Not completely successful, but enjoyable enough
Timeline (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:132
Fresh:15
Rotten:117
Average Rating:3.7/10
Consensus: This incoherently plotted addition to the time-travel genre looks and sounds cheesy.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: In the heart of the beautiful and historically rich Dordogne Valley of France, a team of archaeology students and their professor diligently work to uncover the ruins of a 14th-century castle. For... In the heart of the beautiful and historically rich Dordogne Valley of France, a team of archaeology students and their professor diligently work to uncover the ruins of a 14th-century castle. For Professor Edward Johnson (Billy Connolly), the project is the culmination of a lifelong dream. Aided by assistant professor Andre Marek (Gerard Butler), his son Chris (Paul Walker) and students Kate (Frances O'Connor), Stern (Ethan Embry) and Francois (Rossif Sutherland), Johnston has made major strides in unearthing not only La Roque Castle but also a monastery and structures from the surrounding village of Castelgard. But things are about to go haywire... Suspicious of the dig's benefactor, International Technology Corporation (ITC) and the man who runs it, Robert Doniger (David Thewlis), Professor Johnston heads to ITC headquarters in New Mexico to get some answers, and while he's away, his students discover a chamber that has been sealed for more than 600 years. Marek and Kate descend into the unstable room, and just before a near disastrous cave-in, they make two startling discoveries -- a bifocal lens, which couldn't have been invented before the chamber was sealed, and even more intriguing, a handwritten plea for help dated April 2, 1357 ... from Professor Johnston! Determined to solve the mystery, the students head for ITC headquarters, where they are stunned to learn of Doniger's new invention -- a machine that can actually transmit three-dimensional objects through space. He meant for the device to revolutionize shipping. Doniger inadvertently opened a worm hole that leads directly to the 14th century, and Professor Johnston, who had insisted on experiencing the discovery himself, is now trapped in a vicious French vs. English feudal war! Can Johnston's loyal students survive one of the most violent battles in world history ... and make it back to the 21st century alive? -- © Paramount Pictures [More]
Starring: Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly
Starring: Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly, Ethan Embry, David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Neal McDonough
Director: Richard Donner
Director: Richard Donner
Screenwriter: Jeff Maguire, Robert Nolfi
Producer: Lauren Shuler Donner, Jim Van Wyck, Richard Donner
Composer: Brian Tyler
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Timeline
If only if were possible to go back in time and retrieve the two hours we wasted watching this idiotic adaptation of Michael Crichton's time-travel novel.
Filled with pseudoscientific gibble-gabble, arbitrary time-travel rules, howlingly clichéd dialogue and renaissance-fair ambience, this dreary science-fiction/historical-action hybrid is a misfire of staggering proportions.
It plays like a bad episode of the old '60s television series, The Time Tunnel, with lots of uninvolving, back-and-forth action and little to thrill us with the exciting incongruities of time travel.
Even if you're willing to overlook the chintzy sets, low-wattage stars and goonball premise, Timeline doesn't present a convincing portrait of what it might be like to go back 650 years.
A cross between Jurassic Park and those traveling Renaissance fairs where gnawing on turkey legs and peering at the padded bosoms of college kids pretending to be wenches is supposed to make us feel medieval.
By turns risibly puerile and purely risible, the screenplay groans under the weight of its multiple platitudes.
It may not break any new ground, but after sitting through years of CGI spectacles, it is refreshing. Sometimes it’s fun to just see a movie that knows what it is.
Here [Walker] has been given the heart-rending role of, uh, Paul Walker, and I'm sad to report he's not up to the task.
It's not ambitious, but neither is it lazy. It works hard at its dumbness, and it's eager to please. For what it's worth, it's the most enjoyable bad movie of the year.
If you loved A Knight's Tale or The Time Machine... rent those instead!
There's a lot of action and nifty special effects in a climactic battle scene. But the movie pays only fleeting attention to other matters, including character development.
A hollow history lesson and an adventure that's about as thrilling as the staged joust at the heart of those traveling Renaissance Festivals.
An overgrown TV episode, another wearisome journey into the past where modern 20-somethings gape in wonder at knights in shining armor, who respond by trying to skewer these reality-show rejects with authentic rubber swords.
If this were a good movie, we would cheer for the students to dodge the flaming arrows. This isn't a good movie.
Slick entertainment that does its job, even if no one will remember it six years from now, much less six centuries.
Latest News for Timeline
November 05, 2008:
Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)
Best-selling author, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton has passed away at the age of 66. The medical doctor-turned-filmmaker was best known for writing... More...
March 02, 2006:
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February 23, 2006:
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June 30, 2005:
Trailer Bulletin: Into the Blue
Stop by Yahoo! Movies for your first look at the trailer to John Stockwell's "Into the Blue." It's a tale of buried treasure, loyal pals, evil thieves, narrow escapes... More...
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