"The Time Machine" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Guard]

He was searching for the answer to his past. He became a hero for the future.
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/129/025_THETIMEMACHINE_DOUBLESIDED.jpg
"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams." - Über-Morlock

Release Date: March 8, 2002
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures, Warner Bros.
Director: Simon Wells
Starring: Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Mark Addy, Jeremy Irons, Yancey Arias, Philip Bosco, Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law, Omero Mumba, Josh Stamberg

Plot Summary: Scientist and inventor, Alexander Hartdegen (Pearce), is determined to prove that time travel is possible. His determination is turned to desperation by a personal tragedy that now drives him to want to change the past. Testing his theories with a time machine of his own invention, Hartdegen is hurtled 800,000 years into the future, where he discovers that mankind has divided into the hunter and the hunted.

Visit the official movie site here (http://www.countingdown.com/timemachine/).

Buy the movie! (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKLZ/toonzone03/102-5807282-8281733)

Comments?


Went to see it tonight. Not impressed. The movie took too many liberties with a classic. The Morlocks were...not right, and the whole thing felt rushed. I guess it was, since it was a 96-minute movie. A classic like this deserves at least two hours. I wasn't thrilled that the part where Alex travels to the end of the world was cut out, and so much of what Wells wanted to get across wasn't there. It was an ACTION flick. The moment in the book that I wanted to see was when Alex goes to the end of the world, and there are two things left alive, and they're fighting. Even with the end of the world approaching. They're fighting. Also, the nuclear war was dropped in exchange for the moon falling apart. That said, Guy Pearce (Memento), did a fantastic job. You really felt for his character, and his emotions came through. But the plot was lacking, and left me kind of upset. It had none of the magic that Wells gave it.

They better get WAR OF THE WORLDS right.

[Karkull]

I agree. I wanted to see the end of the world too. And the part about the knowledge of the world being remembered by the computer screwed up the uneasy horror of the original scene (how easily knowledge and civilization can be lost in time) with the books turning to dust.

[Terminatah]

I never read this book, and while the movie does get many points across, I also felt it could've used a bit more development in the end. Running times this short are never enough to cover a whole book. But length aside, I enjoyed what I saw. Guy Pearce was great as socially detached mathematician Alexander Hartdegen, the musical score really nailed the epic scope of the story, and the action effectively drained the full contents of my bladder. I would've liked to see more of the initial destruction of the moon. Overall, a good show.

-Terminatah

[entitee]

can someone explain this movie to me?
ok i'm willing to go with the idea that even though a ton of changes happened like the reshaping of continents and all, a form of humans identical to now still exist along with the english language.

i just want to know what was going on in the last 20 minutes.
why did Pearce's character grab the bad guy and end up killing him?
why did he feel he needed to save the girl in the first place?
why did he go even further in the future, see that nothing good happened,
and then decide to destroy his time machine, which, for whatever reason,
completely destroyed whatever was in the path of its explosion.
i'm really lost here.
also, why is it we have to assume that he was smart enough to just
create a time machine over the 4 years since his fiancee's death yet
nobody else in the history of the world was able to do so?

i want to like this movie but i can't until i get good answers for these questions.

--kev

[finbarlafume]

Well, as a HG Wells fan I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie but I'm a bit worried about how it'll come out in the end.
The Time Machine is a classic novel and it deserves the same treatment as any literary to screen adaptation.
I wait in hope...


The Guard wrote
_________________________________________
They better get WAR OF THE WORLDS right.
_________________________________________


Oh yes....
War of the Worlds is my favourite sci fi novel and I've been waiting years to see a faithful film version. ( The 1953 movie was changed far too much from the original story )
By faithful I mean: a) Set in the 1890s b) set in England c) war machines must have three legs d) Must also include the five legged Handling Machines e) Must have that long sequence where the narrator and the curate are trapped in the ruined house ( The best three chapters of written sci fi ever )

Please please please please please let them do it right

[The Guard]

why did Pearce's character grab the bad guy and end up killing him?

Because he's a moron. He killed the only thing controlling those Morlocks. No...actually, I think it was because the Uber-Morlock wanted to hitch a ride to the future with Alex.

why did he feel he needed to save the girl in the first place?

Because she was HOT! You saw what they were gonna use her for...

why did he go even further in the future, see that nothing good happened,

Something HAD happened. The Morlocks had taken over, with no Uber-Morlock to keep them in line.

and then decide to destroy his time machine, which, for whatever reason,
completely destroyed whatever was in the path of its explosion.

He had to WIPE OUT the Morlocks. So they COULDN'T take over, because he killed the one person who could have controlled them.

also, why is it we have to assume that he was smart enough to just
create a time machine over the 4 years since his fiancee's death yet
nobody else in the history of the world was able to do so?

The time machine is never explained in the book, either. It just gets made.

i want to like this movie but i can't until i get good answers for these questions.

Read the book. Learn what H.G Wells was REALLY about.

[entitee]

thanks for the answers.

yes maybe i will read the book.
one thing though, i never associated this movie with the idea that it was based on a book so there is hope.

i wish they had just done the movie on the destruction of the moon story though.

--kev

[The Dark Knight]

The movie was great until the end when it fell apart. I was really expecting there to be a better answer than the fact that it would create a paradox. Coupled with an out of place action scene and the explosion of the time machine which conveniantly only destroyed the area underground, I was left dissapointed. Still, up until that point the movie was great. Too bad since it had such great potential. At least it got me interested in reading the book (just as soon as I finish the million other books I have planned to read). Despite the ending, I enjoyed the movie. I've always liked time travel stories. I also really liked the musical score.

By the way, was anyone else reminded of Planet of the Apes during the hunting scene?

[Karkull]

Originally posted by The Guard
why did Pearce's character grab the bad guy and end up killing him?

Because he's a moron. He killed the only thing controlling those Morlocks. No...actually, I think it was because the Uber-Morlock wanted to hitch a ride to the future with Alex.

why did he go even further in the future, see that nothing good happened,

Something HAD happened. The Morlocks had taken over, with no Uber-Morlock to keep them in line.
]

The Uber-Morlock wasn't trying to hitch a ride with him. He was going to let him go until the Time Traveller attacked him. And he wasn't the only person controling the Morlocks...didn't he say something about there being cells of Morlocks all over the world; with each one controlled by an Uber-Morlock?

[The Guard]

The Uber-Morlock wasn't trying to hitch a ride with him. He was going to let him go until the Time Traveller attacked him. And he wasn't the only person controling the Morlocks...didn't he say something about there being cells of Morlocks all over the world; with each one controlled by an Uber-Morlock?

God almighty was Alex stupid. What was he trying to ACCOMPLISH???

I think that Uber-Morlock controlled all of them.

[entitee]

He did say there were many like him. Whatever that meant.
and what was the purpose of him grabbing that glowing tadpole thing out
of the water?
hehehe.
Anyways, that whole fight on the time machine was ridiculous.
I think Alex should have just went back to his time, destroyed
the time machine and just assumed everything would be nice and good if he wanted to change the future.

--kev

[Terminatah]

My dad read the book, so I conversed with him about it, and we came to the conclusion that the Morlocks were made way too powerful in this movie. The whole point of the book gets lost because of that. The people of the future are supposed to be dominated because they have no will to work or fight, not because the Morlocks are supercreatures. This would lead to Alex becoming outraged and pushing them to fight.

Sure, the Morlocks are scarier now, but when people leave this movie, they'll be more dazzled by the special effects than by the author's intent. And you'd think this director, the great-grandson of H.G. Wells himself, would do something about it.

-Terminatah

[The Guard]

and what was the purpose of him grabbing that glowing tadpole thing out

I thought that was cool. He went to get a drink of water, and he saw that he was about to drink it. He let it go. Let it live.