Randomjack reviews Tempus Maximus

Today a friend of mine linked me to this machinima, claiming that despite being forty minutes long, it would be worth the time it takes to load (pretty damn long, on my internet connection).

Having just finished it, I'd say he was probably right. I don't regret tying up my bandwidth all day to load Tempus Maximus in high quality.

Although it had it's flaws (almost all machinimas do, to me at least), I still found it to be an enjoyable and well made film. What it lacks in any areas, it makes up for in ambition.


The premise is based around a moderately elaborate time travel plot. It isn't as complicated as something like it could easily get, but there is enough non-linearity that you have to pay attention. Although it begins with a familiar - three man squad on a mission to an abandoned base - storyline, it slowly gains momentum and picks up as the film goes on. It actually reminds me of Inception to some extent: although no one element (the characters, cinematography, ect) is particularly outstanding, the sheer uniqueness and ambition makes it work. It's aiming for the stars, and managing to reach the stratosphere. I'd prefer this to a more cleanly produced 'regretful guy committing suicide' short any day, because of the bold (so far as machinima is concerned) nature of both the concept and the scale.

For something with as much shouting as this, I'd expect there to be major problems in the voice acting. Surprisingly, that was rare. The material was fairly well handled, with an all around competent cast. Heck, as somebody who was just casting for a very large machinima myself, I'm glad to know about these guys.

As I've said, the production values are a ways from perfect, but good enough to not hinder the story. The cinematography is above average, and has its moments, although overused sweeping/circling movement leads to me not knowing what is being emphasized and what isn't. The framing is a bit off at times, and the 180 rule is tossed out the window. However, the visuals never fall into outright bad territory, so this is only an occasional annoyance.

Effects play a prominent role, from time-of-day colour correction to inserted displays or screens. In many cases, such as the opening, they are spectacular. In others, they fall a bit short (such as visible masking boundaries during rainy scenes). Just like with the camerawork, it never falters enough to be definitively awful, and sometimes comes out very nice.

My personal favorite part was the musical score. There is a prominent soundtrack, with several parts that stood out as especially fitting. Ranging from orchestral to quiet, the music adds a very nice touch that helps to round it out. Some was selected, and some was scored, but all of it was well done.


Overall, Tempus Maximus was worth watching and showed a nice degree of skill and effort. There are many junctions at which this kind of machinima could have gone off the rails, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it stayed on track. Could it have used improvement? Yeah. Is it still high enough quality to justify the forty minute commitment? Yes.