Above Average Sci-fi.

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2017)

This wasn't an especially smart or interesting or cool or scientific sci-fi movie, but I enjoyed it decently and liked how it stayed true to itself. Rian Johnson tried to make a good movie here, but he acknowledges that it isn't a superlative movie. I like that he didn't feel the need to make it appeal to audiences too much. There were things that I didn't like about it as I was watching it, but that I think made the movie better. I found that none of the characters were that likeable, but that wasn't such a bad thing because it allowed the dilemma of the plot to take precedence instead of telling us which character to side with. I also was glad that there was not that much money spent on production design and the like in an effort to make the movie look too futuristic. All the trucks in the movie were obviously just the same as the ones on the road today, which I thought was good because there are so many futuristic movies that spend so much time and effort on making futuristic stuff that really doesn't contribute to the story.
The premise of the movie is really good both in terms of the style of time travel and the complications that it precipitates. I personally doubt that time travel will ever be possible, but I think that if it were to exist in the world it would indeed be outlawed and that the way it was used here would be a fairly believable way that people would try to use it. It was also interesting how the old Joe was able to have shades of memories that resulted from the stuff happening in Joe's present.
Looking at it after the fact, I'm realizing that it is a very plot-driven movie, which I would normally expect to be a mark of a bad movie but that is not the case. The plot and its conclusion really give substance to the theme and characters in the movie. Throughout the movie, Joe is realizing that he is in way over his head and that his actions have a much larger impact now than they have to this point. At the end of the movie, he finally realizes that the situation he is in is bigger than just him and decides to "take one for the team" so to speak.
There are certainly imperfections to it. You can poke holes in the time travel rules and such. There are points where it drags and a few things that annoyed me about it. But on the whole I find it to be pretty good. It definitely makes me more interested in seeing what a Rian Johnson Star Wars movie will turn out tomorrow. It probably won't top your lists, but I would definitely recommend watching it if you're at all a fan of sci-fi or time travel. Overall Rating: 7.7/10.