Timeline (2003)
Average Rating: 3.7/10
Reviews Counted: 139
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 123
This incoherently plotted addition to the time-travel genre looks and sounds cheesy.
Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 30
This incoherently plotted addition to the time-travel genre looks and sounds cheesy.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 55,710
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Movie Info
Directing his first film since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, Richard Donner helmed this big-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. Featuring a script by first-time screenwriter George Nolfi, Timeline begins in France in the near future. A group of students from Yale are there studying a medieval site, when their professor, played by Billy Connolly, mysteriously goes missing. To make matters more enigmatic, the students are then taken back to the United States by a shadowy
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Cast
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Paul Walker
Chris Johnston -
Frances O'Connor
Kate Ericson -
Gerard Butler
Andre Marek -
Billy Connolly
Professor Edward Johnst... -
David Thewlis
Robert Doniger -
Anna Friel
Lady Claire -
Neal McDonough
Frank Gordon -
Matt Craven
Steven Kramer -
Ethan Embry
Josh Stern -
Michael Sheen
Lord Oliver -
Lambert Wilson
Lord Arnaut -
Marton Czokas
De Kere -
Rossif Sutherland
Francois Dontelle -
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Timeline Trailer & Photos
All Critics (139) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (126) | DVD (23)
This big-budget adventure is based on a recent Michael Crichton thriller, though its premise is too stale to instill the sense of wonder critical to great sci-fi.
Top CriticYet another case of making time travel a messy ordeal rather than a load of fun, Timeline lacks the consistent tone, pace and point of view for either a science fiction thriller or medieval war adventure.
C'est la 'B'! Timeline is crudely written, haphazardly acted, and improbably fun.
It's like Back to the Future without the laughs.
Time travels, but it sure doesn't fly by in this debacle.
Resembles a Star Trek episode by way of Scooby-Doo.
Weakly entertaining Middle Ages fantasy.
A competent cast keeps this eccentric time travel movie (based on a Michael Crichton novel) amusing if far from successful.
Timeline takes the most ridiculous movie plot ever and multiplies it by ten.
In Michael Crichton's oeuvre, this is more The 13th Warrior than Westworld. Silly larks for young boys with liberal parents.
...one of the least effective Crichton adaptations to date.
It's all a bit too near fetched to be a great movie, it's still fun.
If only I could go back in time to convince myself not to watch this ludicrous time travel yarn which 'faxes' a group of uninteresting characters back to the 1300s to screw up the space-time continuum.
It is just bland and easily forgettable.
It comes up short in both plot and quality.
At two hours and even with the rushed feel it still feels overly long and worst of all -- cheap.
They should have called this Time Waste...
Jeff Maguire, in adapting Crichton's novel, clearly had trouble explaining all the nuances of the story with the constraints of a Hollywood time limit.
With the exception of the original "Jurassic Park", films based on Crichton's novels have been not only unsuccessful but horrendously awful.
This offers a mystifying look at the future with a mind-bending twist.
The extras are the usual run-of-the-mill behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
Audience Reviews for Timeline
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Latest News on Timeline
November 5, 2008:
Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)Best-selling author, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton has passed away at the age of 66....
March 2, 2006:
Critical Consensus: A Swinging "Party," A Sweet and Sour "16"This week's wide releases will take us on a journey. We'll walk a couple blocks ("16...
February 23, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Running" Gets a "Cooler" Reception From CriticsA low-level hood searches desperately for a hot gun ("Running Scared"). A cute pooch...
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