Timeline

source: Timeline

I was thrilled when I heard Michael Crichton's "Timeline" was in production! The author of "Jurassic Park" wrote another terrific book IMO - science future, lots of tension & action, strong characters, good structure to the story, with sparse dialog - perfect for a movie to embellish and enhance. This is not that movie. Read the book. Trust me, your brain will convey much more entertainment and enlightenment as to the 14th century history and it's modern day impact.

Okay...let's put aside the whole Paul Walker can't act thing. This movie was good. I liked it. I'm sure that some quantum physics geek somewhere is saying that they screwed up the space time continuum...that the Einstein-Rosenberg bridge (or whatever it's called) is not to be taken lightly...but the fact remains that this film was entertaining. Unfortunately, I read the book. I don't know why I continue to do that, because they never get it right. The worst part is, I read the book AFTER I watched the movie. But, I have put the book aside and have judged only the movie as it was. And it was fun. It was entertaining. Sure, there were some big-time changes made to history, but it's a movie. It isn't real life. It's not supposed to be. Movies are ways to escape, and this film lets the viewer do just that...except that Paul Walker can't act. 7*

From what seemed to be a good story we ended up with a group of duds on a quest no one seemed to care about. The acting was pathetic and Richard Donner should have done a lot better with his direction, what was with the wimpering thoughout the film, i hated Paul Walker (the lead dud) and didnt care much what happened to him or his group. Its such a pitty that with some GOOD actors and the old Richard Donner (LW1,LW2,LW3,Superman Etc.)this should have been the next time travel hit. Shame on you all.

I watched this film when it came out (2003) and then again recently on DVD (2012). I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and appreciated it the second time around. Live and learn! This movie was fun to watch at home and was not meant to be the perfect high-tech thriller. The history part (high Middle Ages) worked well with the sci-fi. The DVD also has sections on the making of the movie, which are inspiring if you are a film buff. The excellent cast worked well together and the production company went all the way to research and produce a film about a specific historical period. The idea of family--and the love story between Marek and Clair-- make a serious point that really works. The theme of love is just what we need in 2012. A great family film!

Having read the book I was interested to see how it would pan out. Adapting Michael Crichton to the big screen isn't exactly a challenge - his novels pretty much read like adaptations of movie scripts anyway. It works OK as a sequence of events although you get the feeling that it's all too rushed. There are a lot of characters and none of them are well developed. They've made the mistake of trying to include everyone from the novel rather than focusing on one or two. However, the real problem with this movie was the script. At times you'd be forgiven for thinking there wasn't one. The dialog was cliched and simplistic. It actually seemed at times like you were watching one of those films where the dialogue is all improvised. After a while it just gets too irritating.

TIMELINE was very entertaining and had so many of the things I enjoy about movies: heroism, excitement, romance, courage, honor and an interesting story with plenty of action to keep things moving forward. If you like the premise of this movie's plot, ignore the nay-sayers and the nit-picking critics, and go enjoy one of the better movies of this entire year. [9 / 10]

This is a very enjoyable movie... Time travel fast paced 1 very good romance with Butler's character and an ok one with Walkers Paul Walker and Gerard Butler are great to look at and it is a good time travel story. Dont know why so many people didnt like it. Maybe because this war is too far back in time in 14th century so it's hard to relate too or maybe because the French are the good guys and the English are not.

This film is so incredibly bad that it is difficult to avoid laughing all the way through - not many comedies manage that, so it might be worth seeing if you can tolerate that sort of thing. The plot is contradictory where it isn't nonsensical, the acting is deplorably bad, an infant school play would inject more realism into the characters. The film is, sadly, highly racialistic. It attacks one group of people in numerous snide and unpleasant ways - if I were politically correct, I would urge that it was banned just for its racism. The utter nonsense of having French villagers a few centuries ago understanding modern Yank argot beggars belief. If a script like this can be made into a film it is difficult to imagine just how utterly awful those are that don't make it.

A pretty good cast for a wonderful story. I twas done pretty well back in 2003 (or 2002 when it was filmed), but it would do SO Much better if it was remade today. :) I for one would LOVE to see a remake or even a TV Series made based on this book. A TV series based on this concept, where a set of scholars, archeologists, etc. weekly go back to certain historical time periods and face challenges and deal with history. It could provide great entertainment while also making history tangible. :) It would be fun to see a Scooby team of sorts go back and meet great people of Greece, Turkey, Rome, Madrid, Africa, Russia, France, Briton, etc., etc., etc.