kaplan just have nothing left in the tank to make the race-against-time worthwhile, allowing this painfully murky production instead to plod from one parallel world to the next with the screen talent feigning excitement along the way. It isn’t as if there weren’t some interesting ideas packed in here to keep folks watching; and, yet, the amateurish presentation – from staging to acting to technical trickery – kills any momentum at each and every opportunity. (Was this a student film? If so, did he graduate? If he graduated, then why? Did he pay off the dean?) A turgid experience from start to finish.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Allied Vaughn provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of The Time Vortex (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A quantum physics student must fight for his life and the girl he loves when he discovers the universe is governed by 7 parallel time-lines and her estranged ex-boyfriend is out to kill her in every single one.”
The very nature of independent filmmaking means that storytellers typically have to work a lot harder to develop something special.
You see, indie filmmaking – often dubbed ‘guerrilla filmmaking’ – doesn’t have any of the flash and sizzle generally associated with studio efforts. These auteurs don’t have as much money to spend, meaning that they’re usually hampered with unpaid or lowly-paid screen talent, nor can they throw a few bucks into costumes, art direction, or special effects. The lack of such extras – more often than not – does get covered over to a degree with smart, snappy direction or some fascinating premise – an inspired nugget that helps bring all of this to life. But when you have absolutely nothing else to bring to the picture … well … then you end up with efforts to look very much like The Time Vortex (2025), an ill-conceived and poorly-made quickie that winds up feeling nearly empty of characters and emotions.
Nathan Dubrowski (played by Alex Kraft) is a graduate student who stumbles across the ability to travel between several overlapping timelines when – ahem – he spills his energy drink on the experiment. (Who would’ve thought that the missing ingredient to dimension-hopping was a Red Bull knock-off?) Lo and behold, the university’s evil student janitor Carter (Bryan Barron) decides he can use the technology to track down and kill Inaya Gupta (Rabbani Kaur), the one-time girlfriend who turns against him once she ‘takes a shine’ to Nathan. Before these universes collapse upon themselves, Nathan must vanquish the enemy, win over the girl, and somehow come to peace with his bitter, dying father Clem (Randy R Roberts) in what might be one of the most unnecessary subplots in the history of indie film.
Well …
On one level, it’s difficult to process an ‘attempted film’ like Vortex because, frankly, no one wants to be cruel critically. These are not marquee names associated with the project; and the whole mise en scene throughout has the feeling of being a student flick, something that sporadically feels like it surpassed the level of commitment and/or interest of all involved along the way. For example, in what world does a professor wait for a round of applause from his students for simply completing the day’s lesson plan? Furthermore, why would an editor insert frames of black between continuous scenes playing out on screen, an insertion which normally signals the end of sequence, when the action hasn’t concluded? It’s this kind of clumsiness that plagues Vortex, so much so that there’s really no way to ignore the elephant in the room.
Writer/director George Kaplan may’ve bitten off more than he can chew here.
An experienced director can sometimes do something special with an inferior script by imbuing the work with some technical flourishes here and there; but when that doesn’t happen in some way – be it vivid visuals or squeezing a notable performance out of an actor or two – there’s little else to stimulate the viewers except the strength of ideas. A quick look at the man’s profile on IMDB.com suggests that this is early in his career, so as a storyteller he didn’t quite have enough in his bag of tricks to pull anything off of note here. While Vortex tries to make bank with the idea of these overlapping universes slowly failing, there’s just no palpable tension conveyed by what’s captured on screen. The lack of any sense of urgency – along with Thespians who just couldn’t dial it up to eleven when needed – robs this one of life itself when all audiences needed was a pulse.
The Time Vortex (2025) was produced by Lot1 Productions and Prolific Pictures. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Allied Vaughn. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the minimally requirements of having a motion picture have been met here … and I do mean minimal. (There’s one painful sequence involving the university’s ‘subterranean lair’ that’s some terribly obvious post production effects work, so try not to laugh.) Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? You’re going to have to look elsewhere because this is a bare bone release.
Alas, folks, this one remains … Hard To Recommend.
To the film’s benefit, The Time Vortex tries fairly late in its presentation to ramp up the excitement and make a little something of itself for the audience; but writer/director Kaplan just have nothing left in the tank to make the race-against-time worthwhile, allowing this painfully murky production instead to plod from one parallel world to the next with the screen talent feigning excitement along the way. It isn’t as if there weren’t some interesting ideas packed in here to keep folks watching; and, yet, the amateurish presentation – from staging to acting to technical trickery – kills any momentum at each and every opportunity. (Was this a student film? If so, did he graduate? If he graduated, then why? Did he pay off the dean?) A turgid experience from start to finish.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Allied Vaughn provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of The Time Vortex (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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