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Movies / On DVD / A Sound of Thunder
A Sound of Thunder

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A Sound of Thunder (2005)

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Reviews Counted:94

Fresh:7

Rotten:87

Average Rating:2.9/10

Consensus: Choppy logic and uneven performances are overshadowed by not-so-special effects that makes the suspension of disbelief a nearly impossible task.

Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: In A SOUND OF THUNDER, based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, director Peter Hyams (END OF DAYS, TIMECOP) creates a world where time travel is possible and life as we know it is threatened. In the... In A SOUND OF THUNDER, based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, director Peter Hyams (END OF DAYS, TIMECOP) creates a world where time travel is possible and life as we know it is threatened. In the year 2055, Charles Hatton's (Ben Kingsley) company, Time Safari, will take anyone with a big enough wallet back 65 million years for the thrill of their lives: dinosaur hunting. Thanks to Tammy, a talking computer created by Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), the time-travel team returns with clients to a specific moment 65 million years ago, with explicit directions not to leave anything behind, change anything, or bring anything with them back to the future. Expedition leader Travis Ryer (Ed Burns) is certain that the protocol is flawless, but Dr. Rand isn't so sure. She knows that Hatton will cut any corners necessary to make bigger bucks, and she's waiting for the worst. Sure enough, a safari goes amiss when Ryer's gun malfunctions and he sends the clients scampering for cover from an irate dinosaur. The team returns to 2055 shaken but unscathed. The next day, all over Chicago, mysterious trees and vines begin springing up through sidewalks and out of walls. It seems that something went terribly wrong on the last jump, but no one can pinpoint just what it was. According to Rand, the problem will only worsen as "time waves" continue to sweep the planet, resulting in 65 million years of evolution and growth catching up with the present time. Soon, monstrous creatures--giant baboons with lizard-like features, bat-faced teradactyls, and huge sea serpents--abound, leaving Ryer and his team in constant danger as they fight the clock to determine what caused the anomaly and to save life as we know it. [More]

Starring: Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, Ben Kingsley, Jemima Rooper

Starring: Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, Ben Kingsley, Jemima Rooper, David Oyelowo, Joshua Oppenheimer

Director: Peter Hyams

Director: Peter Hyams
Screenwriter: Gregory Poirier
Story: Thomas Dean Donnelly
Producer: Moshe Diamant, Howard L. Baldwin, Karen Baldwin, Jan Fantl
Composer: Nick Glennie-Smith
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Reviews for A Sound of Thunder

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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Good idea unsuccessfully realised with Ed Burns doing his best.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/02/06
Helen OHara
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Burns still can’t carry a picture, and Kingsley is laughably bad as the corporate meanie.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
09/10/05
Boston Phoenix

Our advice: Wait until it's on the Sci Fi Channel, and then watch something else.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
09/02/05
E! Online

This picture achieves a level of badness that is its own form of sublimity.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/01/05
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[not] just a bad movie, it is one that is so hopelessly ridiculous, so relentlessly inept, that it sullies the art of filmmaking as a whole.

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/31/05
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Overflows with cheesy special effects and less than stellar performances.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/03/05
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

A Sound of Thunder is worth noting, if only as a real contender for worst movie of the year.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
09/01/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

A remarkably bad film.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
05/12/06
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Sacramento News & Review

Caught awkwardly ... between massive scope and something more honed and finite...

Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine | comment Comment
09/02/05
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Now Playing Magazine

In the future people are going to look at this with the same fascination that we reserve for movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space - yes, it's really that bad.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
09/02/05
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

To describe what’s wrong with this perfectly serviceable pulp scenario requires only one word: everything.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/01/05
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com

You'll hear something, but it's not a sound of thunder. It's a sound of a bomb.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
09/08/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

One wonders why Hollywood is so determined to churn out outlandish tales of manufactured peril when the real world is scary enough.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
09/01/05
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

Conjures a future out of painfully unconvincing special effects.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
09/10/05
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

The special effects in this pic make Land of the Lost look like Jurassic Park.

Full Review Source: Beaumont Journal | comment Comment
09/01/05
Danny Minton
Danny Minton
Beaumont Journal

I do not think science works the way they think it works.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/10/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

As usual, a cool Ray Bradbury story has been translated into a horrifyingly bad film.

Full Review Source: EDGE Boston | comment Comment
09/02/05
David Foucher
David Foucher
EDGE Boston

As Ryer (Burns)...says, 'We have to make sure this never happens again.' We beg you.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
09/01/05
David S. Hauck
David S. Hauck
Christian Science Monitor

Inept on all imaginable levels. The only Thunder heard will be audiences stampeding in droves out of the theater to escape sheer torture and misery.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
09/01/05
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

On the evolutionary scale, this B-movie misfire hovers pretty close to amoeba status.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
09/02/05
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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