The Time Machine (2002)

The Time Machine is a 2002 American science fiction adventure film loosely adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by H.G. Wells and the 1960 film screenplay by David Duncan. The executive producer was Arnold Leiboivt, and the director was Simon Wells, the great-grandson of the original author. To date, it is only the first live-action film that is directed by Simon Wells. It was released on March 8, 2002.

Plot
Scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) 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 change the past. Testing his theories with a time machine of his own invention, Hartdegen is hurtled 800,000 years into the future, where he discovers that mankind has divided into the hunter... and the hunted.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Very unfaithful to the source material, losing the original message of cultural division and its consequences, and making too many changes, such as Alexander now using the time machine to save his fiancée, rather than use it for scientific exploration like the Time Traveller in the original novel and George Wells in the 1960 film both did. And it's strange that it's so unfaithful because it's directed by the great-grandson of the novel's author.
 * 2) The Morlocks' designs are extremely cheesy and they somewhat scream like a horse, literally. It doesn't help the fact they are costumes.
 * 3) It can't even commit to its new story. Instead of the plot being a simple romance plot that's easy to follow, the movie quickly turns into a confusing and stupid action film.
 * 4) Mediocre acting from cast performance, as they continuously mumble throughout the entire film.
 * 5) The ending where Alexander decides to stay in the distant future is a very sharp contrast to the novel's ambiguous ending (in which the Time Traveller departs for another journey and promises his friend that he would return in a short time, only to be gone for three years, making his friend wonder where he is).
 * 6) Generic action scenes that many other films have done better.
 * 7) A disgusting scene where the humanoid Morlock dies by aging.
 * 8) Lazy CGI.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Pretty decent special effects.
 * 2) Decent soundtrack.

Reception
The Time Machine received mixed reviews. The film holds a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 153 reviews with an average rating of 4.79/10. The site's critical consensus reads "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.". Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Trivia

 * Halfway through filming, Simon Wells suffered a very serious on-set meltdown, and had to be replaced by Gore Verbinski in the director's chair for the remainder of shooting. Wells would return for post-production work.

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