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Reviews Counted:146
Fresh:41
Rotten:105
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: This Machine has all the razzle-dazzles of modern special effects, but the movie takes a turn for the worst when it switches from a story about lost love to a confusing action-thriller.
Theatrical Release:Mar 8, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $56,684,819
Synopsis: Scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen is determined to prove that time travel is possible. His determination is turned to desperation by a personal tragedy that now drives him to want to... [More]
Starring: Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba
Director: Simon Wells
The worst news isn't that this Time Machine is lacking in humanity. It's that screenwriter John Logan has been given the job of writing the next Star Trek movie, Nemesis. That is bad news for the Enterprise gang.
... while there are some glittery bits in it, the film is frustrating, cluttered, inelegant and garish.
Not exactly H.G. Wells, but sturdy and effective.
Top CriticEverything else that the filmmakers have done in their thoughtless, lazy way to 'improve' the original formula serves only to leach the drama and excitement out of the underlying story.
Top CriticThe question hanging over The Time Machine is not, as the main character suggests, 'what if?' but rather, 'How can you charge money for this?'
The Time Machine isn't so much an adaptation of H.G. Wells' seminal novel as it is an appropriation. The film borrows liberally from the book, but doesn't treat it with much respect or affection or even understanding.
There's some enjoyment to be had if you can concentrate on individual moments and ideas. But when it comes to the big picture, this version is a groaner.
The Time Machine is stupid -- too stupid for the impressive special effects or the competently directed action sequences to wash away the bitter taste.
Top Critic... Wells the director has created little more than a weak love story with some action thrown in to stop the movie-goers' time in the theatre from crawling.
It's great scary fun but hardly true to the sentiments or spirit of its source material.
Personally, I'd like to time travel back myself and get those 95 minutes returned. I wouldn't waste them on this movie.
The far future may be awesome to consider, but from period detail to matters of the heart, this film is most transporting when it stays put in the past.
Top CriticIt's worth a bargain matinee or a future rental as it's a pleasant waste of time, however ...
Watchable if never exciting, competent yet hardly exceptional, the picture is content to assume its innocuous position in the cinematic landscape.
If you must go back to the future, we suggest you do it with the twisted '79 spinoff Time After Time.
It will delight newcomers to the story and those who know it from bygone days.
Top CriticBeing author Wells' great-grandson, you'd think filmmaker Simon Wells would have more reverence for the material. But this costly dud is a far cry from either the book or the beloved film.
[The filmmakers are] so hung up on other versions of The Time Machine that they never give this one a life of its own.
Bears resemblance to, and shares the weaknesses of, too many recent action-fantasy extravaganzas in which special effects overpower cogent story-telling and visual clarity during the big action sequences.
Top Critic
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