Timeline
I read the book, Timeline, back when the game came out for it. Oddly, the game came out far too early - perhaps Timeline was supposed to come out much earlier as well. It probably doesn't help that the French are the good guys in this film.
From the looks of the poster for Timeline, the advertising team didn't know what to do with it. Why in hell they didn't make it look like Lord of the Rings, I have no idea. But instead, we get a weird looking shot of a bow with a flaming arrow that also happens to have a timeline superimposed over it with some vector-like graphics. In short, it doesn't look medieval, or science fiction-ish, or Lord of the Rings-ish. It looks like crap, and that's a shame because Timeline is not crap.
The plot is convoluted but essentially involves what I like to call Medieval Park. It's like Jurassic Park, only it involves knights. A rich billionaire wants to create a theme park that literally is a window into another time rather than genetically created dinosaurs. The concept is the same: rich guy plays with human lives in a supposedly safe environment - only it's not safe and ultimately the rich moron's arrogance is the death of a lot of people. This does not detract from the entertainment value of the movie, which hews closely to the book with a few exceptions.
The story begins with archeologists in a boring field, showing students why it's not boring. Just like Jurassic Park's paleontologists. In this case, the real skeptic is the older son of the chief paleontologist. Their dig is around Castlegard and a guy who looks suspiciously like an evil Bill Gates funds it. Okay, that would make him a good Bill Gates. Let's just say he seems oilier and geekier than usual, a credit to the actor.
The plot hurdles along as a wide variety of characters travel through time, including a historical reenactor, a pretty love interest, a marine or two, and a French guy. Things of course have already gone awry, which is why our protagonists are called in to save the day - and then things get screwed up even worse.
There are a lot of characters and a lot of details that connect to each other in the past and present. The movie itself skips back and forth, detailing the action in medieval times as well as the panicked arguments of scientists in the present. The pacing is a little off at times, but the movie manages to interject quite a bit of excitement into what could otherwise be a drab, "look at the peasant woman carrying sticks!" (to quote Time Squad).
Fortunately, that's not necessary, because medieval times were sufficiently exciting without embellishment. Unfortunately, a lot of the startling details in the book are lost in the movie translation. Axes and swords did not slide through mail so quickly - it would take several awful hacks at a prone opponent to kill him, a fact that horrifies the modern visitors. On screen, one stab kills a guy except for one notable exception (which made for a great moment of suspense).
Similarly, both the horses and the men were described as being physically imposing, looming much larger than anyone is accustomed to in their daily modern life. All that is lost with the wide angle shots.
Some characters lose their significance. Lady Claire is relegated to a messy peasant spy instead of a scheming sexpot who sleeps with a bishop to help the French. I of course understand why that detail was excised (America doesn't tolerate sexual freedom in female leads). Less forgivable is the role of the scientist who remains behind - he ultimately saves the day in the book after the time machine breaks down, but in the movie he pretty much just runs around screaming, "Oh my God, WADDAWEDONOW?!"
The most obvious difference is the time travel itself. Since time travel in Timeline involves the use of a microscopic wormhole, the time travelers are shrunk down and then pushed through the hole. That would look positively ridiculous in the movie, so they wisely just left the time travel relatively F/X free.
And yet, Timeline does hit the mark in several scenes. The launching of arrows from both the French and English are terrifying as they rain silent death on everyone in their path. Even better, the English lord uses "night arrows" after firing a volley of flaming arrows, surprising the French and horribly maiming many of the enemy archers. Being a history buff myself, watching trebuchets in action is a real treat.
Because the grime and chaos of history is difficult to convey on screen when so many other historical epics have been portrayed, some of the characters' actions make less sense in the movie than in the book. In the book, the protagonists can escape because it's very hard to keep track of people with peasants, chickens, and decaying brick all around. In the movie, the good guys just run in a random direction and get away from the bad guys - over and over and over, even though the majority of events all take place within the same location.
Taking all this into account, Maleficent and I both enjoyed Timeline quite a bit. It's good fun with a bit of history thrown in.
But I still think they should have done a better job advertising it as if it were Lord of the Rings 2.5.
From the looks of the poster for Timeline, the advertising team didn't know what to do with it. Why in hell they didn't make it look like Lord of the Rings, I have no idea. But instead, we get a weird looking shot of a bow with a flaming arrow that also happens to have a timeline superimposed over it with some vector-like graphics. In short, it doesn't look medieval, or science fiction-ish, or Lord of the Rings-ish. It looks like crap, and that's a shame because Timeline is not crap.
The plot is convoluted but essentially involves what I like to call Medieval Park. It's like Jurassic Park, only it involves knights. A rich billionaire wants to create a theme park that literally is a window into another time rather than genetically created dinosaurs. The concept is the same: rich guy plays with human lives in a supposedly safe environment - only it's not safe and ultimately the rich moron's arrogance is the death of a lot of people. This does not detract from the entertainment value of the movie, which hews closely to the book with a few exceptions.
The story begins with archeologists in a boring field, showing students why it's not boring. Just like Jurassic Park's paleontologists. In this case, the real skeptic is the older son of the chief paleontologist. Their dig is around Castlegard and a guy who looks suspiciously like an evil Bill Gates funds it. Okay, that would make him a good Bill Gates. Let's just say he seems oilier and geekier than usual, a credit to the actor.
The plot hurdles along as a wide variety of characters travel through time, including a historical reenactor, a pretty love interest, a marine or two, and a French guy. Things of course have already gone awry, which is why our protagonists are called in to save the day - and then things get screwed up even worse.
There are a lot of characters and a lot of details that connect to each other in the past and present. The movie itself skips back and forth, detailing the action in medieval times as well as the panicked arguments of scientists in the present. The pacing is a little off at times, but the movie manages to interject quite a bit of excitement into what could otherwise be a drab, "look at the peasant woman carrying sticks!" (to quote Time Squad).
Fortunately, that's not necessary, because medieval times were sufficiently exciting without embellishment. Unfortunately, a lot of the startling details in the book are lost in the movie translation. Axes and swords did not slide through mail so quickly - it would take several awful hacks at a prone opponent to kill him, a fact that horrifies the modern visitors. On screen, one stab kills a guy except for one notable exception (which made for a great moment of suspense).
Similarly, both the horses and the men were described as being physically imposing, looming much larger than anyone is accustomed to in their daily modern life. All that is lost with the wide angle shots.
Some characters lose their significance. Lady Claire is relegated to a messy peasant spy instead of a scheming sexpot who sleeps with a bishop to help the French. I of course understand why that detail was excised (America doesn't tolerate sexual freedom in female leads). Less forgivable is the role of the scientist who remains behind - he ultimately saves the day in the book after the time machine breaks down, but in the movie he pretty much just runs around screaming, "Oh my God, WADDAWEDONOW?!"
The most obvious difference is the time travel itself. Since time travel in Timeline involves the use of a microscopic wormhole, the time travelers are shrunk down and then pushed through the hole. That would look positively ridiculous in the movie, so they wisely just left the time travel relatively F/X free.
And yet, Timeline does hit the mark in several scenes. The launching of arrows from both the French and English are terrifying as they rain silent death on everyone in their path. Even better, the English lord uses "night arrows" after firing a volley of flaming arrows, surprising the French and horribly maiming many of the enemy archers. Being a history buff myself, watching trebuchets in action is a real treat.
Because the grime and chaos of history is difficult to convey on screen when so many other historical epics have been portrayed, some of the characters' actions make less sense in the movie than in the book. In the book, the protagonists can escape because it's very hard to keep track of people with peasants, chickens, and decaying brick all around. In the movie, the good guys just run in a random direction and get away from the bad guys - over and over and over, even though the majority of events all take place within the same location.
Taking all this into account, Maleficent and I both enjoyed Timeline quite a bit. It's good fun with a bit of history thrown in.
But I still think they should have done a better job advertising it as if it were Lord of the Rings 2.5.
Labels: Fantasy, Movies, Science Fiction
posted by talien | 1:04 PM
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