The Time Machine
Starring: Guy Pearce, Mark Addy, Phyllida Law, Sienna Guillory, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Max Baker, Samantha Mumba, Yancey Arias
Directed by: Simon Wells
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Action
2002

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: After the death of his fiancee, an inventor (Guy Pearce) creates a time machine to travel back to the past to save her. When his efforts to save her prove futile, he travels 800,000 years into the future to search for a reason why.

Review:
Tim: As a fan of H.G. Wells' novella, I was looking forward to the remake of The Time Machine. The cast looked pretty good, and the special effects would undoubtedly be impressive. Unfortunately, this movie lacks any heart at all. The story feels hollow and bland. I wanted to like this movie, but I left it feeling completely underwhelmed. This is a disappointing, forgettable film.

I really believe the problem is with director Simon Wells. This was his first live-action feature film (he's directed a number of animated films) and his inexperience shows. He directs the film by the numbers, but he gives it no heart. This is a souless, empty movie. The visuals are impressive, but none of it matters. Wells doesn't give us a reason to care or a reason to engage. The best directors draw the audience into the story and the characters. Almost everything Wells does keeps the audience at a distance. His clumsy direction turns what could have been a good movie into a boring one. And by boring, I'm not suggesting the movie needed more action- it simply needed something to make us sit up and pay attention. This film is a failure, and it's Wells' fault.

For the most part, I liked Guy Pearce in the lead role. He's a vastly underrated actor, and he works well here. I felt his distracted, intellectual performance at the beginning of the film was a bit forced, but he certainly gets into his element as the movie goes on. He made the transformation from intellectual to man of action seem believable, which is quite a feat. While he is saddled with a poor script, I thought he gave a good performance. Orlando Jones just felt out of place here, so I didn't care for him much. Jeremy Irons is always a welcome presence, except when you wonder why in the world he agreed to this part. He just looks silly, and I felt bad that he was part of this failure. The cast as a whole is only average.

The source material here is such a fantastic story that it's shocking this movie wasn't better. The script does tweak the story and add more to it- I was fine with fleshing it out a bit. However, what made the story so interesting in the first place is lost here. It feels as if everyone involved (except for Pearce) was just going through the motions. Wells takes an interesting story and makes it a lifeless journey on the big screen. The movie plods along far too slowly, and the big climax is incredibly forgettable (and silly).

I really wanted to like The Time Machine, but I just could not. Thankfully, the film is only 96 minutes. While another 15-20 minutes could have helped the film, it was such a joyless experience that I was glad it ended when it did. This movie failed on far too many levels to be any good. That's a shame, because the original story was great, and this movie could have been, too. Unfortunately, this is another pointless, disappointing sequel.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Time Machine (1960)