The storytelling is so confusing and the multiple timelines are so numerous that sorting out what exactly unfolds saps all the entertainment value.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 9, 2020

Certainly there are many flaws with this project, most from a technical standpoint and obviously due to the budget, but despite those shortcomings, Primer still stands out as the most intellectually stimulating film of the year.

| Nov 14, 2019

Carruth's downbeat and unique debut feature is something of an anomaly in the low budget U.S. indie filmmaking scene: Played out like a deadpan, almost naturalistic political thriller...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 26, 2019

Primer's notion of time-travel creating multiple identities and an uncontrollable mise en abyme reminded me mostly of Christopher Nolan's masterly and underrated The Prestige.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 4, 2019

Primer gains its seductive power by leaving the solution tantalizingly out of reach.

| Jun 16, 2017

A pretty nifty picture with just found objects and a timelessly intriguing idea.

| Jun 16, 2017

Primer is off-putting: in trying to be elusive it's simply obstructive.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 16, 2017

An exhilarating, disturbing and funny experience.

| Jun 16, 2017

Where's Doc Brown when you need him?

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 22, 2013

Shot for a begged and borrowed $7,000, 'Primer' looks it: grainy-ish, fuzzy on details and effects, acting running the gamut from A to B, and clipped incomprehensible technobabble for dialogue.

| Apr 13, 2013

Ridiculous, confusing, vaguely noir-ish nonsense.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 24, 2010

Discombobulating and mind-bending sci fi thriller. I think.

| Original Score: 88/100 | Jul 22, 2009

An exceptional science fiction film...

| Apr 29, 2009

Mind-bending thrillers like Primer are terrific viewing with your teenagers. Maybe if you're nice, they'll explain the ending to you.

| Feb 8, 2008

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2007

Oh, man, they don't make 'em like this often. A film unabashedly for the nerds in the audience (God love us), this is the type of film you could inflict upon your enemies, watching them squirm as they stare at the screen.

| Original Score: A | Jun 21, 2007

Scary, puzzling, and different.

| Jun 4, 2007

What saves this Sundance favorite ... from falling victim to its own complexity is its very human heart.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 22, 2006

Shane Carruth's ultra-low budget, 78-minute sci-fi film could almost be a 'B' movie from the past if not for its icy intelligence.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 26, 2006

This film imagines its viewers to be smart, possessed of a decent attention span and game for a challenge. It doesn't happen all that often.

| Feb 9, 2006