Interesting concept with very little narrative/plot. Get's increasingly confusing towards the end - so much so that it becomes a pain keeping track of everything.

One of the best, realistic-feeling, scientific, and subtle versions of time travel I've ever seen on film. However, it doesn't really make the viewer care about the characters or provide them much besides a nice mental workout. On the other hand, I enjoy the deep complexity, and respect it for doing so much on a small budget.

Fresh, low budget, and uncompromising sci-fi (well sort of) thriller, that I would recommend to anyone.

If there was a movie that should be re-named "Mind Fuck" this would be it. It's extremely interesting and really cool, but I'll be damned if I knew what was going on completely. Definitely needs to bee seen more than once and it's probably not too far fetched to think I'd give it a higher score after my next viewing.

It would be easy to weave a cheesy time travel plot, but Primer exceeds any expectation. Original, intelligent, intriguing and the tone was realistic. The jargon was a bit difficult to follow, but it made it even more compelling. Definitely not a film to watch for a short-attention spanned numskull.

need a rewatch

Very difficult to follow... needs to be seen twice. I enjoyed it for the philosophical questions it raised. Don't try to make sense of the time travel because it can't be done.

The idea is good as well as the script, but it has way to many loose ends.... But after watching it again, I must say that it doesnt have any loose ends. Great film, if you can follow the science dialog without falling behind. Demands to be watched two times, minimum...

It'd take multiple viewings to figure out this complex time travel story, but I could barely sit through the movie even once.

It works better as a Wikipedia page.

Making a no-budget sci-fi movie gives street credit in itself. But conjuring up something so interesting, convincing and fascinating is worthy of all the respect in the world. Kudos Carruth! The greatest achievement is that 'Primer' never reaches beyond its budget, and never seems cheap. It feels like a genuine movie. The puzzle plot's complexity eventually outweighs it's relevance, but all that is forgiven when considering the 7000 dollar budget. See it. Support it.

Note to self: don't time travel.

Good. An unintended invention leads a scientist due to some very sinister, unexpected consequences. An attention craving film that will leave you behind if you blink. Recommended.

A low budget sci-fi could have been a disaster of Titanic 2 proportions, but Carruth does himself a big favour in focusing on the main idea of time travel instead of spending money on lights and explosions. Primer is a smart movie that challenges the viewer to watch the movie once again just to catch the entire plot of the complicated story. Great movie, but lacks something undefinable.

Amazing accomplishment. Mind-bogglingly complex but incredibly rewarding. The viewer experiences the mind-fuck that is time-travel.

Enjoyable jostling dialogue teamed with a plot driven film that demands to be interpreted. Stylish shots and some original credit work, something not explored enough. People have commented on the convoluted ending. True, but it really just needs time spent being unraveled. My main query is the small goals they set about achieving once they attained control over time itself. Put that down to budget constraints, a theme recognized with the fiscal bantering and frugal living early in the film.

More an intellectual exercise than a movie, though I can appreciate that (especially when it's less than 80 minutes long). Much has been talked about the plot, which is used efficiently, and in the ends it's a case of overly-complex plot over minimal characters and themes.

An absolute brain teaser. I'll have to watch it again to fully appreciate this. Probably will have to kick it up a tier too.

Never have I been so attentive and challenged during a first viewing. Pieces to the puzzle are there in plain sight and only one is missing, the one also unattainable by the protagonists, leaving some wiggle room for further hypotheses. Given that the field of possibilities in a time travel movie is so immense, Carruth's most impressive accomplishment is actually that the meticulousness of his astonishngly complex narrative allows for a very precise reconstruction of "prior" events. Pure genius.

It was refreshing to see SF film where scientists talk like scientists and not like high school kids. It's also good that Carruth doesn't show common "you're an idiot so I'll explain everything to you" attitude towards viewers. But the problem is that he lacks in filmmaking skills. It needed some kind of suspense or drama, because in the end I didn't bother about anything happening in the film. I guess didn't understand it completely after one viewing, but I just don't care anymore.

Possibly the most confusing film I have ever seen and i have sat through "Holy Mountain" and "The Devils"

Way too complex for its own good. I read a thesis on the movie and still don't get it (don't make fun of me please). Still, one of the greatest no-budget movies I have ever seen. Kudos to Shane Carruth. I don't understand how he hasn't directed anything after this.. Most probably because of the complex script.. No new offers..

A couple small plot holes and mediocre acting, but overall a great sci fi/time travel movie. Great rewatchable value.

Refreshingly free of explanatory dialogue, and a real achievement in making a gripping thriller for such little money. But the question is: does the fact that I do not understand what the hell happened a fault with my brain, or with the director's film making skills?

It's so mind-blowing and original, that I'm gonna have to watch it again to fully understand it.

Incredibly smart, frustrating sf thriller that still confounds after multiple viewings.

Gets better every time I watch it.

Watch it twice! If you enjoy this, I'd also recommend Pi (1998), Timecrimes (2007), and The Man from Earth (2007).

get ready to watch this a couple of times