The Time Machine

The four of us are in the 40 - 50 age range, and we are fairly tough what we like and do not like in films. It was Friday night and we wanted entertainment. We read the comments below - mostly, but not all negative - and decided to take a gamble. Arriving at the cinema, we were prepared for a bad movie but hoping for 'a good relaxing time'. Well, we *did* like this film! Not a top box office smash or even an 8 out of 10, but entertaining nevertheless. The MUSIC was superb. ACTING was fine. HISTORIC life portrayed in old Cambridge Massachusetts was realistic - even the snow and cold weather was real. The ROMANCE was acceptable. The STORY, while not closely following H G Well, was good enough. The SPECIAL EFFECTS were very good indeed. It is worth a gamble, to see this film. But go with a light heart and an acceptable frame of mind, and keep your expectations below that of a 10 out of 10 film.

Judging from the initial reaction to THE TIME MACHINE, it seemed official to me that people have forgotten how to have a good time at the theaters these days. But the surprising box office performance in the week following its release seems to now suggest otherwise.

This is a really fun movie. It's a tad slow at first, but since it's only a short 96 minutes, things get going pretty quick. Guy Pearce is well-cast as the slightly-nerdy mathmetician, Alexander Hartdegen, and the special effects were very well-done (some were shown unfinished in the trailer and in the TV spots, so don't let that deter you.) Two of the best sequences are the two forward-traveling sequences, the first when Pearce begins his journey into the future, with the change from Victorian era to the future flashing by before us during a terrific pull back from the time machine all the way out of Earth's orbit and around to the far side of the moon, where a ship is coming in for a landing on a colony. The second is when Alexander is knocked unconscious by an explosion tremor in the distant future, when explosives mining on the moon have knocked it from its orbit and have caused it to come apart, showering the Earth with moonrocks, and the time machine speeds forward into the very distant future. It's a terrific sequence in which we see the geological evolution of the area in a matter of moments, from cliffside rock formations taking shape to environmental changes and everything in between. A truely awe-inspiring moment that is one of ILM's finest effects sequences.

I also liked how they kept a lot of elements from the original: good friend Mr. Philby, the spider making a web at the top of Alex's greenhouse, the constantly-changing store window mannequin that appears in the building across from Alex's house, the stop at one point in the future to discover that a disastrous incident is occuring (nuclear war in the original, the moonrock shower in this version), and the entrance to the Morlock's underground lair. Even the "talking rings" in the original are sort of brought back, though this time in the form of a holographic New York City public library computer (Orlando Jones), whom Alex first encounters in 2030 and again later in the film, set nearly 800,000 years later. The Eloi this time around are not all blonde and lifeless. In the original, they calmly walk into the Morlock's lair when the horns sound. Here, they run fearing

for the lives when the Morlocks come to hunt. And the Morlock's are no longer the lumbering bodybuilders with green body paint and white fright wigs. Here they are taller, more-muscular deadly creatures with an animal-like ferocity, with incredible physical abilities and capable of fast speeds.

I think this movie is a good example of what remakes should be. Keeping the concept and elements of the original, while bringing to the material something new. Pearce, as I said, is well-cast as the time traveler, who builds the machine first out of his desire to right a tragedy in his past, then ends up traveling into the future. Samantha Mumba does a fine job in her first feature film role. I'm not too fond of singers who try to make the move to acting (witness the debacles of Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, and countless rappers), but Mumba was pretty good. I have a feeling we'll be seeing her more in the near future. Jeremy Irons' role was too brief, though. Being the Uber-Morlock, I was hoping for more screen time, as well as a lengthier confrontation. But he was still good. If I didn't know it was him, I never would have guessed it. Much to my surprise, his performance is a very restrained one, never exploding into one of those bursting, over-the-top speeches about wanting to overtake the planet. I was also expecting him to attempt to use the time machine to travel back to the past and take control in a time when there were more resources, but that idea (again, much to my surprise and delight) never even comes up. He seemed pretty content just doing things in the time he was in. Still, I would have liked for him to had more screen time.

I was also very impressed with the score by newcomer Klaus Badelt, who has worked mostly in association with composer Hans Zimmer, providing "Additional Music" from films liked HANNIBAL and GLADIATOR. His score here is full of action and emotion, with a heroic main theme and a really nice African tribe-like sound for the Eloi. I look forward to the release of the soundtrack, and I'll be keeping a watch for his future projects. He sounds very promising.

My only real complaint is that it all goes by too fast. A full two hours would have been great.

In comparison between this one and the original film, I suppose some people would say it lacks the charm of the first. The original, despite some dated effects, is still a good movie, with the always-reliable Rod Taylor. I grew up with it on video, so I consider it a childhood favorite. But I also enjoyed this version for the fun-filled action-packed piece of entertainment that it is.

Since Herbert George Wells(1866-1946)' "The Time Machine" happens to be one of my favorite novels I was interested in this film mainly to see how the old man's great-grandson would handle his legacy.This film left me with mixed feelings.Many good points and many bad ones.

The Good:I truly enjoyed the 19th centurie scenes with Alexander and Emma.Her tragic death and Alexander's wish to change it provides our Time Traveler with serious motivation that he seemed to luck in the book.His obsession with his work is another good point.When you turn all your efforts towards one point then it is more probable that you will achieve your goals.The scenes while the machine is operating are visualy beautiful.Alexander as a "wandering fool" and his amazement at the 21st centurie achievements are well done.The Uber-Morlock was quite impressive, his seing the memories, dreams and nightmares of others seem to have left him with a lot of wisdom.His lack of emotions in a matter of survival for himself and his race is understandable.Why should he be shocked?Humanity has fed on flesh for milenia.We knowed and we don't get shocked by it.Why should he be?He actualy seems evolved rather than devolved as the other Morlocks.

The Bad:In the original novel humanity supposedly reached a golden age.The upper-class used the lower-class to achiebe its dream.A life with no worries.The upper-class lived in magnificent towers while the lower class was forced to live below the earth, in tunnels.As time went on the upper-class evolved to the Eloi living in a paradise.Childlike in appearance and in nature.Their luck of problems left them with no need to studie and eventualy all the wisdom of their founders was lost.They were left using achievements they couldn't understand and couldn't maintaine.The lower-class evolved into the Morlocks.Forgotten by the Eloi they were left to feed on each other and eventualy reached the surface and started feeding on the Eloi.Both races were devolved when the Time Traveler arrived.The only person from this time he actualy likes was Weena a young Eloi girl he saved who grew attached to him.In the novel they wander around studying the state of decline the human races had reached.

Unfortunately all this history of the two races is lost in this movie.The plot about the Moon falling was rather ridiculous and hardly explained the evolution of the two races.The Eloi of the film are much more inteligent than those in the movie but nothing interesting is truly done with them.I was hoping to see Alexander trying to teach his new roomates some of his wisdom.But nothing like this happens.Why would Alexander be interested in those two races isn't explained.Why would he pass two chances to return to his time isn't expained at all.What gives him the right to kill the Morlocks is left equaly unexplained.The "Happy" ending leaves him living in a time that shouldn't held any interest for a science-loving man.Nothing to explore or study.After his experience with time travel I don't think he would just be content left in one or the other point of the time stream.Rather unfortunate progress.

It could have been a classic if only the finale didn't resemble stupid adventure movies rather than the original novel or any other piece of fiction with an actual interest in the concept of time traveling.Alas the Wells family seems to be devolving too.

I first watchd this flm with my parents who, when rewatching it with me, felt so nostalgic. I didn't get that feeling obviously being younger, however I can tell how magical this film would have been to them previously because I felt it even now.

I really liked this film. I thought the great storyline of time travel and the sets I thought were amazing. The time machine itself as a prop and his I think its like a study or an office I thought was gorgeous in the way it looked.

Brilliant acting I thought from everyone, intersesting concepts and just overall a very enjoyable film to watch.

I strongly reccomend!

I have a theory that if you can watch a movie twenty years or so after it was initially released, it's probably a good movie.

A lot of folks complain that it wasn't "the original", and that's okay. The original is a good movie, and this doesn't really need to be it. Instead it takes a story, updates and tweaks it just a bit and creates a delightful world of it's own. Sure, there are a few plot holes, and yes, there are a few scenes that could have done better. But they aren't hell-worthy trespasses, and are forgivable for the sake of propelling the plot forward.

Other than the spot on casting, which is enjoyable and fun and really well portrayed, what brings you into this film are the sets and sceneries. This movie came out before CGI was used to replace the world rather than augment the world, and so you have real sets in real woods and real costumed creatures, and it just pulls together nicely. The music fits incredibly well to capture the tribal setting that humanity has found itself back into without it being too anachronistic.

All in all a fun, enjoyable film to watch, and much better than a lot of movies that have been coming out lately that force the narrative, rather than letting the story unfold.