REVIEW: ‘Time Machine’ depicts a tired future
I loved Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential and Memento, and he was OK as a second-fiddle military lawyer in Rules of Engagement, but in The Time Machine, his performance, as well as the entire movie, is simply nothing short of lackluster. In fact, stripped to its bones, Pearce’s new film is Hollywood eye-candy, nothing more.
Perhaps this was simply a paycheck film for Pearce, because I have a difficult time envisioning him (or any other cast member) reading the script and twitching in joy over its creative and ingenious storyline. Plus, when your leading lady is Baby Come On Over Tonight singer, Samantha Mumba, odds are former cartoon director, Simon Wells (and great-grandson of H.G. Wells), wasn’t shooting for a best picture nomination. And what’s with Jeremy Irons looking like he was dumped from the Battlefield: Earth sequel?
The Time Machine may have been imaginative in 1895, but since then we’ve been whisking through time with George Pal, director of the 1960 version of The Time Machine, not to mention the 1979 spin-off Time After Time, and least we forget, the Robert Zemeckis/Steven Spielberg Back to the Future chain of popcorn flicks. I know the phrase sounds incredibly trite, but “been there, done that” really fits the equation.
Don’t get me wrong, as I mentioned before, this movie is brimming with delicious digital images. The special effects, especially a particular scene where the viewer watches Utah’s Delicate Arch develop, are fairly impressive, but nothing to make your mouth hang open. The trouble lies in the inability of the story, or any one of the characters, to make us care enough to be impressed about the blotches of computer generated bliss.
Every box office dud had potential in the beginning and The Time Machine is no different. It ran out of steam after the first 15 minutes. By then, I didn’t care that Pearce’s soon-to-be fiancé was dead, because I didn’t give a hoot about Pearce’s character.
I didn’t know enough – or, better yet – I wasn’t told enough to care. Moreover, the dialogue in this film is so asinine and redundant that it reads like a second-grade Choose Your Own Adventure novel.
If you feel the impulse to enjoy something about time travel, make haste to the video store and snag a copy of The Time Machine. Sure, it’s old, but the movie is a tightly wrapped thriller with H.G. Wells traveling to the 1970s in search of Jack the Ripper, who has stolen Wells’ fabled time machine.
Don’t want that? Then rent Back to the Future and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Just don’t waste $6 with The Time Machine.GRADE: D