Writer/director Mike Jackson's indie sci-fi comedy Time Helmet isn't likely to be the best sci-fi flick you see this year, though it may very well be one of the sci-fi films you most remember. 

Time Helmet is a retro-vibed little work of wonder, a film that had me flashing back to my young adult years with films like Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, a film I'll say this day is criminally underrated, along with the likes of Back to the Future and others. The film centers around one Donald Voltmann (Peter New), a likable and simultaneously not so likable chap who is undeservedly confident and irritatingly bold but so darn sincere and enthusiastic that you kind of love him anyway. 

I've seen notes from one festival that referred to him as sort of a Jack Black. I'd likely say he's what would happen if Jack Black and Paul Giamatti had a cinematic baby. Whatever he is, I like it and Peter New plays him quite brilliantly. 

Time Helmet also works because Jackson hasn't forgotten that amidst all the sci-fi and all the silliness there are real human beings. The humor in Time Helmet is funny, though it's never funny at the expense of the characters. The story is familiar, I suppose - Voltmann invent a time travel helmet designed mostly to turn his life around. Instead, future Voltmann gets engaged in patent trolling his ex-wife. Fighting both his future self and Officer Prudence Smith of the Time Police, Voltmann's real journey is to save himself from financial ruin and to win back the love and respect of his daughter. 

It's not going to be easy. It is going to be funny.

If there's one thing that surprised me about Time Helmet it's that I actually cared about these characters. While I sure wouldn't call the film a weeper, it is surprisingly touching and emotionally honest in a way not exactly common with this type of sci-fi comedy. 

I loved that. 

Jackson goes more for the meaningful laugh than the easy one. Most of the time, those meaningful laughs do land and they do stick. There's quite a bit of meaning within this sci-fi scenery and physical gags. Voltmann at times really, really reminded me of Giamatti with that sort of quiet melancholy that Giamatti so often possesses alongside that consistent gleam in his eyes. Having screened at my hometown's GenCon Film Festival last year, Time Helmet is one of those modestly budgeted films where that modest budget may very well work to its advantage. I'm quite sure Jackson would have loved a bigger budget, but this is a film that feels more relational and more practical because it's a little simpler and beautifully brought to life in its crafting. 

I enjoyed Lou Ticzon's turn as Ferris quite a lot, in some ways Voltmann's practical half yet far from simply the right-hand man. He brings such beautiful glimpses of humanity here that I found myself lighting up whenever he was on the screen. 

Time Helmet isn't a perfect film, however, it is a perfectly lovely film with an engaging ensemble and an unabashed devotion to its own sincerity and storytelling. Lensing by Cameron Belsuth is effective throughout this just shy of two hour flick, while Jeff Tymoschuk's original score for the film is a similar wonderful companion for Mike Jackson's storytelling. 

When you get the chance, check out Time Helmet.

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic