The Time Machine (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Director: Simon Wells
	Actors: Guy Pearce (Memento), Yancey Arias, Mark Addy, Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 01.03.2017, VOD, 32" TV screen.
Synopsis: In the year 1899 Dr. Alexander Hartdegen, genius inventor, looses a loved one and dives into the project of building a Time Machine, against the advise of his best friend. His quest will bring him to a far Future.
Review: I had seen George Pal's classic 1960 The Time Machine in my youth and it had quite an influence on me. Then I remember its plot being used by the character played by Gary Sinise in Ransom (1996) with Mel Gibson as an analogy to the life in New York City. Finally I bought a DVD box-set of the classic and this remake together time ago and this is when I saw it first. This is now my second viewing. An interesting factoid is that the director (who previously worked on Disney's The Prince of Egypt and since on other animation films like Kung Fu Panda) is no one else than the great grandson of H. G. Wells, genius SF author of the original novel in 1895 from which all are adapted, and which I should probably read. The story is remarkable in that although being one of the first to deal with time travel, it went far beyond the others. Indeed usually anticipation or time-travel movies take us no more than a few decades ahead so we quickly realize that their predictions were false (even though it often doesn't really matter if the movie is well done like Back to the Future for example). In the movie adaptations of H. G. Wells' story, the inventor makes a quick stop in the near future: 1966 in the 1960 movie and Atomic war is the threat, 2030 in the 2002 movie and lunar colonization is the threat. But the main trip is to the year 802701 when really nobody can tell what will become of us. This 2002 movie is in fact quite well done, Guy Pearce is convincing and his motivation to travel strong. Make-up and digital special effects are also remarkable (the fast-forward animated sequences are worth viewing several times) and some additions are welcome, like the library's computer that meets the traveller on two occasions. Unfortunately once in the far Future, I found that the story weakens and the main character tries to change a world in which he doesn't belong. The events leading to the final are rushed and we get to meet a useless Uber-Morlock played by Jeremy Irons. Finally I found absurd the decision of the main character to change this local Future instead of trying to prevent the event that caused it. This last half hour really took me out of the movie.
Rating: 4 /10