The Time Machine

Rating:
Summary: Good clean CGI fun
Review: Its just amazing how far mankind's going to have advanced by the year 2030- interactive holograms, eh? But besides the annoying tendency of Hollywood to set far-fetched Sci-fi in like, two years into the future, this was surprisingly entertaining. Guy Pearce is convincing as always and Samantha Mumba is shockingly competent, but the real reason to give this a go is the excellent special effects- especially Jeremy Irons' makeover (BEAUTifully Hellraiser).

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Movie Making
Review: While no movie will ever be as moving as the original, they producers have outdone themselves. This movie is incredible. The special effects and makeup really bring to life the Morlocks and the actual machine is incredible. Truly a must have for any sci-fi nut.

Rating:
Summary: To Slow
Review: This movie spends way to much time developing why and how the main character (Guy Pearce) wants to create a time machine. Who cares! Move on into the reason we want to watch the movie, sci-fi action. By the time we get to the conflict there is no time left to have an exciting, plausible resolution. Unfortunately, I'm sorry I spent the time watching. I did like the main characters.

Rating:
Summary: HG Wells would have used a time machine
Review: I think H.G. Wells would have used his time machine to travel forward into the future to stop the making of this disappointment. What a horrible thing to do to a classic. The original story line, coupled with modern special effects would have been a real masterpiece. Some scenes were good, some of the action was good, and the special effects were great, but in the end it just wasn't The Time Machine.

Rating:
Summary: Looks Good...But
Review: Remake of THE TIME MACHINE by a descendent of H.G.Wells himself SHOULD have been a classic in its own right. That it's not,in my estmate, is primarily fault of Director Simon Wells. Production values: high class fx; art direction; photography and the marvelous Machine itself are excellent. As is acting by the principals. Even the Morlock anti-race convey a feral savagery lacking in George Pal's light bulb-eyed cannibals. The film looks great. But,unlike Pal's which still stands as cautionary fable of man's perverse capacities for abuse of knowledge and self-destruction;(as well as a wonderous adventure) the story lacks the HUMANITY the original ultimately affirms/celebrates. The character of Filby is crucial in the original.The fact Director Wells brings Alan Young (original Filby and the Time Traveler's best friend)off the bench for a cameo confirms Wells awareness of what he was bartering away for visually dazzling spectacle over against a tale of friendship enduring Past, Present and Future. Even the character of Weena is more effective in the Pal telling because it's her transformation into CARING woman (from a feckless, mildly hedonistic child) that prods Rod Taylor to "go back to the Future"...and help rebuild mankind.

Guy Pierce is fine as "hero".But after he loses his fiancee--the second Time--one gets the sense his TIME TRAVELING is escapisim in multiple senses of the word. THE TIME MACHINE (2002)is,in fact,escapism at its best.Hardly great sci-fi, and truly disappointing when compared with George Pal's classic. Is it worth watching? Yes; but if handsome really is as handsome does, this movie is only your classic mirror thin good-looker......

Rating:
Summary: *** GOOD FIRST HALF LET DOWN BY DIRE ENDING ***
Review: As a fan of the original 1960 George Pal movie (starring Rod Taylor) of HG Wells 'The Time Machine' I very much looked forward to seeing this new version on the big screen. Directed by Simon Wells, great grandson of the famous novelist, it promised to be a more faithful recreation of his great grandfather's work but as I was to discover this latest version is actually based on the original movie screenplay and is a bit of a mixed bag.

In this latest version, Guy Pearce (Memento, Ravenous, LA Confidential etc.), plays Alexander, an eccentric scientist in 1899, somewhat obsessed with the notion of time travel and pen pal of a certain Albert Einstein. When his beloved fiancée Emma (Sienna Guillory) is senselessly murdered, unable to come to terms with her loss, Alexander devotes his life to inventing a time machine so that he can prevent the murder and be reunited with his lost love. Unfortunately however, although he succeeds in building said time machine (aesthetically constructed with lots of polished brass and glass), is he is unable to permanently alter the past. Emotionally devastated once more Alexander, in his anguish plunges forward in time in the hope of finding a better world, to a time where the surviving descendants of mankind have evolved into two separate species and where the timid race, called the Eloi, are hunted by the cannabalistic Morlocks who live underground.

There are definitely some good moments in this movie, and indeed much of the first half of the movie is very enjoyable. Guy Pearce is perfectly watchable and the sets and photography are very aesthetically pleasing. In particular, production designer Oliver Scholl has constructed some great sets and the time machine itself is a very impressive improvement on the 1960 Rod Taylor version. Some of the early Morlock scenes are also quite thrilling as they appear and dissapear from the ground, hunting and capturing their Eloi prey. However, there are also quite a few negatives, including an annoying and fairly pointless holographic librarian and a dire last fifteen minutes featuring (a clearly desperate for work) Jeremy Irons as some kind of über-Morlock that has apparently been rolled in flour. In the end, this is just an average movie and certainly no improvement on the original, making it a fairly pointless exercise for all concerned.

Rating:
Summary: Decent, but...
Review: The movie was good. Unless, of course, you've read the book...I've a tendency to nitpick books-turned-films, but with The Time Machine, I couldn't. By the time he got to the Eloi and the Morlocks, while I was delighted by the graphics and the beautiful scenery, I'd been shocked into silence by how far it goes from the book.

I'm not the best for writing reveiws, so I'll just say this; it's a good enough movie on its own terms, but don't watch the modern Time Machine if you can't stand it being almost nothing like the book.

Rating:
Summary: THE FUTURE AIN'T ALL ITS CRACKED UP TO BE...
Review: This film remake of "The Time Machine", an adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, is enhanced by Dreamworks' digitalized, special effects wizardry. It lacks, however, the intelligent handling of its 1960 predecessor, a science fiction film classic, which starred the very virile and testosterone charged Rod Taylor and the ethereally beautiful Yvette Mimieux in the lead roles. Instead, we now get a seriously emaciated Guy Pearce (hand him a Big Mac, for Pete's sake) and the pretty, but tepid, Samantha Mumba.

In this version, Alexander Hartdegan (Guy Pearce) has lost the woman he loves in a pointless murder. Depressed, he tinkers with the construction of a time machine for years, hoping to go back in time to right what went wrong. What he discovers is that though he can go back and make some changes, the end result is always the same. In an attempt to obtain a resolution of this paradox, he travels into the future. In his quest for answer, he has an accident that causes him to go hundreds of thousands of years into the future.

There, he encounters a dual society, that of the aggressive Morlocks, the hunters, and that of the peaceful Eloi, the hunted. The Eloi are a group of humans that defy racial typing, as they all seem multi-racial, which is, in and of itself, one of the most interesting ideas in this remake and virtually its only social commentary. The Morlocks are a frightening society, totally monstrous in appearance. Their overlord, well played by an albinoesque Jeremy Irons, is suitably menacing.

Mara (Samantha Mumba), an Eloi lovely, takes care of the injured Alexander when he first arrives. When the Morlocks go into attack mode and Mara is taken captive, Alexander (Guy Pearce) goes into superhero mode to the rescue. Guy Pearce as an action hero? I think not. Guy Pearce, who has given excellent performances in other films, is ill suited for the role of Alexander and his acting in the part reflects this. Moreover, while Samantha Mumba is lovely to look at, she exhibits very little acting ability.

It is unfortunate that the screenplay left H.G. Wells story' by the wayside, deciding to fix what ain't broke. In doing so, they constructed a story that does not work that well, losing much of the tension inherent in the original film. The film's only saving grace, apart from the specal effects, is the dazzling homesite of the Eloi, cocoons built onto a canyon wall, which are just beautiful.

Don't buy this remake. Instead, buy the 1960 version. This remake is worth a rental, however, if one is looking for some mindless, moderately enjoyable entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: 800,000 years into the future? Nonsense!
Review: The movie is another recent (Queen of the Damned) poor book's adaptation. Guy Pierce is better to play a villain than a hero. The settings for the future world to come is decent but who will believe the earth could survive the Moon's destruction. And even if it did, how come some (extremely beautiful) people survived intact on the surface of the Earth while others needed to hide below it mutating into brainless (or brainstorming) canibalistic creatures. Sure, H.G. Wells book covers some of this stuff, but the the fashion the movie is trying to paint the evolution doesn't have any sense. If you need to watch this movie, wait until it's on free TV. Don't waist money on rental, and definitely do not buy DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Rent it, don't buy it!
Review: I'd like to start off by saying this movie does not stink. It isn't that bad. But it isn't really good either. Of course as everyone knows this is a remake of a classic. And based off the classic novel. But let me tell you, it may be an OK adaption, but the original movie is way better!
For those of you who have not watched it, the story goes something like this: Guy Pierce is a scientist who is really wrapped up in his work. Well, the movie starts off with him going on a date with his girlfriend. A tragedy occurs, and she is murdered. This sends our hero into a downward spiral, where all he does is work all the time on creating a time machine. He plans on going back and saving her. But everytime he attempts the rescue she still dies. Since he can't figure out why he can't save her, he decides to go into the future. Our hero eventually arrives.....hmmm, it has been a while since I have seen this, so I forget the exact date. But he ends up, anyway several hundred thousand years in the future. Still with me?
While there, he discovers that there are only 2 types of humans left. The hunters, and the hunted. And he tries to save them. This basicly is the plot. So why did I not like it?
Well, it is just not a satisfying movie. Once I got done watching the movie I was kind of depressed. I won't tell you why, because if you do watch it I don't want to spoil the ending for you. Also, I like Guy Peirce. But some of the stuff he does in this movie is just really unbelievable, even for science fiction! So take my advice. Rent it, don't buy it!