An archeology team working in France on 600-year-old castle
ruins has had some incredible luck in unearthing various relics and structures.
Oddly enough, all of the tips on these new discoveries are coming from their
chief financial backer, a mysterious technology company called ITC, which is
based in America. Professor Johnston (Billy Connolly), the leader of the
expedition, grows suspicious about how anyone can know so much minute detail
about a particular dig site--even more than the archeologists working the site
themselves. So he decides to go to America to confront his backers. In his
absence, the team finds a new chamber buried underground, filled with old
documents. When they examine the documents in the field lab, they discover a
plea for help, written by Professor Johnston in his handwriting, on a sheet of
paper that is over 600 years old.
Both the movie Timeline and the book it was based on have one of the best
narrative hooks in recent years. You know full well that we are dealing with
time travel, and yet the filmmakers--by following author Michael Crichton's
lead--here present a tired old SF cliché in a fascinating way. When all contact
is lost with the professor, his students, led by his grown son Chris (Paul Walker),
visit ITC in the hopes of finding out what happened. Robert Doniger, the leader
of ITC (well played by David Thewlis as a geeky slime ball), explains that the
Professor had indeed been sent back through time, to the very era in France
that they are researching. The problem is that he has somehow gotten lost in the
14th Century, where he wrote his plea for help, knowing his students would find
it. Doniger wants to send a second team back, consisting of the Professor's
students--he figures that since they are well versed in life in 1357 France,
they would have a better chance of finding the old man. Of course, if things
were truly that easy, then the movie would only be a half an hour long. The
students find themselves tangled up in swordfights, dodging arrows and trying to
stay alive in a bygone era that doesn't appear to be as romantic to live in as
the popular conception makes it out to be.
Frances O'Connor is very good as Kate Ericson, one of the professor's students
and a love interest for Chris. And Gerard Butler ably handles the role of André
Marek, a fellow archeology team member who has a particular love of the Middle
Ages (and whose knowledge of medieval weapons and etiquette serves him well in
the various high-stress situations he finds himself in). The time machine is a large platform
that is sort of a "fax machine" that breaks down the time travelers on the
molecular level and reassembles them in the past by using a wormhole between the
two time periods (the reassembly of a person's molecules is also similar to how
the transporter technology used on Star Trek works, but it transports people to
different places, not through time). There is a danger in using this technique,
for after several trips back and forth through time, the very DNA of a person
can begin to break down. And thanks to the wormhole, they can only travel back
and forth to that particular time period, with seemingly no control over placing
a person at a specific moment in that era.
When Timeline first arrived in theaters, it was a major flop, receiving horrible
reviews. Bearing this in mind, I was prepared for a huge turkey when I put the
DVD into my player. However, I have to say that I enjoyed the movie very much.
It's basically a popcorn movie, and when you accept it on that level, it works
very well. The director, Richard Donner, is one of the most underrated
filmmakers in Hollywood with a good sense of what makes a story work. His Superman
(1978) is considered a classic of the superhero film genre, and his Lethal
Weapon movies are vastly entertaining (if not a favorite of movie critics). If
you're an SF fan, or even a fan of those Renaissance Fairs that are held
across the country every summer, you might want to give Timeline a chance. It's
an entertaining journey through time. The DVD has some basic, but decent features.
There are the usual "making of" documentaries, but these were shot right on the
set, which give you a good feel for the film's production. There are also two
original theatrical trailers. It would have been nice to hear Donner talk about
making the movie on a commentary, but alas, no commentary is included with the
film. --SF