THE TIME MACHINE 2002

I just finished watching the 2002 movie, The Time Machine. It was awful.

I’m not sure how this movie became so bad. It had Guy Pearce in the central role. He’s a great actor, so you’d think that wouldn’t be a problem. The special effects were done by ILM, Digital Doman, and Stan Winston Studio. Those are three big name, capable companies. So that shouldn’t be the weak link. The whole thing was directed by Simon Wells, who incidently, is the great-grandson of author H.G. Wells, who wrote the novel (which this movie is based on) The Time Machine. You’d think he’d want to do great-gramps proud with this film.

I think the root of this whole mess begins with the unfulfilling and pointless climax to this movie. I’m not sure if we can totally fault screenwriter John Logan because apparently last minute reshoots were ordered by director West based on some of his new ideas. You know there’s a big problem when the bad guy in the movie shows up right at the end, and he’s on screen for less than five minutes. Worse still, in those five minutes, he does nothing of importance. The whole ending made no sense! I usually don’t write about films I see, but I just had to this time. When a movie’s ending makes you go, “Why the f*ck did he do that? I’m so angry now”, it makes you want to get your money back.

I guess part of the reason I’m complaining is that I love movies about time travel. Time paradoxes are very cool plot devices. Also, as a child I saw the original The Time Machine movie from 1960. It was very good and I was hoping this new incarnation would live up to its predecessor. Unfortunately, it failed miserably.

If you want to see it, get someone to pay for the rental.