Review of Time Machine, The (2002)

Introduction

I`m usually wary of remakes of well-beloved movies, and George Pal`s 1960 version of H.G. Wells` classic occupies a soft spot for me. I`d seen trailers for this version of the movie and it looked pretty impressive, but I thought it wouldn`t be a patch on the old version. Well, I`m completely blown away by this version of the tale to the extent I can hardly remember the old one.

There`s got to be a little more than studio-whimsy in the selection of the author`s great-grandson, animator Simon Wells as the director of this truly spectacular telling of the story. Known primarily for "Prince of Egypt", this is Wells` first live-action feature. The end result, however, could do justice to directors with many such movies under their belts.

Spectacular doesn`t quite do justice to this movie, which I would easily class as one of the best of 2002. At ninety-six minutes, it does not outstay its welcome, in fact an extra half-hour running time would have made the movie even better. The visual effects, not least the Time Machine itself, are quite eye-popping, and the pull-back from the laboratory out to the moon is worth the price of admission.

Guy Pearce turns in a suitably querulous performance as boffin-author-inventor Alexander Hartdegen, who resolves to build a time machine when tragedy strikes. His failure to change the past sends him on a trip into the future to answer his questions. It is especially refreshing to have a movie about the future that does not use a forthcoming war as mankind`s fate.

Guy Pearce has excellent support from a cast including Phyllida Law as his housekeeper, and "Full Monty"`s Mark Addy as his best friend Philby. Samantha Mumba, in her first big part, is his future romantic interest and her real-life brother Omero plays her screen brother. Orlando Jones (Bedazzled, Evolution) appears as VOX, the information retrieval system of the 2037 New York Public Library. Most striking of all is Jeremy Irons as the `Ubermorlock`, all silky sounding while looking startlingly like Boris Karloff in his white make-up. Watch out for 1960`s `Philby` Alan Young in a very brief cameo.

Video

The movie is pretty much pristine and presented in its full 2.35:1 anamorphic glory. The picture is sharp and colourful, although some of the CG work on the time travel sequence does look a little soft-focus from time to time.

Audio

The sound is where this movie is outstanding. The print comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks in both English and French. There are Dolby Surround 2.0 tracks in English and Spanish, and commentary tracks, one by the director and the editor, the other by the producer, visual effects designer and the production designer. Best of all, there is a DTS 5.1 soundtrack with real beef that sounds especially good, making the most of Klaus Badelt`s magnificent score.

Features

There are plenty of extras on the disc for the most demanding movie fan. In addition to the commentaries (which also carry subtitles for the hard-of-hearing!), there are featurettes on creating the Morlocks, creating the Time Machine, storyboards, a deleted scene (which should have been left in the movie), designs, trailers and tv spots.

Conclusion

A quite enchanting version of the story, full of action and jaw-dropping special effects. It stands up more than favourably to the 1960 George Pal version and in many ways is a much better picture (not least the treatment of the Eloi who are plain gormless in Pal`s version).