Review: Timeline (2003)

 TIMELINE (2003) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Paul Walker, Frances
O'Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly, Anna Friel, Neal McDonough and
Ethan Embry. Director of photography, Caleb Deschanel. Based on the
novel by Michael Crichton. Screenplay by Jeff Maguire and George Nolfi.
Directed by Richard Donner. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx. 115 mins.



 Director Richard Donner knows his way around an action film.

 The veteran filmmaker responsible for the first (and best) Superman
film as well as the Lethal Weapon series utilizes most of his skills in
Timeline, adapted from the novel by Michael Crichton.

 However, Donner only succeeds partially, mainly because the film fails
to adequately create a sense of place and danger.

 As you can gather from its title, Timeline creates a science fiction
milieu with a story dealing with time travel -- or more appropriately
people being faxed into the past.

 A group of archaeologists and scientists are sent back to 1357 France,
during the midst of the Hundred Years War, to rescue a fellow
archaeologist who failed to return from an earlier voyage.

 Donner, along with screenwriters Jeff Maguire and George Nolfi, cannot
raise the appropriate  sense of time and locale. The 14th century
villages, castle and monastery have the cheesy look and dressing of
movie sets, not lived-in locales.

 And Canada makes a poor substitute for France. For some reason Donner
cannot capture the essence of the Middle Ages. It all seems too
sanitized, too cinematic.

 Donner keeps the action moving at a fast clip, but doing so costs the
film any palatable aura of menace. At times it seems like one of the
re-enactment Renaissance fairs gone terribly amok.

 It's also all too easy to figure out who's going to be killed and who's
going to survive.

 Timeline lacks an air of suspense. No matter how many situations the
main protagonists find themselves in, you're confident of their escape.

 It also hurts that the supposed star of the film, Paul Walker is very
bland and is constantly overshadowed by his supporting cast, most
notably Gerard Butler as Andre Marek, a archaeologist who finds his true
nature while in the past, and Frances O'Connor as Kate, the eager young
scientist whose sense of awe about her predicament is supposed to mirror
that of the audience.

 Timeline fails to grab you and sustain any feeling of wonder. The time
travel is treated so matter of factly by the characters and the
filmmakers, that it, too, cannot stir the imagination.

 Donner stages the various flights and battles with his usual
professionalism, and that is the movie's saving grace.

 Overall, Timeline lacks impact and fails to make any deep impression.
It's merely an OK time filler. It's not a waste of time, nor is it a
feature you will want to rush out and make time to see.

 Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette,
IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Other reviews by Bloom can be found at
www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
 Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site,
www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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X-RT-RatingText: 2/4