Given the premise of Time Cut, about a smart school girl (Madison Bailey) who travels back in time from 2023 to 2003 to save her sister (Antonia Gentry) from a serial killer, one wonders when the name Christopher Landon would show up — and lo and behold, if you wait till the end credits, there it is.

Landon is the director of Happy Death Day, where a young woman, fleeing a serial killer, is doomed to repeat the same day over and over again. The first Happy Death Day was written by Scott Lobdell, a well-known comic-book writer, and it was fresh. The follow-up, needlessly continuing the premise and adding science fiction elements to the supernatural mix, was written by Landon, and was a dud.

Time Cut, not written by Landon (the screenwriters are Michael Kennedy and Hannah MacPherson — the latter also the director), continues the case of diminishing returns in the niche genre that pits serial killers against wrecked space-time continuums.

The science is all wrong, even on the most basic, hypothetical level. But I guess the studio memo specifically said: make the fluff as derivative as possible. The performances are Disney channel/ Nickelodeon territory, as are the lifeless, unengaging direction by MacPherson and the low-budget sets and production design.

Clocking in at 92 minutes, Time Cut is a long, uninvolving and tiring piece of pointlessness

Even at 92 minutes, Time Cut is a long, uninvolving and tiring piece of pointlessness. Of course, the problem is not the pointlessness itself — pointless films are a dime a dozen in cinema, especially these days — but when one can conjecture up 10 better scenarios the story can take every 10 minutes, and then sees the story take the lazy, unimaginative way out, one gets seriously miffed at the lack of initiative.

It is surprising then, that such inane attempts in the name of “entertainment” open at the second spot in Netflix’s top-10 charts in most countries. Clearly there is an audience that loves seeing ho-hum in action.

Streaming on Netflix, Time Cut is rated suitable for ages 18 and over, though that rating is misleading. Apart from the inadequacies mentioned above, the film also has no thrill, scares or nudity. It is safely suited for teenagers, though one wonders if one should really subject their young to such a film

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 10, 2024