In Mega Time Squad, by writer/director Tim van Dammen, the hero John (Anton Tennet) is a low-level hustler with ambitions of starting his own crew. But it’s clear early on he lacks the brainpower to manage a flea circus – but hey, we all gotta dream! John and his best bro Gaz (Arlo Gibson) work for a local crook named Shelton (Jonny Brugh), who they intend to rip off by beating him to his next score. So, the duo robs a Chinese antique shop and make off with more than they bargained for. Aside from the cash, John takes an ancient Chinese relic that allows the person wearing it to leap back in time. Wielding such power requires discipline, patience, and smarts; qualities the affable doofus lacks. It doesn’t take long before John begins crisscrossing the timeline, leaving a trail of chaos in its wake.

I don’t envy any screenwriter who must develop a time travel script. It seems obvious, but fiction is fictional – writers make it all up on the fly. Time travel stories, though, with their strict rules and laws, open themselves up to a whole other level of scrutiny. There’s nothing nitpicky viewers enjoy more than pulling at dangling plot threads like knotted balls of yarn. The beauty of Mega Time Squad is that the film’s hero is too stupid to contemplate creating paradoxes and bollocksing the timeline. He knows he’s making a mess of things, but he’s too reckless to worry about it in the moment. It’s this devil-may-care attitude that sets up much of the story’s funniest bits.

Mega Time Squad is one of the year’s comedy gems. It’s a hilarious sci-fi/comedy mashup jam-packed with stylish visuals, great performances, and memorable one-liners.