Review: Time Machine, The (2002)
Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Starting with GROUNDHOG DAY whimsy and ending with PLANET OF THE APES dark
intensity, THE TIME MACHINE is a mixed bag but an entertaining picture, although
it's scarier than its PG-13 rating might lead you to believe. Based on the H.G.
Wells novel as well as the original 1960 film, this version stars Guy Pearce
(MEMENTO) in a part played by Rod Taylor in the original.
Professor Hartdegen (Pearce) is a scientist who experiences a tragedy that
causes him to invent a contraption that's a whirling combination of polished
brass and shining glass that looks like a cross between a horseless carriage and
a planetarium projector. Of course, it's a time machine. Hartdegen's all
consuming passion becomes using his machine to venture into the future to find
someone to answer his big question: "Why can't I change the past?"
The first part of his journey is fun, thanks especially to stirring music and
charming sets -- the background of director Simon Wells (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT) is
all in animation direction. An especially nice scene from this part has the
professor watching skirt lengths change over time. This first part is quite
funny, featuring large Lunar Leisure Living ads that look straight out of
STARSHIP TROOPERS. The film's funniest character is played by Orlando Jones
(EVOLUTION). As a literary and scientific know-it-all named Vox, Jones is a
holographic card catalog to die for. Of the movie's many self-referential
jokes, none is funnier than when Vox plays for us the Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical version of THE TIME MACHINE.
The less successful second half of the picture is set in the far away future.
Using the typical cinematic rule, the future looks more like the past than,
well, the future. We also learn a twist on the old rule about not messing with
Mother Nature. We also shouldn't mess with the moon. Diehard fans of the
original film may be angry that anyone would dare mess with their movie, but I'm
here to report that I enjoyed this version.
THE TIME MACHINE runs 1:36. It is rated PG-13 for "intense sequences of action
violence" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, March 8, 2002. In the
Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
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Edward Johnson-Ott
Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons. Orlando Jones, Mark Addy,
Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law, Omero Mumba, Alan Young. Music by Klaus
Badelt. Screenplay by John Logan, based on the novel by H.G. Wells.
Directed by Simon Wells. 96 minutes.
Rated PG-13
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly http://www.nuvo.net
E-mail: ejohn...@prodigy.net Archive reviews at
http://reviews.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Edward+Johnson-Ott
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with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
Before addressing the problems with "The Time Machine," it's important
to note what the filmmakers got right. Director Simon Wells
(great-grandson of H.G.) and company have succeeded in making a snappy,
well-acted adventure packed with eye candy. The production offers
futuristic vistas, a sarcastic, possibly sentient holographic computer
named Vox (Orlando Jones), an idyllic village far above the ground, and
big, bad monsters. The movie is engaging enough that I plan to see it
again when it opens this Friday.
Still, because of some crucial missteps, I left the theater less than
satisfied because, for all the filmmakers threw in, they forgot to add a
sense of wonder.
Based on the revered novel by H.G. Wells and clearly influenced by
George Pal's 1960 cinematic adaptation, the film begins in New York City
at the turn of the last century, as scientist and inventor Alexander
Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) develops a device that will allow him to travel
through time. His motivation for creating the machine is a mission of
rescue. Four years earlier, his beloved Emma (Sienna Guillory) was
killed on the night of their engagement and he is determined to travel
back in time and prevent the tragedy from happening.
At this point, fans of the book and original film are likely thinking,
"Where did that storyline come from?" In the press notes, writer John
Logan ("Gladiator") explains, "In adapting the material for today's
audiences, we felt it would be more exciting, more interesting, to
create an emotional context for Alexander's building the time machine."
Big mistake. In addition to using his book to comment on socialism and
class divisions, H.G. Wells gave us a man out to prove his theory that
time was the fourth dimension. The political agenda in the original film
shifted to an anti-war stance, but shared Wells' portrait of the time
traveler as an explorer. He saw the marvels and nightmares of the future
and we shared the adventure with him, experiencing all the wonder along
the way.
But things are different in the remake. First off, there are no social
or political statements to be found – entertainment is the only agenda.
Second, Alexander's mission is to change the past. When his attempt to
undo Emma's death fails, he shoots into the future still determined to
find a way to alter events that have already occurred. His is a
fact-finding mission – he allows no time to savor what he sees. As a
result, everything feels rushed. We witness incredible advancements,
like the personal helicopters weaving past the super-skyscrapers of
2030, and horrific visions, including a stunning disaster in the heavens
that I won't detail here. Instead of drinking it all in, though, we are
shooed forward like tourists on a cut-rate package deal, caught up in
Alexander's breathless quest.
Incidentally, the scheduled late 2001 release of the film was postponed
because of a scene depicting a futuristic New York being pelted by
remnants of the aforementioned disaster. Those images, deemed
inappropriate in light of the Sept. 11 atrocities, were excised, but
once you see the disaster, you'll figure out what happened in the
missing footage.
Eventually, Alexander whooshes some 800,000 years into the future,
landing in the era of the Eloi and the Morlocks. In this portion of the
film, the changes made by the new guys are more successful. In the 1960
movie, the Eloi were vapid, lethargic white-robed human lambs ready for
slaughter and the Morlocks were blue-skinned, white-haired creepoids
with glowing eyes and no language, waiting in underground caverns for
the next Eloi harvest. They looked frightening, but turned out to be
absurdly easy to kill. In the new movie, the Eloi are a bilingual tribe
living in a simple life in their gorgeous elevated village. They know
what the Morlocks want them for and actively avoid capture. Alexander
meets and soon grows close to Mara (Samantha Mumba) and her little
brother, Kalen (Omero Mumba, Samantha's real-life sibling). As for the
Morlocks, while most are feral spies and hunters, a well-spoken humanoid
mind controller called the Uber-Morlock (Jeremy Irons) leads them (Simon
revived the mind controller notion from an earlier version of his
great-grandpa's story).
The sense of wonder (and later, despair) established so well in the
original film was aided immeasurably by bookend segments of the time
traveler, first explaining his theories to some Victorian colleagues and
later returning to recount his adventures to the men. That meticulous
groundwork is gone now – all that remains are appearances by Philby
(Mark Addy), Alexander's devoted friend, and Mrs. Watchit (Phyllida
Law), his faithful housekeeper. Cameo Alert: Check out the flower shop
early in the film. The man behind the counter is Alan Young, who played
Philby in the original film.
Regardless of its problems, the new incarnation of "The Time Machine" is
entertaining, despite an overbearing soundtrack that too often echoes
the theme from "Survivor." Had Simon Wells ditched the "save my lover"
motif and allowed Alexander to be a pure explorer, the film might have
been something more grand. But what's done is done. Rather than
continuing to mourn what the film is not, how better it seems to simply
try and appreciate what it is.
© 2002 Ed Johnson-Ott
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Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2001 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
H.G. Wells' 1895 novel and George Pal's 1960 film get a fancy,
special-effects-laden update in the brand-spanking-new version of The Time
Machine, which was directed by Wells' great-grandson, Simon (The Prince of
Egypt). Anyone familiar with either of the previous editions might be a
little confused during the first 30 or so minutes of the remake, which
resembles its source in the same vague sort of way NASCAR can be considered
a sport.
Machine begins in 1899 New York City, where science professor Alexander
Hartdegen (Guy Pearce, The Count of Monte Cristo) nearly forgets to abandon
his comforting mathematical formulas and head home to prepare for The Big
Date where he plans on popping The Question to sweetheart Emma (Sienna
Guillory). The two meet and begin taking a romantic stroll, but Alexander's
marriage proposal is interrupted by a mugger. A struggle ensues and Emma is
killed.
Flash to four years later, where Alexander has apparently devoted all of his
time to building a machine capable of traveling forward or backward in time.
He hops in and goes back to the night Emma was killed, only to watch her die
in a buggy-related accident (it's kind of like Groundhog Day, I guess). For
some reason, Alexander doesn't see himself when he goes back in time, and,
in an even more bizarre development, he decides he'll stop Emma from being
killed by going into the future.
After a pretty cool shot of Manhattan being constructed around him as the
years fly by, Alexander makes brief stops in 2030 (where, while still
wearing his turn-of-the-century clothes, he meets a cute blonde and gives me
a 'Nam flashback to Kate & Leopold) and 2037 (where the progress of Man has
finally begun to destroy the world), before passing out and waking up in the
year 802701. The former island of Manhattan is now home to the Eloi, a race
of mostly primitive people, although they're civilized enough to not
understand words like "steal." Just like Jim Carrey in The Majestic,
Alexander completely forgets about his One True Love and immediately falls
for a girl named Mara (Irish pop star Samantha Mumba), even though she's a
single mom (her kid is played by Mumba's younger brother, Omero), which is
kind of noble for a 19th century guy.
Some of the Eloi are familiar with the English language, which is really
good news for Alexander, since that's all he can speak. Then he meets the
Morlocks, which I'm not even going to get into here, other than to say
Wells' 100-plus-year-old story was pretty prophetic because he correctly
predicted the divisions that have already been haunting this country for
years - the pasty white monsters (Republicans) and mocha-colored sheep
(Democrats). Jeremy Irons (Dungeons & Dragons) plays the Alpha Morlock and
looks like the product of an unholy union between Hedwig and Johnny Winter.
The effects in Machine surpass what you may have seen in the original, and
they had better because the new version cost ten times more. It was so
overwhelming that director Simon Wells reportedly suffered some kind of
breakdown for several weeks during filming (The Mexican's Gore Verbinski
stepped in while Wells, who had only directed animated films previous to
this, slept it off). In addition to totally messing with the original story
(you can thank Gladiator's John Logan for that), the filmmakers spiffed up
the actual time machine, which previously was made of a red velvet chair, an
umbrella and a whole lot of brass. There's also a pretty decent bit with
Orlando Jones (Evolution), who plays a knowledgeable reference hologram at
the New York Public Library.
Like the recent remake of sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes, the original
version of Machine was a better film. There aren't enough expensive special
effects in the world to make up for a good story. They had one with
Machine, but chose to screw with it.
1:33 - PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence
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Bob Bloom
Phyllida Law, Sienna Guillory, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Omero Mumba and
Jeremy Irons. Music by Klaus Badelt. Screenplay by John Logan. Based on the
screenplay by David Duncan. Based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Directed by Simon
Wells. Rated PG-13. Running time: 96 mins.
The first question any science fiction movie buff will want answered about The
Time Machine deals with its comparison with the fondly remembered 1960 version
of the H.G. Wells tale.
To be honest, this retelling, directed by Simon Wells, great-grandson of the
author, is superior in many aspects, most of them technological. But, that is
because of the giant strides made in special effects over the past 40 years.
The Eloi and Morlocks are more complex and sophisticated than in the original,
which presented the Eloi as a herd of blonde, bland, placid sheep easily led to
the slaughter, and the Morlocks as hairy, bestial creatures without any real
intelligence.
The 1960 version was more innocent and quaint. In that George Pal production,
the inventor, George (Rod Taylor), was a Victorian idealist who created his time
machine to find a better world, a Utopia.
In this remake, the inventor, a mechanical engineering professor named
Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) is driven to invent his machine because of a
personal tragedy, which he wants to undo.
Thus the motivation of the 1960's film time traveler was more altruistic than
the selfish desire consuming this remake's protagonist.
And while neither film version is totally faithful to its original source, this
latest offering lacks the simple charm and naiveté of the 1960 feature.
Other changes are for the better. Instead of the nuclear holocaust of the 1960
version, a monumental natural disaster sets about the division of the human race
into the above-ground Eloi and the underground Morlocks.
Also the setting has been transported from Victorian England to
turn-of-the-19th-century New York. Pearce's Alexander is more an absent-minded
professor than the proactive he-man portrayal of Taylor.
Yet, through necessity, Alexander becomes a man of action, helping the Eloi
throw off the yoke of the Morlocks.
John Logan's screenplay is more along the lines of David Duncan's for the 1960
film, than Wells' novel. One of the last credits says, "Based on the screenplay
by David Duncan."
Pearce, as he has demonstrated in L.A. Confidential and Memento, can lose
himself in a character. But in The Time Machine he seems a bit lost.
That may be because events transform Alexander from distracted professor to
obsessive inventor to curious explorer and finally to determined freedom
fighter.
Jeremy Irons has very little to do as the head Morlock. He looks more silly
than frightening in his all-white makeup. His appearance makes you think he's
the offspring off a one-night fling between Edgar Winter and the Ghost of
Christmas Past.
Some weak comedy relief is offered by Orlando Jones as a holographic reference
librarian named Vox.
The Time Machine looks splendid. Wonderful matte work, combined with top-notch
computer-generated imagery helps create a breathtaking series of images showing
the changing world as Alexander travels over the eons.
But overall, the movie lacks warmth and heart.
At 96 minutes it moves quickly, despite a rather slow beginning. And yet even
with all its touches of humor and magical effects and images, it remains
uninvolving.
I enjoyed The Time Machine. Its special effects were impressive. Yet, I still
felt somehow unsatisfied. And I believe it's because the movie never rises above
the predictable. For all its cheesiness, the 1960 version had a sense of awe and
grandeur about it, an aura of nobility that cannot be found in this newest
rendition.
No matter how timeless the story, it still needs a sense of wonder to capture
an audience.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He
can be reached by e-mail at blo...@yahoo.com or at bobb...@iquest.net. Other
reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline. com by clicking on golafayette.
Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom.
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Christopher Null
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 2002 filmcritic.com
Guy Pearce remakes his second film of the year with The Time Machine… and it’s
barely March. Unfortunately, he had considerably better luck with The Count of
Monte Cristo than with this limp retread.
Then again, the original Time Machine wasn’t really anything special – a bunch
of bad makeup effects and a weak plot. This time out the makeup’s better but
the story’s a total loss.
The opening shows promise, with scientist Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) in
1899 New York City, looking to get hitched with his lady. Alas, on the eve of
their engagement, she is killed in a mugging, leaving Alexander alone with his
quest to build a machine to go back in time and right the wrong. And equally
alas, this doesn’t really work out, sending a depressed Alexander into the
future, where he witnesses the destruction of civilization when the moon crashes
into the earth (in the original, it was a more traditional nuclear Armageddon),
and eventually takes a breather 800,000 years hence.
The future looks idyllic, but really it turns out to suck worse than having a
dead fiancée. The problem? What’s left of humanity has evolved into two separate
races – the Morlocks, fierce albino creatures that live underground, and the
Eloy, a docile group on the surface that essentially are raised as a food source
for the former. And for some reason, Alexander takes it upon himself to stop
all the carnage.
Little of this makes for edge-of-your-seat viewing, though the effects are
impressive, particularly when our hero is traveling through time – or
time-lapse, at least. Much of the film got unintentional guffaws from my
audience – which turn into creepy snickering when they realize it’s not a comedy
(Orlando Jones’ appearance notwithstanding). And speaking of appearances, Jeremy
Irons looks like he spent all of a day on the set for his work here as the
leader of the Morlocks – and four hours of that was probably spent getting his
makeup on. He looks as bored as I was, waiting for the credits to roll.
Will audiences be taken by this century-spanning tale of adventure? I know I
wasn’t. The good news is that this journey might span 800,000 years, but it will
only suck 90 minutes out of your life.
RATING: **
[* = lowest rating / ***** = highest rating]
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Gore Verbinski, Simon Wells
Producer: Walter F. Parkes, David Valdes
Writer: John Logan
Starring: Yancey Arias, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons, Philip Bosco, Phyllida Law,
Samantha Mumba, Orlando Jones
http://timemachine.countingdown.com/
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Rose 'Bams' Cooper
THE TIME MACHINE (2002)
Rated PG-13; running time 96 minutes
Studios: DreamWorks/Warner Brothers
Genre: Science Fiction
Seen at: Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan)
Official site: http://www.countingdown.com/timemachine/
IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0268695
Written by: John Logan, Simon Wells
(based on the book by H.G. Wells)
Directed by: Simon Wells
Cast: Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Orlando Jones, Jeremy Irons,
Mark Addy, Omero Mumba, Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002
Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/2002reviews/bamstime.html
I wish I were a pitch writer for movies. I have a few that I'd offer up
for this one...
THE TIME MACHINE: The Land That [You Wish] Time Forgot!
THE TIME MACHINE: It's Your Time; Let Us Waste It!
THE TIME MACHINE: Trashing A Good Actor's Career In Triple Speed!
THE TIME MACHINE: Bet You Wish You Were Watching MEMENTO Now, Huh?
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
Professor Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) has a beautiful mind that he
doesn't wish to be wasted under a conforming bowler hat. Hartdegen, a
scientist and inventor, Thinks Different, and is surprised that the rest
of the world doesn't move to his rapid pace. His pace is so rapid, in
fact, that he almost forgets to pop the question to his girlfriend Emma
(Sienna Guillory). But wouldn't you know it: Tragedy Ensues, plunging
Hartdegen into a four-year funk from which not even his best friend and
colleague Dr. Philby (Mark Addy) or his housekeeper, Mrs. Watchit
(Phyllida Law), can rouse him.
Hartdegen builds a time machine so that he can change the events of the
recent past, but somehow concludes that his answer lies elsewhere,
prompting him to go back to the future: the way-ether time of
800,000+AD. There, he meets Raquel Welch...I mean, Mara (Samantha
Mumba), mouthpiece for the Peaceful Enoi tribe of creatures who haven't
really evolved much in the 800,000+ years since his time. And where
there's a Peaceful tribe, there's gotta be a dark side, right?
Riiiiight.
THE UPSHOT
You ever go out to see a new flick, and wish you had just gone to
Blockbuster instead? If you're anything like me, THE TIME MACHINE will
make you wish just that. TIME AFTER TIME - the much better, though only
slightly related - version of H.G. Wells' time-travel story, kept
popping in my head after Hartdegen landed in the way-ether time of
800,000+AD. I found TIME AFTER TIME much more enjoyable than THE TIME
MACHINE, even though the first movie steered far clear of pere Wells'
Morlocks and Enoi. Maybe even *because* the first movie steered far
clear of them.
THE TIME MACHINE started out fine, lulling the viewer into an accepting
state with its sad (at first) story of a lost soul and decent (at first)
CG and special effects. Had it spent most of its time in the past and
the near-future, telling us more about what made Hartdegen tick, I might
have found this movie a pleasant, non-threatening diversion. But my
head started to spin as I watched the veil get slowly drawn back, asking
me to accept inanity after patronizing inanity, with plot holes big
enough to drive a Humvee through. H.G.'s great-grandson Simon's vision
of the future got progressively more silly, culminating in the
laughingly doofiest SuperBad Tough Guy (Jeremy Irons) since John
Travolta in BATTLEFIELD: EARTH - and it *still* managed to get worse
from there, as if it was in a contest to see just how bad a movie can
evolve into before the closing credits.
As the Neo-Primitives, Samantha Mumba (Alexander's probable New Squeeze,
Mara), her real-life brother Omero (Mara's brother Kalen) and the other
Peaceful Eloi tribe, reminded me of that STAR TREK episode where Kirk
comes down and saves its version of backwards natives from a mean ol'
Godzilla-looking stone statue demigod. By the looks of things, Simon
Wells watched that episode, too. Poor Simon; I guess 96 minutes just
wasn't enough time for him to include Pretty Pictures *and* a coherent
story.
I felt the most sorry for Guy Pearce; after he and his brilliantly
mind-bending MEMENTO were so badly robbed at Oscar(R) nominations time,
I was hoping that the next movie I'd see him in would set the screen
a'fire. Alas, it was this movie that most deserved to go up in a blaze.
I guess there's one consolation: at least Orlando Jones (A.I. Vox)
didn't play the customary Clown. Small comfort, though, when the movie
around him was a joke.
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE
I wish I could go back in time and erase any memory I have of watching
this goofy flick. Next time I get a hankerin' for some H.G. Wells, I
think I'll head for the video store and rent TIME AFTER TIME instead.
Where's Cyndi Lauper when you need her?
THE TIME MACHINE rating: flashing redlight
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2002
EMAIL: ba...@3blackchicks.com
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
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Laura Clifford
----------------
In turn of the century New York City, absent minded professor Alexander
Hartdegan (Guy Pearce, "The Count of Monte Cristo") is spruced up by his
housekeeper Mrs. Wachit (Phyllida Law, "The Winter Guest") before he
goes to propose to Emma (Jessica Lange lookalike Sienna Guillory). But
tragedy strikes and the bereft Hartdegan is determined to undo what has
been done and so he spends years using his intellect and correspondence
with a patent clerk named Einstein to create "The Time Machine."
Based on the H.G. Wells science fiction story that George Pal first brought
to the screen in the 60's, "The Time Machine" is directed this time around
by the author's great grandson Simon Wells ("Prince of Egypt"). While
forty years of special effects development take the cheese factor out of
this version's visuals, overall the effort is a disappointment.
The film's first major problem is its ham-handed handling of its motivational
tragedy. When Hartdegan succeeds in returning to the time before his fiance's
death, he soon learns that it is an event he can't alter. The second death
scene shouldn't inspire titters, however, and this one does. A carriage
accident may as well have been replaced by the proverbial 2000-pound weight.
The man who spent years going back in time gives up on his endeavor after one
try and decides instead to go future hopping to find out why he couldn't
prevent Emma's death.
Hartdegan boards his machine for a longer journey and we're treated to
changing seasons and the botanical growth and shrivellings that creep
across the conservatory glass in retro stop-motion spurts. In 2030, he
finds a new addition to the story inside the city's library. Vox (Orlando
Jones, "Evolution") is a database hologram with attitude who frustrates
Alexander's demand for time travel schematics with information on H.G.
Wells and Pal's earlier film. When Hartdegan attempts to jump forward,
he's halted a mere 7 years later to find the earth being destroyed by a
fragmenting moon. He barely escapes arrest, but is knocked out clambering
into his vehicle which progresses forward for 800,000 years.
He awakens to find himself being cared for by Mara (Irish pop star Samantha
Mumba) within a colony of cliff hugging pod dwellings. His puzzlement over
where the older Elois have gone is answered one day in a horrific attack
by the Morlocks, which hunt down Elois as food and take Mara to their
underground dwelling. Hartdegan travels into the underground Morlock
mining community to find Mara in the clutches of Uber-Morlock (Jeremy Irons,
"Reversal of Fortune"), an intellectually evolved being who controls
the hellish society.
While Vox is an inspired addition, this adaptation by Josh Logan ("Gladiator")
is curiously lacking in time travel and doesn't generate any excitement
until the last journey's already been taken. The final segment, with its
powerful and fast moving Morlocks, offers some thrills, but logic isn't its
strong suit. The 'stone language' taught amidst New York tablets inscribed
with Brooklyn Bridge and Tiffany and Co. smacks of "Planet of the Apes"
while the hideous, human hunting miners recall "Battlefield Earth." It
makes little sense why the Elois need to live dangerously suspended
along cliffs when we're shown that Morlocks have no problem climbing.
Guy Pearce's stilted performance does little to distract the audience
from the film's problems. He gives his character no humor or warmth and
seems incapable of projecting wonder, something a time traveler should have
in good supply. Thankfully Orlando Jones perks things up in the few scenes
he's in and Samantha Mumba has nice presence as Mara. Phyllida Law is
underutilized as Mrs. Watchit yet still injects some much needed character
into the Victorian segments which find Mark Addy ("The Full Monty") adrift as
Hartdegan's friend Philby. Samantha Mumba's young brother Omera plays
Mara's younger brother Kalen like the feral boy of "The Road Warrior."
That Jeremy Irons' character should set one to thinking of "Battlefield
Earth's" Travolta is not a good thing.
The wall to wall chalkboards of Hartdegan's laboratory were configured by
a mathematician to ensure accuracy, but this "The Time Machine" needed
more time at the drawing board.
C+
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
la...@reelingreviews.com
ro...@reelingreviews.com
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Dennis Schwartz
the novel by H. G. Wells; cinematographer: Donald M. McAlpine; editor: Wayne
Wahrman; music: Klaus Badelt; cast: Guy Pearce (Alexander Hartdegen), Samantha
Mumba (Mara), Jeremy Irons (Über-Morlock), Orlando Jones (Vox), Mark Addy (David
Philby), Sienna Guillory (Emma), Phyllida Law (Mrs. Watchit), Omero Mumba
(Kalen), Alan Young (Flower Store Worker); Runtime: 96; DreamWorks Pictures;
2001-Australia)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
"The Time Machine" is a strangely unaffecting telling of the H.G. Wells novel
from 1895. It is told in a different manner than the novel and in a different
setting. There's some fun to be had in its second half, which reminds me of an
old-fashioned clean as a whistle adventure/romance story. The film takes place
in Manhattan instead of London. It stars Guy Pearce as the brilliant young
mathematician and Columbia professor, Alexander Hartdegen, who hopes to use the
unknown patent clerk Einstein's early science theories to build a time machine.
Alex is in love with the beautiful blonde Emma (Sienna Guillory), but on the
very night when he proposes marriage in Central Park, a mugger kills her, and he
plans for the next four years to travel back in time in his new machine and
alter history. His close friend David Philby sighs with disapproval that his
eccentric and curious mate can't stop feeling sorry for himself and get out
more. Alex's fusspot loyal housekeeper, Mrs. Watchit, agrees with Philby. She
will later wonder when her master disappears, what became of that silly lad.
At least, this sci-fi film is more devilish than the 1960 George Pal version.
The director, Simon Wells--he's the great-grandson of H.G., and is recognized
for his animation work--keeps things moving by being silly when the story
finally gets rolling and does a nice job using computer-graphics for the film's
visual effects. As for John Logan's script, it never seems to evoke emotion from
the characters and allows the film to fall prey as a mostly visual effects film.
Attractive pop singer Samantha Mumba, who is part Irish and Zambian, plays the
Eloi heroine Mara the star will fall in love with; while her young brother Omero
Mumba plays Kalen. He's her son in the film.
The time machine is made up of whirling spheres enclosing a Victorian club
chair. Golden brass gauges spin to record the current date. A joystick controls
speed and direction. The time machine is also uniquely designed so that it will
always land near Times Square. There Alex gets out of his shiny golden
contraption in the years 2030 and 2037 and no one stares, except for him gaping
at the incredulous NYC of the near future. Not much of a fantasy so far, and he
can't change things that happened in the past. But that changes on his next trip
to some 800,000 years into the distant future.
Alex lands in the same NYC place, but it is devastated because the moon fell off
the earth.
The pacifist jungle-clad Eloi, the evolution of the new homo sapiens, are
tan-skinned in complexion due to years of racial mixing. They dwell in pods
affixed to mountains, which they get to by climbing up high rope ladders (New
Yorkers always seem to find the oddest places to live in). The Eloi suffer as
prey to the giant cannibalistic monsters called Morlocks, led by the
Über-Morlock (Jeremy Irons), who come up from the underground to hunt them down
for food. Alex fights back when his love interest Mara is kidnapped by them and
taken to their underground fortress, where she's imprisoned for breeding
purposes.
Irons gives the film some flashes of life as he plays the über- creature with
some despotic panache. Other than his lively villain, this film offers no other
appealing performances. But There's a cute bit about a holographic figure played
by Orlando Jones. He is a fountain of information, as he's "a compendium of all
human knowledge" in the 2030 library -- a bouquet thrown to the merits of
artificial intelligence. But this flick is sanitized without Wells' warning to
the gods of science that they don't have all the answers or his socialist
messages to the capitalists about the unequal society they have created.
REVIEWED ON 3/14/2002 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
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Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Not a remake. Not a sequel. The new film THE
TIME MACHINE is a comment and a play on the ideas of the
1960 film and on the novel. The movie seems a little
slight and rushed, but it is not at all bad as a short
science fiction story. Guy Pearce was the wrong actor
to cast as the Time Traveler, however. Rating: 6 (0 to
10), high +1 (-4 to +4)
THE TIME MACHINE has already had one reasonably accurate film
adaptation. George Pal's 1960 version made some modifications of
the plot of the Wells story, but they were relatively small. The
film caught much of the spirit of the book. Any plans at this
point to remake THE TIME MACHINE would probably have been a
mistake. It would be tough to compete with happy memories of the
earlier version. Happily, though few critics seem to have noted
it, a remake is something that the new film THE TIME MACHINE is
not. It does not make any attempt to tell the same story. In
fact, there are references in the dialog to both the novel and the
George Pal film, indicating that it takes place in our world. It
is our world that the film assumes is destined to have a future
much along the lines that Wells predicted. This sort of thing is
not uncommon in written science fiction, but rare in a film. [In
fact I just recently read THE SPACE MACHINE by Christopher Priest,
which is not a sequel but plays with ideas from both THE TIME
MACHINE and WAR OF THE WORLDS.]
In this new film a late 19th century American scientist, Alexander
Hartdegen (played by Guy Pearce), suffers a great personal loss by
chance and devotes four years to inventing a machine that will
take him back in time to change the past. He only partially
succeeds. To his frustration he finds that he can change the past
only in minor ways. In frustration he decides to visit the
future. There he finds that future man has made a huge blunder
destroying civilization as we know it. Knocked unconscious as he
is escaping further into the future he overshoots his destination
and finds himself in 802,701 A.D. and as Wells predicted, humanity
has split into Eloi and Morlocks. This film inherits the ideas of
Wells legitimately. It is directed by Simon Wells, a great-
grandson of H. G. Wells and who prior to this film has directed
only animated films like BALTO and PRINCE OF EGYPT.
Guy Pearce, our Time Traveler, has been in some interesting films
including LA CONFIDENTIAL, MEMENTO, and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO,
but he is not the most expressive actor. After a promising start
in which he plays the curious scientist to the hit, his face goes
impassive and he just does not convey much emotion to the viewer.
In the 1960 film the Time Traveler was played by Rod Taylor who
was much better at showing his emotions. Taylor's Time Traveler
was on an emotional quest: he had the passion to escape to a
better future free from war. After the promising start Pearce
plays his role as coldly intellectual and his quest is to answer a
technical question: why cannot he change the past? That is bound
to be less engaging to an audience. The viewer never really cares
a lot about what happens to him.
The film has several small tributes to its origins. In the Time
Traveler's house is a photo of H. G. Wells as a young man. If one
looks quick one can catch Alan Young, Philby in the 1960 film, as
a florist. The Time Traveler watches the mannequins change in a
store window as he moves through time much as he did in the 1960
film.
The real star of any visual version of THE TIME MACHINE has got to
be the title device itself. The machine has to be complex enough
that it looks like it might work but not too complex to be
assimilated by the eye or too threatening. An instant Hollywood
icon was the mechanism created for George Pal and the 1960 version
with its spinning dish and its antique chair. [Recommended is the
documentary on DVD of THE TIME MACHINE that tells how the 1960
film's machine was created.] This film obviously borrows from
that design. It replaces the one dish with three. Two dishes are
behind and above the cockpit, spinning in opposite directions. One
is in front and below. The dishes look like Fresnel lighthouse
lenses. The antique chair is there much as in the 1960 film as is
the control panel with the crystal lever. The new control panel
has a nice dial display on brass rods looking like something out
of a century old calculating machine. The one thing that looks a
little strange is some steam guages. Somehow I am not sure the
world is ready for a steam-powered time machine. ("I stopped the
machine at 205,356 AD and got out to stoke the boiler.") But the
machine has a sort of 1800s "steampunk" feel.
Then there are the inhabitants of the future. Wells described the
Eloi as fair-skinned. These Eloi are light brown as if all races
had blended to one color as well they might over 800 millennia.
The Morlocks when they attack come up right out of gravel pits,
grab victims and drag them down into gravel pits. It is a fairly
scary image borrowed from the 1956 horror film, THE MOLE PEOPLE.
I am not sure it made sense in that film and it makes even less
sense here. The implication is they are going to an underground
cavern, but how the Morlocks can get there without the gravel
spilling into the cavern I cannot imagine. The chief Morlock
(called an Uber-Morlock) is played by Jeremy Irons looking like
Elric of Melnibone.
I was prepared not to like THE TIME MACHINE and found that if one
is really interested in time travel stories, this new film is a
pleasant surprise. It does not try to replace the original THE
TIME MACHINE, it instead makes itself a companion piece. Add TIME
AFTER TIME and you have a really good science fiction triple
feature. I rate the new film 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1
on the -4 to +4 scale.
Open note to Roger Ebert (non-spoiler): You ask in your review why
the Time Machine stays in one place rather than at a particular
set of coordinates in space with the Earth flying away from under
it. I had puzzled that one myself, but years ago decided it makes
sense. The Time Machine is a physical device that creates a field
in which funny things happen with time. Like most matter we see,
it has been captured by Planet Earth and is carried with it. It
is not immovable, it just is not moved relative to the earth.
People do not move it because it moves through their time too fast
for them to see. But the pull of gravity is instantaneous and
binds it to the earth just the same way it binds us. In the 1960
film the machine even moves a little relative to the Earth when
the traveler hits the brakes too suddenly. Then the forward
movement in time gets dissipated into gyroscopic motion in three
dimensions. The machine spins around and topples to its side. A
plane moves forward in the sky, but it still maintains it momentum
and travels pretty much with the Earth. (And thanks, by the way,
for mentioning me on page 433 of your new book THE GREAT MOVIES.)
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2002 Mark R. Leeper
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Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Directed by Simon Wells. Screenplay by John Logan, from an earlier
screenplay by David Duncan, based on the novel by HG Wells. Starring Guy
Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Jeremy Irons. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG
for frightening scenes by the MFCB. Reviewed on March 10th, 2002.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
Synopsis: When his fiancee Emma (Sienna Guillory) dies tragically,
Alexander Hartdegen (Pearce) spends four years creating a time machine so
that he can alter the course of history. When he is still unable to save
Emma, Hartdegen decides to travel forward in time, ending up eight
hundred thousand years in the future. There he meets the lovely Mara
(Mumba) whose people, the beautiful Eloi, are the prey of the monstrous
subterranean Morlocks.
Review: Much like Guy Pearce's previous film, "The Count Of Monte Cristo",
"The Time Machine" wants to be nothing more than a fun action-adventure
romp. Certainly, there is none of the 1960 George Pal version's atomic age
allegory to be found here. But unlike "Monte Cristo", which carefully
developed its exciting plot and characters, "The Time Machine" seems,
paradoxically, to think itself short on time. Not only does it clock in at
just an hour and a half in length, it's almost midway through that runtime
before Hartdegen wakes up with the Eloi and we get to the main part of the
story. This cinematic precipitancy is a shame, because the picture's
introductory segments are quite well made. Hartdegen's odyssey through the
twenty-first century is visually enthralling, especially the disaster
which inadvertently propels him forward eight hundred thousand years. But
thereafter, "The Time Machine" appears to be in a race to get to the end.
The Eloi and Morlock cultures are barely fleshed out, a major plot point
is inexplicably contradicted, and the whole thing appears to be little
more than a "Planet Of The Apes" rip-off. In a way it's ironic that the
director, Simon Wells, is the great-grandson of HG Wells: this adaptation
of "The Time Machine", too, is about four generations removed from the
original. For my time travel thrills, I'll stick with "Doctor Who".
Copyright © 2002 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.
Archived at The Popcorn Gallery,
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html
| Shannon Patrick Sullivan | sha...@mun.ca |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
/ Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) go.to/drwho-history \
\__ We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars __/
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Robin Clifford
Dr. Alexander Hartdegen is a brilliant inventor, mathematician and
physicist and a little absent minded. But that does not mean that he isn't
head over heels in love with his beloved fiancée. A tragic moment in time
takes Emma's (Sienna Guillory) life and Alexander secludes himself to find
a way to bring her back. Four years of effort pay off and the scientist
invents a way to crack the time barrier in a new millennium interpretation
of the classic H.G. Wells science fiction tale, "The Time Machine."
Animation director Simon Wells (great-grandson of H.G. himself) make his
break into live action with John Logan's adaptation of the 1960 screenplay
(by David Duncan) in the George Pal classic version of "The Time Machine."
There is a built-in audience of fans of the '60 flick that will bring us to
the theater out of curiosity, alone. Comparison to Pal's film, rather than
Well's original story, is a given and, as with last year's "Planet of the
Apes," scrutiny of the modern retelling is bound to happen. Since I was one
of those knocked out by '60 film when I was a kid, I, too, shall compare.
The most endearing quality of Wells-the-younger's remake is the obvious and
deeply felt homage to the George Pal classic. It does not achieve the level
of complexity and depth that the great science fiction director-producer
accomplished back when F/X were crafted rather than computed. Nice little
touches that will mean something to us devotees to the original are
sprinkled throughout the film even as it tries to cut new ground. Watch
for, briefly, the dress shop and for a very small cameo perf by Alan Young,
who had a couple of roles in the Pal work. There is a quality in the story
telling and social commentary in the 60 film - there is, for instance, a
strong anti-Cold War statement about nuclear destruction in one of the more
numerous stops the hero of that film (coincidentally another Australian,
Rod Taylor) makes. Logan's script lacks the depth of its predecessor,
making this "The Time Machine" (lite).
The new "Machine" makes an effort to gain some distance from David Duncan's
50's-era script and introduces the love angle as Alexander's motivation to
traverse time. It is set in the same era, the turn-of-the-19th century, but
is transplanted from London to New York City, which fits, from a Hollywood
viewpoint, since NYC would be a high-tech Mecca of the time. The scientist
is motivated to solve the time travel enigma when Emma is slain by a thief.
But, when he invents his machine and goes back in time to save her (and
his) life, he realizes that he can't change the past as Emma is killed yet
again (in the film most unintentional comic moments). Hartdegen takes his
machine and heads into the future to find the answers to his question of
"what if."
Alexander takes a couple of timeouts on his journey into the future - once
in 2030 with a brief follow-up a few years later - that are used to set up
some of the plot devices that would be useful later in the story. One
interesting bit of fun is the intro of Vox (Orlando Jones) as the
holographic librarian that has all of the world's knowledge at the tips of
his cyber fingers. The high tech look coupled with a sassy perf by Jones
make for one of the film's several notable supporting performances. One or
two more stopovers along the way in the inventor's journey into time would
have helped flesh things out a bit more.
The meat of the story, in both versions, is the hero's arrival 800000 years
in the future. The Eloi are a cliff-dwelling people who wish to live in
peace but, through many millennia of evolution, have become victim to the
Morlock, underground dwellers that rely on the beautiful Eloi as their main
dietary staple. When (and I really mean "when") the inventor arrives he is
subjected to the chaos of one of the Morlock attacks on the helpless Eloi
and witnesses the beautiful Mara (Irish pop star Samantha Mumba doing a
solid job in her debut on film) taken by the ugly Morlock hunters - of
course, the romance is duly set up before the attack to give our hero
reason to go under ground to rescue the future Eve to his Adam.
The screenplay does a solid job in interpreting the time travel paradox -
if you went back in time to kill your grandmother to stop some heinous
event then you would never be born to invent a time machine to go back in
time to kill your grandmother.... Alexander heads into the future to get
his answers and he sees that he must stop the cannibalistic attacks of the
Morlocks and bring education, enlightenment and true freedom to the Eloi.
Along the way in his quest, the doctor meets the Uber-Morlock (Jeremy
Irons) a pasty faced subterranean dweller that has evolved to the top of
the caste structured Morlock society. Irons has a commanding presence as
the psychic leader that can give Alexander the answer he seeks. This role
could well have been comical in a lesser actor's hands, but Iron's delivers
a creepy perf that makes the skin crawl. What is unfortunate, and a problem
that holds the film back, is star Guy Pearce. He is two-dimensional and
evokes almost no empathy, which is a shame considering the good supporting
cast.
This is a sci-fi, high-tech F/X-driven drama and the makers deliver some
interesting effects along the way. The time machine, itself, is a flashy
update to the buggy that Rod Taylor rode and there are more flashing lights
this time around. The fast motion time-passing sequence, as Alexander
hurtles into the future, is visual eye candy. The worker/hunter Morlocks,
developed by Stan Winston Studios, are nasty, ugly, fast moving creatures
that are far more formidable than those in the Pal film. The filmmakers use
the terrifying power of the Morlock race, and Alexander's need to destroy
it, to come up with a very different solution from that of the original.
"The Time Machine" does not have airs about being better than the original
film and wear its admiration to the George Pal film prominently on its
sleeve. It dares to be different by introducing dramatic angst into the
sci-fi equation (though Guy Pearce is not involving as the hero/romantic
figure) and providing a collection of three-dimensional supporting
characters. And, it still captures the essence of H.G. Wells. I give it a
B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
ro...@reelingreviews.com
la...@reelingreviews.com
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Aleksandar Zambelli
"The Time Machine"
Copyright (c) 2001 Aleksandar Zambelli
Originally published in The Crimson, a Florida Tech student publication.
Directed by Simon Wells
Starring Guy Pierce, Samantha Mumba, Orlando Jones
Genre: Sci-Fi / Adventure
The most interesting thing about the new "Time Machine" movie is that it
was directed by Simon Wells, the great-grandson of H.G. Wells, the author
of the 1895 novel of the same name. Come to think of it, that is in fact
the only interesting thing about "The Time Machine," perhaps even more
interesting than the movie itself.
In the 2002 adaptation of the classic Victorian sci-fi adventure novel, the
story has been moved to New York (you remember Victorian New York, don't
you?) where Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pierce - "Memento," "Count of Monte
Cristo") is a young associate professor at a local university and a mad
scientist in his free time. While he's not working on some revolutionary
physics theory or corresponding with Einstein, Alexander spends time with
his soon-to-be-fiancé Emma (Sienna Guillory). On the night that he is to
propose to her, Emma is shot and killed by a clumsy mugger. Ridden with
memory of his beloved Emma, Alexander becomes obsessed with the idea of
time travel. Little do you know, 4 years later he constructs an actual time
machine made of brass, glass, levers and pulleys. After an unsuccessful
attempt to save Emma, he is accidentally transported 800,000 years into the
future where civilization has once again been reduced to a primitive level.
Eloi, the sun-tanned friendly tribal people of the surface, are being
terrorized by Morlocks, the pig-faced nasty cannibals of the underground.
When Morlocks kidnap Mara (Samantha Mumba), a particularly attractive Eloi
woman who has a thing for 19th century time travelers, Alexander decides to
go after the Morlocks and save her.
The buzz is that Simon Wells ("The Prince of Egypt") got sick during the
last weeks of shooting "The Time Machine" and was reported suffering from
"extreme exhaustion." The studio had to hire another director, Gore
Verbinski ("The Mexican," "Mouse Hunt") to finish the last 18 days of
shooting. After watching "The Time Machine," one can hardly blame Simon
Wells for getting sick. It was probably caused by his decision to read the
script.
Oh, where do I even start? This script behind this movie is easily one of
the worst screenplays seen in recent years. It seems like the whole thing
is made out entirely of plot holes, anachronisms and factual errors. The
logic behind it makes "Back To the Future" look like a Ph.D. thesis. For a
start, the time machine is able to travel not only through time but also
through space, for it always lands on the same spot on the surface of the
Earth, regardless of the landscape around it changing dramatically.
Alexander Hartdegen never bothers to hide the machine or secure it, and yet
he always manages to find it intact. The Eloi, although living 800,000 in
the future, speak perfect English although its not their primary language
and they learned it only from reading stone inscriptions (such as "Tiffany
& Co."). Their grammar, syntax and pronunciation are flawless, although
they never actually heard another human being speak English. That's truly
amazing, considering the fact that the people at the nearby Chinese
restaurant can barely take an order in English. The Eloi have also adopted
21st century customs, such as wearing pajamas at night. They suffer no
cultural shock after meeting a man who is obviously better educated and at
a higher technological level. A hologram projection (played by Orlando
Jones) survives 800,000 of change and destruction on an unknown power
source. Is it powered by Duracell or Energizer; I'd like to know. Why are
the Eloi people beautiful, while the Morlocks have turned into scary
beasts? Roger Ebert suggested in his review that "they are obviously the
result of 800,000 years of ugly brides." The ending of the movie is
especially terrible and lacks all reason, for the hero and his comrades
escape sure death in a particularly inexplicable fashion.
It's difficult to say what exactly went wrong with this screenplay.
Considering that it was written by John Logan whose earlier works include
respectable screenplays for "Gladiator" and "Any Given Sunday," it is only
safe to conclude that he was trippin' on acid when he wrote this one. The
acting talents of Guy Pierce and Jeremy Irons are completely wasted in this
sci-fi disaster. While many have given up hope for Irons after his debacle
in "Dungeons & Dragons," this will surely be the first big blemish on
Pierce's previously clean record ("Memento," "L.A. Confidential,"
"Ravenous"). Simon Wells does a satisfactory job with directing this piece,
although he loses momentum in the last 30 minutes of the film (perhaps
those were the 18 days he missed). It can be argued that he is not the one
to blame, but being the great-grandson of H.G. Wells the last thing he
could've done was read the script before embarking on this project.
Believe me, if you go see "The Time Machine" in the theaters, the only time
travel of any interest to you will be traveling 90 minutes into the future
to the end of this horrible film.
Score: 3/10
--
=========================
=============
E-Mail: zamb...@posluh.hr
WWW: http://fit.edu/~azambell
ICQ: 7003861
AIM: AlexPython
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Homer Yen
Nowhere
Note to the makers of this film: Stop taking this
material so seriously!
When Einstein thought about the possibility of
time travel, he probably had a warehouse full of
blackboards. And written upon them were endless
numbers, letters, squiggly lines, and geometric
shapes. Stare at something like that long
enough, and you'll grow dizzy. This may be
Einstein's playground, but how much fun are we
going to have? Time travel for mere mortals like
you and me consists of starships whipping around
the sun while harnessing its gravitational field
or speeding down a highway in a silver DeLorean.
Now that's fun.
Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) follows
Einstein's plan for fun and time travel. He's a
brilliant mathematician who hopes to build a
machine to travel not miles but years. He is
fueled in this obsession as a result of personal
tragedy that he suffers. Perhaps if he could
travel back in time, the calamity could be
avoided. So, he shuns his friends and colleagues
and fills his blackboards with endless amounts of
numbers, letters, squiggly lines, and geometric
shapes. It's a recipe for his time machine, a
quaint-looking one-seat contraption with brass
knobs and dials with whirling spheres that
shimmer with light. It's a must for every
science museum exhibit.
Relieved and awed, his success is but a fleeting
event when he realizes that he is unable to
affect the past. Why can't he change what has
been done? He decides to travel to the future to
find an answer to that question.
The next 20 minutes features the best stuff about
this film. It's primarily a barrage of whiz-bang
effects that show the time machine moving forward
through the years, centuries, and eons. Using an
effect that mimics time lapse photography, we see
the landscape change dramatically. Seasons come
and go; buildings are erected and torn down;
cities erupt all around. In the distant future,
cataclysmic events reshape the topography as new
foliage, mountains and canyons are formed. By
the time he has stopped some 8,000 centuries in
the future, he has seen a fusion-powered hologram
named Vox (Orlando Jones), witnessed the moon
break apart, and discovered that the human race
has splintered into a race of malicious
carnivores and sun-baked villagers who look
suspiciously tasty.
The predators, known as Morlocks, are an example
of Darwinian evolution gone awry. The villagers,
known as Eloi, are forced to live in
well-protected villages that straddle the sides
of gorges. Again, these visual renderings are
stunningly beautiful.
Alas, the wonderment of time travel stops here.
And there's still 60 minutes of film left.
The intrepid traveler finds himself trying to
rescue the hapless Eloi from the jaws of the
hungry Morlocks. It's a formidable task. But
it's an unremarkable adventure. Other than
watching Jeremy Irons gleefully ham it up as the
Morlock leader, these grunting neo-Neanderthals
might as well be writing endless numbers,
letters, squiggly lines, and geometric shapes.
"The Time Machine" is 50%
ooh-check-out-these-special-effects while the
other evolves into a banal boy-meets-girl,
boy-saves-girl kind of story. It's ostensibly
missing pathos. It's missing the expected sense
of grand adventure that time travel should bring.
At the very least, "The Time Machine" is missing
a seat belt. That sure would come in handy as
your whipping through the time-space continuum
and speeding across the centuries. Consequently,
this vehicle is a bumpy ride.
Grade: C
S: 0 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3
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