Primer is a intense, dialogue-based sci-fi movie

To make a Sci-fi movie with an intriguing plot is any day a very difficult task and to make it on a low budget could spell doom for the director's hopes. It is here that Primer steals the hearts of the audience because it is not only fresh and intriguing, but has been made at a shoe-string budget of USD 7,000.

    A 2004 American Sci-fi drama dealing with time travel, 'Primer' is a winner because of its meticulously and methodically constructed narration and editing which keeps the movie buffs glued to the screen till the last scene.

    The film starts with four young office-goers spending their extra hours inside a garage involved in a discussion on a scientific project which unexpectedly leads two of them to the discovery of a device that makes it possible to travel backwards in time by a day or two.

    'Primer' is dialogue-driven and is full of scientific jargons which are not explained. Nothing in the movie is explained and it takes a lot of attention to understand which actually is happening on screen.

    The narration is linear but the sharp twists and turns and the characters travelling back and forth makes it edge-of-the-seat but equally hard to follow. Primer is a movie which needs viewing more than once and it is quite impossible to completely decipher what is happening on screen.

    Like Christopher Nolan's Memento, in 'Primer' writer, director, producer, musician and actor Shane Carruth puts the audience in the state of mind that the characters are going through and that makes it all the more immpressive.

    However, it can also put one off, especially because we all are habituated to watching hi-fi Sci-fis with visual graphics but Primer have absolutely no stunning visually stimulating scenes which can leave you mesmerised.

    It is more of a thriller which deals with the emotional implications and how greed can take over and break down your relations after you come up with such an exciting discovery like time travel.

    It is not the greatest Sci-fi film ever but has a strong tight script and a story which is experimental to the core and demands load of patience given its intricacies.

Blade Runner: A must watch sci-fi movie

A science fiction dealing with rogue androids may not seem to gather much interest at a time when such scripts and films have been over done with, especially those cheap movies which tries to entertain the audience with its bloody and violent scenes if not those sexually explicit content.

But Blade Runner, a movie made in 1982, is a masterpiece in that sense because of its futuristic visualisation and also for its script that tries to encapsulate the sensitive sides of the Nexus, as they are referred to in the film. The sensitive fabric of the movie coupled with an melancholy background score, gives the movie a must watch for the cinema aficionados, especially who love sci-fies. It raises a very important question: what is it to be human?

Humans have tried to play GOD not only in reel but also in real life and are still trying with umpteen experiments which have led to many discoveries which have helped mankind. But there is another spectrum too. We have tried to create artificial intelligence and that quest perhaps will prove to be our doom.

The continuous attempt to create a life form (bio-mechanics) which can be perfect and at the same time do not out do humans in the long run and are also under control of human being has been going on since time immemorial. But in this quest, perhaps it will trample their rights in the future. After all who are we to create life and decide its longevity?

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner shows a 2019 Los Angeles, littered with high rises and neon-lit dark alleys. The set is immaculately designed, dipped in darkness and coupled with a continuous rain, gives a feel of an dystopian world. There is hardly any scene where we can see the clear sky. Even the rooms are dark and always lit by artificial neon lights.

The film is a quest of immortality by these androids, who were created with a limited life span and enslaved to work in the exploration of some other planets and how humans try to hunt them down, when some of them defy the norm. It puts the audience in the hot seat asking questions. Truth is after all a perception, isn't it?. How you see it? Life threats makes a villain out of a man and so it does to these androids? The fear to die is as normal phenomena both in humans and androids.

Harrison Ford may have acted in sci-fies like the Star War trilogy but this is one of his best. It is dark and gritty and has many shades and layers of personality. Even Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, the leader of the androids, has given some poignant lines in the climax and of course Sean Young looks lovely.

The film is roughly based on the book Philip K Dick's 1968 novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and has many similarities to the characters and plot. The complex fabric which deals with identity, life and being human gave the movie a cult status. But there is a rider, if you are a fan of tube-light fights and flying saucers then this one is not for you. Otherwise, it is a movie not to be missed.