good back-story, and good acting

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

'Retroactive.' What's it all about? Who's it aimed at? Um, hard to say really. At a push I'd have to guess 'men.' And probably men who don't mind daft, vaguely sci-fi B-movies. Any film that includes a situation where a day/event repeats itself over and over again will always be likened to 'Groundhog Day.' Retroactive isn't really like that at all, but it does borrow the idea of an event happening again and again.A woman, on her way through the deserts of Texas, breaks down. And, if that isn't bad enough, the only person willing to pick her up is James Belushi. And he's a complete psychopath. Naturally, it doesn't take long for things to go bad and gunplay and shootouts ensue. However, it's not so simple as our heroine simply having to survive the chase. She only goes and stumbles on one of those shady government labs that seem to exist in 'film-world.' There, she discovers that the lone scientist (don't high level scientific experiments normally require huge teams of people to run them? Oh well, never mind...) can transport her twenty minutes back in time.The good news is that she's no longer pursued by James Belushi. The bad news – it doesn't take long before it all starts to go wrong again. Rinse and repeat. So, time and time again, she has to figure out the best way to stop his violent rampage while getting as few people shot by him as possible.Kylie Travis plays our heroine. And she does it competently enough. She's feisty and does the job. You'll certainly root for her throughout what she has to go through. However, it's James Belushi who stands out. He's larger than life in the most bonkers way possible. He's clearly loving being completely off his head and delights in playing the nut-job – he does tend to steal most scenes, but, ultimately, it's Kylie we'll care about when all's said and done.Basically, it's a 'one on one' chase sort of film. And, like with many similar films, it can be a little bit hard to maintain the premise. The shift of power continually shifts between 'hunter' and 'prey' and there are more than a few times where one could blatantly execute the other there and then. Naturally, they don't. If they did, the film would only be about twenty-five minutes long.So, if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get over than minor gripe, you'll actually find a solid enough little action movie. It's nothing new and it would probably never make your top ten films of all time, but it'll certainly fill just under an hour and a half of your time if you're looking for some sci-fi action fun in the desert.

I loved the whole idea of the stranded motorist being picked up by a crazy guy, and the dynamic among the characters as the story rolls out. There are themes of unresolvable domestic disputes between Frank and Rayanne, the instinct to start off this story with this basic idea is a good one, we can identify with the characters. The viewer is grounded in the ugly reality of an increasingly tenuous situation, and we can see it coming. I love how Frank keeps needling Karen about what it's like to be a woman, I love how they show the villain trying to get inside her head. One of the most interesting effects is how Karen is forced to become increasingly violent with each iteration, as repeated time travel slowly turns her into a gun-toting thug.I love Karen's attempts to fix things as she keeps going back, and she discovers news things every time she does, and more and more people die in more spectacular ways, it's almost comical because you know she'll just go back and try again. There are some deep existential themes hinted at in the plot, for example one person can go back and it resets everyone else's life, but when two people go back, does it reset just their lives or everyone else's? Would have been nice to see these themes explored in more detail, for example it is the ultimate conceit to think that one person can change the entire world, but that's exactly what's happening here.The film falls apart with basic believablity issues: James Belushi is terribly miscast, he's not scary, he's just John's brother who happens to have become an actor over the years. He is a serviceable doofus in the film, but rises above his mediocrity in a memorable scene where he realizes the significance of the machine, and in a bit of psychopathic inspiration, says to Karen and Brian that he is going to repeatedly go back in time every ten minutes and kill them over and over again.The gigantic research center is staffed by just one guy? I know the film has a budget, but they could have explained this away somehow, for example maybe he was working on the weekend or something. The see-saw between the person holding the gun, the other person knocks it out of their hand and picks it up and now they're in control, goes on back and forth so many times that it's laughable. There are lots of explosions to keep men watching the film, but there's no way a Cadillac has that much gasoline in it. There was no reason to destroy the machine, even though Karen insisted on it. Brian had a 20-minute limit on the machine, but at the end he miraculously pushes it to 60 minutes...how? This is never explained. And it bothers me that she would leave her car in the middle of the road for someone to crash into, this from a woman who was conscientious enough to go back and fix everyone's lives.All in all, an interesting film and it kept me watching to the very end.

It's a movie with these actors at the prime in their prime. The plot is quite simple, but expands on the back-in-time concept with vastly different dynamic changes in the timeline. James carries the 'good-ole-boy' to the extremes that puts reality to shame. So much so, that I gag at a lot of his performances post Retroactive. Hell, he makes it so real and so bad, one loves him to death. All the actors portray their roles with performances that exceed reality that QT would be crying. It's a perfect mix of Sci-Fi and characters over the top that make this movie such a success. Another sad, critical success financial failure performance.

Director Louis Morneau who also directed another classic flick, Road Kill 2: Dead Ahead 2008 has created another gem in Retroactive.Starring James Belushi who has also been other classic flick , Salvador 1986 and Made Men 1999.Also starring Kylie Travis.Also starring Shannon Whirry who has also been in other classic flicks, Animal Instincts II 1994, Animal Instincts 1992, Mirror Images II 1993 and Out for Justice 1991.Also starring M.Emmet Walsh who has also been in other classic flicks, Romeo + Juliet 1996, Narrow Margin 1990, Blood Simple 1984 and Blade Runner 1982.I enjoyed the shootouts and car chases.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic time travel flicks, The Butterfly Effect 2004, Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey 1988, Planet of the Apes 1968, Primer 2004, Returner 2002, Slaughterhouse-Five 1972, Timecop 1994, The Caller 2011, Triangle 2009, Edge of Tomorrow 2014 and Timecrimes 2007.