The Time Machine

The Time Machine

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Movie Reviews of The Time Machine

Movie Review: And it deserves 5 stars too!
Summary: 5 Stars

The Time Machine is likely to be one of the most underrated and misunderstood movies of the year. I had read reviews of this movie before seeing it, and they were mostly bad. When I saw the film I was shocked because I thought the movie was so good and couldn't understand how critics could bash such an excellently made and well-paced movie experience. And then even the reviews that were above average only claimed the adventure to be "a fun and entertaining movie, no more". Personally, I thought the movie was more than just fun and entertaining, it had a good message and was a terrific adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic.

Most of the critiques I've read of this movie say that it is bad because it is so unrealistic and blah blah blah. Um, hello? Knock knock! Come back into the word of reality! This is a movie about a time machine. So it's totally gonna be believable and realistic? Of course not! It's a frickin fantasy for Christ sakes! You have to suspend your belief of technology and what is possible to fully enjoy this movie. If you go to a movie called The Time Machine and say "this is going to be totally true-to-life" then perhaps you should rethink going into it at all.

I thought the movie was visionary and engaging. The ideas the movie (and the book) come up with for the future and past are stunning. From the moon breaking up to monkey-looking Moorlocks climbing to the top of the food chain the movie never stops at giving us fantastical and creative possibilities. The director absolutely ensures these ideas are done to the best quality they can be done. I really liked it how the director of the modern remake was the ancestor of the book writer. Cool stuff!

The sets and production design are very moody and atmospheric at times, and very joyous and happy at others. They reminded me a lot of last years The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring sets. The cinematography by Donald M. McAlpine (who also photographed last years best movie, Moulin Rouge) was absolutely breathtaking and allowed many opportunities for the action sequences. The special and visual effects in The Time Machine are perfect and some of the best I've seen in the past few years. The time-travel sequences in particular are quite astonishing. If I had one complaint about the technical side of this film, it would be the Moorlocks. Sometimes they look unintentionally funny, but their evil presence is usually there. Again, they reminded me of something: the orcs from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This movie and that one are very similar!

The acting is pretty good. Guy Pearce is once again enjoyable and suits his role, but at times I don't think he quite knew what accent to use. For his better performances, check out Memento or L.A. Confidential. He still does quite well as a scientist though, who as we all know can speak in many different languages! R&B sensation Samantha Mumba was likeable and plausible in her role, and I would've liked to see more of her. Her brother Omero Mumba played the brave-kid-helping-the-action-role with a terrific charm and he wasn't at all annoying. Jeremy Irons had a small but effective evil role, he looked reminiscent of Saruman off The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring...arg, this movie just has too many similarities to that one. But that's never a bad thing. My favourite performance of the well-chosen cast is very surprising: Orlando Jones. I hated him last year in Say It Isn't So and Evolution, but in his clean-cut and expressive computerised role, he works terrifically.

The Time Machine allows its audience to feel a range of emotions, it has a lot of genres involved in the story. Action, adventure, romance, revenge, fantasy, blockbuster, horror, thriller, science fiction, drama...you name it, its got it. Phew!

If there were a couple of things I could change about the movie I would maybe fix up the Moorlocks a bit, perhaps have Stan Winston do the special makeup effects? I would've liked the movie to run a bit longer as well. A full 2 hours would've been great.

Overall this movie definitely entertained and enthralled me as a viewer. I liked the cast, the music (terrific score), felt sympathy for the characters and loved the sets and designs. I strongly suggest not trusting the critics with this one, it's a great movie on par with some classic action films. Highly recommended!

MY GRADE: A-

Summary of The Time Machine