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—— After Earth May 31
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Timeline (2003)

tomatometer

12

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.

14

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.

audience

50

liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 55,710

My Rating

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

Apr 13, 2004

$19.4M

Paramount Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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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.

November 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Yet 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.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
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C'est la 'B'! Timeline is crudely written, haphazardly acted, and improbably fun.

December 2, 2003 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's like Back to the Future without the laughs.

December 1, 2003 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Time travels, but it sure doesn't fly by in this debacle.

November 26, 2003
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Resembles a Star Trek episode by way of Scooby-Doo.

November 26, 2003
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Weakly entertaining Middle Ages fantasy.

December 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

A competent cast keeps this eccentric time travel movie (based on a Michael Crichton novel) amusing if far from successful.

May 10, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

Timeline takes the most ridiculous movie plot ever and multiplies it by ten.

November 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

In Michael Crichton's oeuvre, this is more The 13th Warrior than Westworld. Silly larks for young boys with liberal parents.

November 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

...one of the least effective Crichton adaptations to date.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
Reel Film Reviews

It's all a bit too near fetched to be a great movie, it's still fun.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile
Urban Cinefile

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.

December 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound
Big Picture Big Sound

It is just bland and easily forgettable.

November 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page
Sci-Fi Movie Page

It comes up short in both plot and quality.

July 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com
Bullz-Eye.com

At two hours and even with the rushed feel it still feels overly long and worst of all -- cheap.

March 14, 2005 Full Review Source: Dark Horizons
Dark Horizons

They should have called this Time Waste...

December 2, 2004 Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine

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.

September 20, 2004
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

With the exception of the original "Jurassic Park", films based on Crichton's novels have been not only unsuccessful but horrendously awful.

July 11, 2004 Full Review Source: Cinema Sight
Cinema Sight

This offers a mystifying look at the future with a mind-bending twist.

May 26, 2004 Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum
Entertainment Spectrum

The extras are the usual run-of-the-mill behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.

May 2, 2004 Full Review
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Audience Reviews for Timeline

I like time travel movies, but this one leaves a bit to be desired. Usually when I watch a time travel movie, I imagine how cool it would be to be in their place - to find out some lost history or to be the wise character (with all your future knowledge), but it would not have been fun to live back in 1357.
April 9, 2013
Redlats

Super Reviewer

Some archaeologists realise their dream and get to travel back in time, only things don't go as well as they'd've hoped. With a loud music score and lots of running and chasing going on I had the impression that Donner barely tries to hide that one is actually watching an old silent movie serial updated with modern gee whiz technology. Soooo dumb I was almost insulted.
September 5, 2012
UniversalDreamer

Super Reviewer

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Latest News on Timeline

November 5, 2008:
Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)
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February 23, 2006:
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A low-level hood searches desperately for a hot gun ("Running Scared"). A cute pooch...

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