oOoBarracuda I'm not one of those movie watchers that all too often states, after a disappointing movie, "Well that was two hours of my life wasted." I always felt that phrase was thrown in a flippant way by half- hearted movie goers. I may have to change my tune after watching Timeline. I have been searching and I just can't find much of anything positive to say about this movie. The benefit of watching a lot of movies is of course seeing great films, especially ones you may not have seen otherwise. The downside to this formula is that the more movies you see, the higher your chances exist of seeing a movie that is just dreadful.Timeline involves a group of archeology students, their professor, and his son. Their goal is to erect and use a 3-D fax machine to transport objects to different places and times. With this tool, they attempt to time travel. When our lovable professor, Professor Johnston (Billy Connolly) finds himself in 1357 France, it is up to his team of students, led by his son Chris Johnston (Paul Walker). What was supposed to be a simple retrieval and return to the present turned into a disaster with the team nearly being stranded in the middle of a war. When the lead of the team is killed, the inexperienced time hoppers are left to their own devices to try and get home safely, with only a limited amount of time to do so. One of the team members, Andre Marek (Girard Butler) finds love while in France, and decides to stay leaving his team in shock. Eventually, they make it back, with the professor, vowing never to time travel again.What could have been a great story was bogged down by poor acting, disjointed story-telling, and needless explanation. It's a time travel movie and at this point time travel is impossible, the audience understands this before the movie even begins, there is no need to explain to me the how the method of time traveling is working in the movie. I am quite comfortable with the suspension of disbelief it takes to enjoy a movie, had the director respected the audience more and cut down on the explanation, it could have been a more enjoyable experience. Cutting down the lengthy explanation probably wouldn't have made much of a difference though as the acting was far from good. Having never been a fan of Paul Walker or Girard Butler, I shouldn't have expected much from the acting in this film. Both of them were unbelievable in their character, and even though the story revolves around a group of time travelers, the group themselves lacked any chemistry. Even the love stories of the film lacked any passion to lend to their credibility.There was also absent a character in this film that one could root for. There was no one engaging in this film to grab the audience's attention. Timeline proves that a well-shot film will need more than looking good to be good. I am told by fans of the book, that the filmmakers took too many liberties with this film, perhaps which lends to my dislike of it, though having never read the book, because it is just too far out. With no good acting to experience again, a horrible story, and a poorly done far-fetched concept, the only thing I can be sure about Timeline is that I will never see it again.

FloodClearwater Timeline, starring the late Paul Walker and Gerard Butler, and featuring a large and talented supporting cast, is an underrated film based on a very underrated book by sci-thriller master, the late Michael Crichton.This was always going to be a tricky film to make because the book's story is based on the sci-fi premise of time travel. The film preserves most of Crichton's brilliant plot--a tech firm in the American desert is trying to invent teleportation but stumbles into a wormhole that only sends the transported back in time to the year 1375 and a village in France during the brutal 100 Years' War.The actors making up the principle groups of story characters, the oily and secretive tech guys, the erstwhile archaeology students who get caught up in the tech guys' invention, and the, of course, late medieval English and French combatants the first two groups both travel back in time to encounter, are well-cast and well--directed by Richard Donner. Particular supporting role standouts here are Marton Csokas as Decker, David Thewlis as Doniger and Michael Sheen as 'Lord Oliver.' Anna Friel is perfectly medieval and ladylike yet attractively modern as Lady Clare, and Neal McDonough and Matt Craven post terrific performances as the wayward tech firm's henchmen.What gets left out from the book, what really has to get left out unless Donner et al were to pull a Peter Jackson and stretch Timeline into three films, is the trove of rich, textured, historical detail about virtually every aspect of the little French village and castle combination that the story circles around. The book is, indeed, better than the film, simply because Crichton's historical fiction writing work on all things 'Aquitainian' in Timeline equals or exceeds anything Bernard Cornwell or Tom Clancy have ever put out in terms of nourishing minutiae. But you can't competently get all that in inside a 2 hour film. With the exception of a few scenes where a character here and there is "run through" with a broadsword, Timeline is almost a family- friendly film, something that young people and the mature crowd can enjoy together. Almost, parents, screen it first. Most Crichton fans have never heard of or read Timeline, and most Richard Donner, Paul Walker, and Gerard Butler fans have never seen this very solid little 2003 film. Hopefully those oversights are rectified as time moves forward, because Timeline is an underrated film based on a very underrated book, and that means it deserves an audience.

videorama-759-859391 I couldn't believe there was a book to this film. This annoying movie was the first one I saw at the cinema in 2004. I only went, cause some friends were going to see it, and I tagged along. Honestly there were times through this overlong film, watching it, a painful and straining process, I just wanted to leave. I expected this to be a science fiction, in space kind of film, not one of medi evil, so you can imagine my disappointment. It's very start had me excited, then... I expected more from director, Donner, who kind of had me thinking, has he lost the plot. The actors aren't at fault. They give it what they got, lead Walker, a bumbling mess of a performance, that's unconvincing. He's the oversexed son, would you believe of archaeologist, Connely. Bumbling jock, Walker's character, Chris, an avid inventor, only has eyes for Oz's Francis's O'Connor, who's too occupied in her work to care. Walker's scenes kind of do come as a compensation as in what is a slow, dull, 111 minute film, where honestly you want to turn off. When Connelly, is somehow transported 600 years back to medieval times, it's up to Walker (who's acting here, does boost up) and his colleagues to travel back in time and rescue the father. Timeline came as such a disappointment, shamefully wasting so more good actors. Medieval pics like these, to me are only good if they have a lot of gore, and much more is at stake. Timeline's problem painfully lies in the plotting and it's mostly flat journey of too much screen time wasted, and especially the latter of my last sentence. We don't care here, but more so, this formula and story is so old hat, it's quite easy, to lose focus here. Again Mr Donner needs a good talking to. This is not how you approach something like this now. I don't think I ever looked this forward to an ending in my life, and I don't mean the plot either folks.

darosslfc As is true in so many cases, the book, Timeline, is way better than the movie. But that doesn't mean the movie isn't fun though. It is based on the Michael Crichton's novel by the same name. Crichton is responsible for many great books, but is most known for Jurassic Park, which was famously adapted by Spielberg. With this being said you can definitely expect a story with a great premise. Timeline follows a group of archaeologists who are digging a site at Castleguard, France. They are funded by a technology company, ITC, and have been receiving hints about their site to the point where the boss, Professor Johnston (Billy Connolly), becomes suspicious. He goes to find out what the back story is and the next day his crew discovers a new room at the site which has a note left by the professor from 14th century France. The professor's son, Chris (Paul Walker), and the crew led by Kate Ericson (Frances O'Connor) and Andre Marek (Gerard Butler) go to ITC to find out what is going on. They learn that the company built a 3d fax machine that tapped into a wormhole sending its packages, or in this case humans, back to 14th century Castleguard, France. The group then heads back in time to go save the professor, who was sent back there to figure out the connection of the wormhole and their site. While the film has a great premise it probably would have been a lot better if it was made ten years later with a bigger budget. The story starts off strong, but then proceeds to tail off into B-movie territory. It has some performances by actors you will know, but the script doesn't help them, and it certainly doesn't reach the highs of the book. By no means is this a success, but it does well to keep you entertained if you're just looking for a movie that will be a time killer.