The Time Machine

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.

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.

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!

When Victorian scientist Alexander Hartdegen sees his fiancé murdered during a petty robbery, he throws himself into his work while all even his closest friends know is that he is doing nonsense research and physics. Four years later though and Alexander has created his machine – a time machine – that he plans to use to return to the fateful night and save his true love. Somehow he cannot do it though and, in despair, he drives himself forward into the future to find progress beyond his wildest dreams. This progress though, comes with costs and risks – both of which Alexander is very aware of as he moves into a world where mankind has changed beyond all recognition.

This film was wildly derided when it came out in the cinemas and I never bothered to go and see it, preferring to let time pass and pick it up for free on television in a few years. That time came recently and I watched a version of HG Wells' Time Machine that is loosely based on the source material. It starts with potential but all too quickly it becomes obvious and surprisingly heartless – almost making a conscious decision that the effects will be what people come for and that doing a solid job on those will be enough. Sadly that is not the case but, were it, the effects are already superseded and do not look as impressive as they once may have done. With the humanity and the emotion built into the story, the delivery is quite stiff and dull and I found myself surprised by how little interest I had it the story even when I was far into it. Not totally sure where the problems lie with this but script is certainly one of them (some of the dialogue and exposition is terribly clunky) while the overall production did appear effects driven.

It is a shame because Guy Pearce frequently offers more from his performance and his potential but the film never really takes him up on it and it leaves him isolated, trying to be a character in a film that would seem to just prefer an action hero. Mumba looks good (if you ignore that at times her face is chimp-like, and no it is not racist to say so) but she cannot act for toffee – she didn't even run and scream all that convincingly. God knows what about the film made Irons decide to do his poor character but he is not alone as other famous faces such as Bloom and Addey show up.

The Time Machine is not the awful film that some say but it is just very heartless and dull. Some of the effects are good and the plot did have potential but the script and design never let this come out, seemingly more interested in visual bang-for-buck than they were about producing an effective and engaging story.

I had the oppportunity to see "The Time Machine" last night at a special screening in Arlington, Virginia, and I enjoyed it. It does not follow the same plot line as the H.G. Wells book, but in my opinion, that does not detract from the movie. I thought the Orlando Jones character of Vox was quite interesting and amusing, and Jeremy Irons definitely deserved more screentime, as he is a superb actor in every role he takes on. The character development was a little weak, but it was tricky with the time travel aspect. I found the special effects to be good; it is difficult to measure up to some of the special effects that have come out recently, and I think they did a good job. With every new movie that comes out, you have increasingly more spectacular visual effects, especially with the higher budget films. All in all, I think that the actors did a good job, and the movie kept me interested the whole time and was especially good in some parts. I would definitely recommend this movie, and I give it 8 stars.