The Time Machine - A Review 03/18/2002
This film is a remake of H. G. Wells' book by the same name. In an interesting twist, the director is Simon Wells, grandson of H. G. Wells. Simon's earlier features were all animated films, ranging from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West in 1991, to Dreamworks' The Prince Of Egypt in 1998. This film stars Guy Pearce (L. A. Confidential, Rules Of Engagement, The Count Of Monte Cristo) as Professor Alexander Hartdegen, Samantha Mumba in her big screen debut as Mara of the Eloi, Jeremy Irons (The Mission, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Man In The Iron Mask) as the leader of the Morlocks, and Orlando Jones (most notably from the humorous 7-Up commercials airing on TV for the last couple of years) as a "photonic" museum guide.
The premise is: Professor Hartdegen builds a time machine to allow him to return to the past and to also travel into the future to answer questions that are crushing his soul. In his travels he sees the progression of man through the technologic age and beyond.
I'm not sure what to call this movie. I haven't read the book in over 30 years, but if I remember correctly, it tracks it fairly well. It isn't a true action/adventure movie. It isn't an overly-cerebral who-done-it. It isn't a horror/thriller. It sits between most of these categories and fits comfortably into none. Now there is some action in this film but not what you might expect from the trailer. I did enjoy it, but not for the expected reasons - it was a pleasant but somewhat lightweight trip back to the earlier days of Hollywood where a movie was a story and wasn't just a constant stream of explosives or a canned laugh track.
The video is clean with scenes ranging from nighttime NYC in the snow, to outdoors at an Eloi memorial to the dead, to the darkest regions in the caves of the Morlocks. There are several CGI scenes, the most impressive of which is the overview of NYC at night. Audio is active in the surrounds and there is a good bass track. The time machine firing up should give the bass-dependent among us a good moment or two.
This film moves at an almost stately pace. It gives you time to absorb the scenes and their associated visual detail. Some might call this boring and slow, but I prefer to think otherwise. Guy Pearce is convincing as a distracted young professor/genius, and he certainly is skinny enough to portray a driven intellectual. I'm not quite as comfortable with his evolution into a more physical man-of-action, but he manages to do it without detracting from the role. Jeremy Irons is terribly underused in his role as the Uber-Morlock. He looks scary, acts scary and gives the part just the right amount of menace. It's too bad his role wasn't expanded because a near-albino, telepathic, cannibalistic Morlock leader has tons of possibilities as a villian, don't you think?
Overall, it's worth a matinee trip if you are interested (and only if you are interested), but not a full price ticket. It's older-kid safe, with a several scary or intense moments that may be too intense for younger children. On a 1 to 10 scale, I give The Time Machine a 6.
David - HTGuide flunky
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This film is a remake of H. G. Wells' book by the same name. In an interesting twist, the director is Simon Wells, grandson of H. G. Wells. Simon's earlier features were all animated films, ranging from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West in 1991, to Dreamworks' The Prince Of Egypt in 1998. This film stars Guy Pearce (L. A. Confidential, Rules Of Engagement, The Count Of Monte Cristo) as Professor Alexander Hartdegen, Samantha Mumba in her big screen debut as Mara of the Eloi, Jeremy Irons (The Mission, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Man In The Iron Mask) as the leader of the Morlocks, and Orlando Jones (most notably from the humorous 7-Up commercials airing on TV for the last couple of years) as a "photonic" museum guide.
The premise is: Professor Hartdegen builds a time machine to allow him to return to the past and to also travel into the future to answer questions that are crushing his soul. In his travels he sees the progression of man through the technologic age and beyond.
I'm not sure what to call this movie. I haven't read the book in over 30 years, but if I remember correctly, it tracks it fairly well. It isn't a true action/adventure movie. It isn't an overly-cerebral who-done-it. It isn't a horror/thriller. It sits between most of these categories and fits comfortably into none. Now there is some action in this film but not what you might expect from the trailer. I did enjoy it, but not for the expected reasons - it was a pleasant but somewhat lightweight trip back to the earlier days of Hollywood where a movie was a story and wasn't just a constant stream of explosives or a canned laugh track.
The video is clean with scenes ranging from nighttime NYC in the snow, to outdoors at an Eloi memorial to the dead, to the darkest regions in the caves of the Morlocks. There are several CGI scenes, the most impressive of which is the overview of NYC at night. Audio is active in the surrounds and there is a good bass track. The time machine firing up should give the bass-dependent among us a good moment or two.
This film moves at an almost stately pace. It gives you time to absorb the scenes and their associated visual detail. Some might call this boring and slow, but I prefer to think otherwise. Guy Pearce is convincing as a distracted young professor/genius, and he certainly is skinny enough to portray a driven intellectual. I'm not quite as comfortable with his evolution into a more physical man-of-action, but he manages to do it without detracting from the role. Jeremy Irons is terribly underused in his role as the Uber-Morlock. He looks scary, acts scary and gives the part just the right amount of menace. It's too bad his role wasn't expanded because a near-albino, telepathic, cannibalistic Morlock leader has tons of possibilities as a villian, don't you think?
Overall, it's worth a matinee trip if you are interested (and only if you are interested), but not a full price ticket. It's older-kid safe, with a several scary or intense moments that may be too intense for younger children. On a 1 to 10 scale, I give The Time Machine a 6.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
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