MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Timeline’ makes time go by slowly
C
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never seen either “The Fast and the Furious” or its sequel, “2 Fast 2 Furious.” As a guy who used to own a ’64 Mustang, the idea of modifying a 1995 Honda Civic has marginal appeal, and a movie on the subject has even less. But even though I missed the movies, as I watched Paul Walker in “Timeline,” I couldn’t help but wonder if he was playing the same character he did in those films. His golden-haired surfer boy was such a bizarre contrast to the rest of the cast that I figured he thought “Timeline” was the just the third film in that series.
“Timeline” might have been better off as the third film in a franchise; that way no one would have had any expectations. Based on a book by Michael “Jurassic Park” Crichton, “Timeline” has the feel of a three-hour film that was cut to 90 minutes, with little effort to make sense of the gaps in-between. It follows the story of a group of archeologists who travel through time to rescue their leader from the English.
Maybe that’s too much of a generalization. You see, the leader (a Scotsman) has gotten involved with a group of scientists who have found a wormhole that connects the present with 14th century France. When the Scotsman gets stuck in the past, his kid (American surfer-dude Walker) and the archeologists (a Frenchman, another Scotsman, and a girl) go back to rescue him.
It’s not a totally ridiculous idea, and I imagine the book was pretty good, but the movie rushes too many things along without explaining them. To enjoy a movie, you have to employ a little “suspension of belief,” but “Timeline” requires more suspension than the Portland Trailblazers.
The best thing about “Timeline” is that it provides a foil to “Master and Commander.” Instead of having the French be the bad guys, this time it’s the English. Thank goodness Hollywood is doing its part to present fair and balanced portrayals of European warfare throughout history.
Tackling a subject like time travel is always a delicate one. “Back to the Future” did a good job because it created a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere that allowed for obvious flaws in logic. But “Timeline” takes itself too seriously to allow you to overlook its flaws.
The best time-travel story I’ve ever come across is a short story by Ray Bradbury called “A Sound of Thunder.” If you really want to see a story that examines the dangers and “realities” of time-travel, read it. But, if you need to kill an hour and a half on a date because your conversation sucks, see “Timeline.”
Joshua Terry is a slightly jaded film critic and graduate student in the American studies program. Comments are welcome at jterry@english.usu.edu.