*Minor Spoilers*
After a journey back in time to save his fiancée ends in disaster Prof. Alexander Hartdegen travels relentlessly forward & eventually finds himself in the company of a tribe called the Eloi who are at the mercy of the monstrous Morlocks!
In 1960 George Pal created a cinematic version of HG Wells' novel The Time Machine. Over 40 years later Simon Wells, the novelists grandson has given it a new treatment for todays audience. As in the original the basic plot - a time traveller ends up in the year 802701 where he encounters two races, the Eloi & the Morlocks - is adhered to with a few embellishments over & omissions from the novel. However this version does not compare favourably with the 1960 original.
The acting for the most part is OK with Jeremy Irons in a bizarre role (more on that later). Guy Pearce isn't stretched by the material but convinces as a man driven through time by the loss of a loved one. What does not come across well is the friendship between him and David Philby (Mark Addy). As a viewer you are at a loss as to why theses two men would be friends? Samantha Mumba is passable in her first role although she doesn't have a lot to work with & Orlando Bloom is entertaining as a Holographic librarian.
The effects are good especially in the closing scene of the film, which wonderfully brings the past & the future together. The modern time travel techniques are very similar to the original with a windowshop dummy reflecting the changing fashions in high speed & there are other homage's to be found. The machine is different in design but has a familiarity with that used many years ago by Rod Taylor.
For a film dealing with time it is very economical with it as this is a fairly short film by todays blockbuster standards clocking in at a mere 96 minutes. Indeed it is possibly too short, it would have been nice for Alex to stop off in more contemporary times & get to see his reaction to recent events as Pal did in his travellers' deviations to WWI & WWII. He only makes a couple of brief stops before the mainplot begins, once in the far future he is met by the Eloi & soon after encounters the monstrous Morlocks.
The Morlocks are an obvious technical improvement over those from 40 years ago apart from the fact that they no longer have an aversion to daylight. The Eloi themselves are vastly different to the ones portrayed in the original. It is never made convincingly clear why they do not retaliate against the Morlocks. They do not act like the evolutionary result of the idle rich & seem quite self-sufficient. This is one of the main problems with the film. The Eloi are not seen as anything but good rather than their more ambiguous portrayal in the 1960 film.
The main problem as a movie in its own right rather than a remake, is that it just isn't very exciting. There is never a real sense of danger, little in the way of thrills & an all too brief & quick confrontation between Alex & the leader of the Morlocks, Jeremy Irons before the film ends.
The character portrayed by Jeremy Irons. What can be said? Although he is good in the role he seems to have wandered in from another film. A super intelligent Morlock with ESP! Was he written in just to deliver further exposition to Guy Pearce, as is sometimes the feeling with Orlando Bloom? It's much more of a cameo than a full part & when he says "Who are you to argue with 800,000 years of evolution?", you tend to agree with him - has Alex learnt nothing from meddling with time! Also his answer to the travellers question as to why he cannot save his wife is glaringly obvious to any fan of time travelling sci-fi cinema.
Overall, as a film in its own right it is pretty forgettable. No sooner has the real meat of the plot begun then it's all over! Taken unavoidably so as a remake it fails on all counts save for the obvious advances in FX. It doesn't add anything to the story & much like Tim Burtons recent Planet Of The Apes dilutes most of the intelligence of the original to leave a decidedly bland & average summer blockbuster.
After a journey back in time to save his fiancée ends in disaster Prof. Alexander Hartdegen travels relentlessly forward & eventually finds himself in the company of a tribe called the Eloi who are at the mercy of the monstrous Morlocks!
In 1960 George Pal created a cinematic version of HG Wells' novel The Time Machine. Over 40 years later Simon Wells, the novelists grandson has given it a new treatment for todays audience. As in the original the basic plot - a time traveller ends up in the year 802701 where he encounters two races, the Eloi & the Morlocks - is adhered to with a few embellishments over & omissions from the novel. However this version does not compare favourably with the 1960 original.
The acting for the most part is OK with Jeremy Irons in a bizarre role (more on that later). Guy Pearce isn't stretched by the material but convinces as a man driven through time by the loss of a loved one. What does not come across well is the friendship between him and David Philby (Mark Addy). As a viewer you are at a loss as to why theses two men would be friends? Samantha Mumba is passable in her first role although she doesn't have a lot to work with & Orlando Bloom is entertaining as a Holographic librarian.
The effects are good especially in the closing scene of the film, which wonderfully brings the past & the future together. The modern time travel techniques are very similar to the original with a windowshop dummy reflecting the changing fashions in high speed & there are other homage's to be found. The machine is different in design but has a familiarity with that used many years ago by Rod Taylor.
For a film dealing with time it is very economical with it as this is a fairly short film by todays blockbuster standards clocking in at a mere 96 minutes. Indeed it is possibly too short, it would have been nice for Alex to stop off in more contemporary times & get to see his reaction to recent events as Pal did in his travellers' deviations to WWI & WWII. He only makes a couple of brief stops before the mainplot begins, once in the far future he is met by the Eloi & soon after encounters the monstrous Morlocks.
The Morlocks are an obvious technical improvement over those from 40 years ago apart from the fact that they no longer have an aversion to daylight. The Eloi themselves are vastly different to the ones portrayed in the original. It is never made convincingly clear why they do not retaliate against the Morlocks. They do not act like the evolutionary result of the idle rich & seem quite self-sufficient. This is one of the main problems with the film. The Eloi are not seen as anything but good rather than their more ambiguous portrayal in the 1960 film.
The main problem as a movie in its own right rather than a remake, is that it just isn't very exciting. There is never a real sense of danger, little in the way of thrills & an all too brief & quick confrontation between Alex & the leader of the Morlocks, Jeremy Irons before the film ends.
The character portrayed by Jeremy Irons. What can be said? Although he is good in the role he seems to have wandered in from another film. A super intelligent Morlock with ESP! Was he written in just to deliver further exposition to Guy Pearce, as is sometimes the feeling with Orlando Bloom? It's much more of a cameo than a full part & when he says "Who are you to argue with 800,000 years of evolution?", you tend to agree with him - has Alex learnt nothing from meddling with time! Also his answer to the travellers question as to why he cannot save his wife is glaringly obvious to any fan of time travelling sci-fi cinema.
Overall, as a film in its own right it is pretty forgettable. No sooner has the real meat of the plot begun then it's all over! Taken unavoidably so as a remake it fails on all counts save for the obvious advances in FX. It doesn't add anything to the story & much like Tim Burtons recent Planet Of The Apes dilutes most of the intelligence of the original to leave a decidedly bland & average summer blockbuster.