By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Can you imagine being able to go back in time to change things in your life? Just think you could right so many wrongs.
It’s an intriguing concept. It’s also the premise of the new, sci-fi, time travel, romantic drama,
“Needle in a Timestack” from director
John Ridley ( “12 Years A Slave” and TV’s “American Crime”).
“Needle in a Timestack” is based on the 1983 short story of the same name by
Robert Silverberg. The movie is chockfull of talent and features Oscar nominees Leslie Odom, Jr. (“One Night in Miami” and “Hamilton”) and Cynthia Erivo (“Harriett” and TV’s “Genius”), as well as Orlando Bloom (“The Outpost” and TV’s “The Prince”) and Freida Pinto (“Hillbilly Elegy”).
Yet all that star power doesn’t bolster “Needle in a Timestack.” The movie starts out interesting and then quickly spirals into a baffling and boring romp and never fully recovers.
It all begins with the happily married and successful couple Janine, (Erivo) who is a photographer and Nick (Odom Jr.) an urban planner.
We know they love each other because Janine is shown during a video tearfully describing how much Nick means to her. It’s not a put on. These two are soulmates. When you have a good thing going like they do, it’s easy to see why they would want to hold on to each other.
That’s why when Nick’s old friend and Janine’s ex-husband Tommy (Bloom) re-enters their world perhaps by manipulating the timeline a bit, things get a little testy between Nick and Janine.
Surely, Tommy isn’t trying to finagle his way back to Janine. Then again, maybe Nick’s jealousy is showing and getting the best of him. Nick’s sister Zoe (Jadyn Wong, TV’s Scorpion”) has told him he needs to check himself about his crazy talk of time-traveling to take care of Tommy once and for all.
It could happen in this world because there are occasional bursts of energy—time shifts—that unexpectedly wash over people and at times often alters their past. Maybe you were a dog person before, but now you’re cat owner. A person you thought was dead is brought back to life.
So, Tommy’s ulterior motives come into play and just like that, a time shift has erased Nick and Janine’s marriage. Now Nick is married to his old flame Alex (Pinto), and they seem happier than ever.
Here's the thing. The longer the time travel bit wore on, the storyline got murkier and my interest in the characters waned. Plus, Leslie Odom Jr. and Cynthia Erivo—who are terrific actors--just weren’t convincing for me here as husband/wife/lovers.
"Needle in a Timestack" looks good, but it’s all flash and not much substance. It also takes itself far too seriously. Some novels and short stories just don’t translate well to the big screen and “Needle in a Timestack” is one of them.
"Needle In A Timestack" arrives in theaters and VOD on Oct. 15 and on Blu-ray/DVD Oct. 19.
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Watch This Trailer For
"NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
