Buried in Netflix: Time Trap (2017)

I was surfing through Netflix and just as I was about to give up because there were too many options, I found Time Trap. The film surrounds a professor looking for his parents that disappeared years ago while chasing the fountain of youth.

The professor finds the cave that his parents disappeared into and goes in after them. After days of missing, three of his students and two middle-schoolers go to find him. The cave has more than one entrance, which, in my opinion, is the cause for every issue in the movie. Instead of walking in behind him, the group of students enter on the opposite side of the cave.

What makes the movie worth watching is the “time trap” component. As soon as you enter a certain part of the cave, time continues to move normally for you, but the cave is in a time bubble and that means the outside world is moving ages ahead of you.

While this movie kept my interest, I couldn’t help but think the end of the movie was rushed. Several components could have been spread out over the one hour and thirty minutes that I watched it.

Some spoilers beyond this point…

The movie kept the students secluded in one part of the cave for an hour. That is entirely too long to be at a standstill. There was one major incident that moved the group from one isolated room to another. It wasn’t until the last thirty minutes that the students find the professor. He’s sitting in front of another time bubble watching a bunch of people fighting in slow motion.

Then there is a little bit of exposition to try and explain whats going on. And then he tries to play the martyr. No professor, you can’t play the martyr, you haven’t been seen in this film since the 15-minute mark.

Also, we see cavemen, hippies, and soldiers fighting in super slow motion because of the time trap. It made no sense. Did they all walk into the time bubble?

If time moves normally in the cave, wouldn’t they have been able to see everyone slowed down before they entered? Why didn’t anyone stop and say, maybe we should leave?

I get that the cavemen were probably oblivious. And the professor wanted to find his family, and his family had their reasons too. But everyone else was probably just plain greedy chasing the fountain of youth. Honestly, the only smart people in this movie were the aliens. Luckily they were friendly or else everyone would have been in trouble.

Thoughts:

At the end of the movie, the only thing I was impressed by was Taylor and Cara (two of the students). Taylor manned up when he needed to fight the cavemen. Cara was able to climb up the cave wall to discover the time warp.

I won’t spoil the ending, but when the movie ends, there is a minor explanation of what happened on the surface thanks to the friendly aliens, but no hint of what happens next. Stories like this need a fleshed out ending. It would have been cool to know what happened with the people who survived. Did they protect or exploit the fountain of youth?

Take a look at this movie for yourself and decide how you would have liked it to end. I’d love to hear your thoughts.