Hooks are a good place for a movie to start, but a great film is more than its premise. Co-writers B.P. Cooper and Bradley King, the latter of whom also directed the film, have certainly got their idea and a number of hypothetical situations based on that idea, but what they don't have is a story that springs from characters rather than concept. Although viewers may enjoy watching Time Lapse play out each night like a little sketch, exploring the various possibilities with a device like the one in Mr. Bezzerides' apartment, it runs into the same problem the characters run into, which is that they find themselves driven by ideas rather than motivated by their feelings or desires.

I'm all for films getting into the thick of it earlier rather than later, but the reasoning used by the characters to figure out the machine is rather unwieldy. A fallen coat rack hardly feels like an idea that would convince someone they're looking at an non-traditional form of time travel, and a different picture could've saved the film the trouble of convincing Finn that the machine is worth saving rather than debating whether or not to report Mr. Bezzerides' death. Speaking of which, they've also deduced a wild theory about what happened to him, based on his journals: that he saw a Polaroid of something terrible, tried to change it, and became stuck in time in the process, unable to move forward. How the characters arrive at this conclusion without actually having any particular reason to theorize it, other than the journal, is unexplained.

Jasper's big idea for the machine is to win some of his dog racing bets, so they begin posting the race results in the window for the photographs. It works, but of course, eventually the machine spits out a photograph showing them something they don't want to see. Each of these photographs, adding a new wrinkle to an increasingly complicated situation, feels less like a turn of events and more like another idea from a brainstorming session: "what if they saw X?" The group's actions are dictated by their own inexplicable theory that changing or avoiding the events depicted in the photo will cause something terrible to happen, and even when the events are bad, they painstakingly wrangle themselves toward that outcome whether it seems like a good idea or not. Some of these incidents are explained eventually, but the film fails to contextualize them as sensible in the moment, which is less a set-up-and-pay-off structure and more of a "just don't think about it for now" approach to the story.

Of the three leads, O'Leary is the most convincing, but the characters are driven by the needs of the plot more than anything. Finn is sucked into the device's allure due to his struggle to paint -- each photograph shows him a new painting, already completed, which he can copy rather than coming up with the inspiration. Buried in this detail is a more interesting idea, which is how the photographs are affected by the fact that the characters are now working toward making them happen rather than letting them happen naturally, but Time Lapse only touches on this, fascinated more by criminal activity and domestic drama than how the camera impacts fate, despite the fact that their entire story hinges on it. Time Lapse is not a bad movie: it's got lots of ideas, is handsomely made for a low budget, and has a nice visual style that gives the film some personality despite taking place almost entirely in the same apartment complex. Unfortunately, it still feels like a movie that's in the process of being developed: out of the camera, but not totally in focus.

The Blu-ray
Time Lapse comes to Blu-ray with bizarrely "futuristic" artwork that doesn't match with the film's slightly retro, slightly heightened visual style. The art also highlights Panabaker as the movie's most recognizable star, shuffling her two co-stars off to the back cover. The single-disc release comes in a Vortex eco-friendly Blu-ray case, and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Presented in 1.78:1 1080p AVC and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, the disc looks and sounds solid. As with many digital productions, contrast during dark scenes is never quite as rich and inky as I'd like it to be, but colors are quite vivid and nicely-saturated, and fine detail is excellent. Sound is mostly devoted to the music, as there isn't much room for ambiance inside the gang's tiny apartment, but it gets the job done, and the ominous whirring of the camera has a nice eeriness to it. English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing are also inclduded.

The Extras
Two audio commentaries with director / co-writer Bradley King and co-writer / producer B.P. Cooper are included, one focusing more on the development of the story and the idea, and the other focusing more on the nuts and bolts of production. It's a shame the cast couldn't be present on one to give them a more distinct feel, but they're both reasonably interesting tracks that dive into minutia about the process (including a reference to the "Twilight Zone" episode, also titled "Time Lapse", which some might have thought they ripped off). There is some overlap between the two tracks, but they're both reasonably enjoyable.

Video-wise, a making-of featurette (22:52) is an above-average look at the making of the movie, getting more into the details of production rather than boring the audience with story and character details about the film they've already watched. Some strong B-roll and material with the cast liven this featurette up. Two deleted scenes (4:00) with optional commentary are also included, and wrap up the disc's supplements. Both video extras are presented in HD.

A trailer for The Machine plays before the main menu. An original theatrical trailer for Time Lapse is also included.

Conclusion
Time Lapse is an enjoyable movie, but the seams show. Those who don't mind being carried along on a more theoretical ride will probably have a good time, but the overall experience isn't much deeper than discussing the idea with a group of friends. The shame is not that Time Lapse is a failure, but that it could've been even better with a little more work. Rent it.