Shaun Watson reviews�

Movie poster from the Internet Movie Database The Time Machine(2002) Directed by Simon Wells Starring: Guy Pearce as Alex Hartegen Mark Addy as Filby Samantha Mumba as Mara the Eloi Orlando Jones as Vox Sienna Guillory as Emma Phyllida Law as Mrs. Watchit and Jeremy Irons as the �ber-Morlock

When I first saw the 60's original version of the Time Machine I enjoyed it. I had recently seen Back to the Future (1985) and that movie introduced a working idea of time travelto me. Applying this to the original Time Machine movie, I had a better picture of how time travel should work.

So anyways, I was hyped to hear that they were making a new version. I thought the new one would beat out the 60's movie, based on the fact that the film was directed by the writer's great-grandson, Simon Wells. He played fast and loose with his version, starting out at a door in a New York university during the winter of 1900 with a new name in the Time Machine story on it: Professor Alexander Hartdegen, Applied Physics.

Professor Hartdegen(Guy Pearce, Memento) is an absent-minded professor. He's concerned more about his work that his surroundings. It's a good thing he has friends like fellow professor David Filby(Mark Addy, The Full Monty) and Mrs. Watchit the housekeeper(Phyllida Law, Anna Karenina). Filby makes sure that Alex gets home safe, and Mrs. Watchit makes sure he's dressed nice for his marriage proposal in the park to his fiance� Emma(Sienna Guillory, Resident Evil: Apocalypse) and that he has the ring, which he almost forgets.
On the way, Alex sees a perambulatory contraption(read: an old old OLD version of an automobile), present for a future plot device. He heads into the park's ice rink and sees Emma. He proposes marriage and gives her a moonstone ring--her birthstone--for engagement. Unfortunately, a thief comes to robe them of valuables�including Emma's ring. She won't give it up and she gets shot. The robber yelled "It was only a ring!" as he escaped while Emma bled her life into the snow.

Compare this Millenium Version of the Time Machine with the 60's version of the Time Machine.

Four months later, Alex is depressed and does nothing but work on a secret project, both day and night. To the chagrin of Filby, he doesn't care whether he's gone mad; if his plan works, they'll have never had that conversation.
That night, Alex gets dressed as he was that fateful night and goes to his lab to reveal a contraption of brass and glass �� the all-new 2002 Time Machine! This version of the Time Machine(model by Randy Cooper, pictured at right) is a vast improvement on the patchwork time machine of the 60's. The big draw: it's really REALLY shiny.

Alex hops in the machine and throws it back four months past to stop Emma's death. He goes to get Emma from the park, but a strange chain of events happens while his back is turned. The hand brake comes loose on a nearby perambulatory vehicle(same one from before), which darts into traffic, startling a horse and carriage that falls on Emma, killing her. WHAT. THE HELL. Determined to find out why he can't change what has already happened, he sets out for the future. His first stop is the year 2030 CE.

A place of proposed moon colonies and great strides in science, Alex's search leads him to the Fifth Avenue Library. Here we encounter the 2002 counterpart to the 60's version of the "talking rings", Vox, registration number NY-114(Orlando Jones, MAD TV[TV] and From Dusk Til Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter). Alex asks why one cannot change the past. Vox says "Because one cannot go into the past," and leaves it at that. Alex gives up his search here in 2030 and decides to leave. He fires up the Time Machine and is only ahead a few years when his craft is rocked by an unknown force. He stops the machine in 2037 CE. The street he saw moments before in 2030 is in ruins. As I watched this scene, I could only ask myself why -- how could this happen? It was explained when the soldiers came for him and tried to make him go to a safety shelter AS THE MOON FELL TO EARTH AROUND THEM--

Much like the original Time Machine annoucement of 802,701, this is one This movie was supposed to come out in 2001, a few months after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. There was a shot where pieces of the moon were supposed to crash through some buildings and this movie was held to rework the shot of a decaying moon and the falling rocks. This wasn't in the DVD but might be in a special edition. The image of one of our most recognized celestial bodies destroyed is a powerful one. I couldn't imagine my world without it's missing piece. The soldiers tell him about how the NUCLEAR DEVICES(oops) used to dig holes for the moon colony screwed up the Moon's orbit and caused it to break up and fall to the Earth. Their dialogue is interruptred by the earth around them splitting up. The soldiers run away and Alex hops in his Time Machine. Something hit the machine and rattled Alex unconscious and forced him to lean on the control rod full tilt.The world changed around him from barren planet to ice age(he passes though a glacier) and finally to the temperate jungle climate of 802,701 we all know and love.

In this time he flits in and out of consciousness as he is being taken care of by a young woman.When he comes to the only person nearby is a young boy named Kalen(Omero Mumba, first screen appearance). Alex follows him to the rest of the village, built upon the cliff walls in shield-like structures over a large river. He is then surrounded by the villagers, called the Eloi.
OK, this is where I started to enjoy the movie more than I was supposed to. This departure from the earlier incarnations of the Eloi is more realistic, compared to the alien-like Greys of the book and the Aryan hippies of the 60's movie. These Eloi are what would probably happen if all the peoples of the world mixed and bred: you'd get extremely beautiful people with beautiful tones of tans and browns. I know 800,000 years of evolution would have different results as opposed to the 200 year minimum that these people exhibited, but I don't care! The sight of these Eloi was enough to make my hear soar.

Mmmm�Samantha Mumba.

The Eloi are afraid of the outsider and want to throw him in the river. Luckily, their wise one steps in and stops the villagers from doing away with our hero. She later introduces herself as Mara(popstar Samantha Mumba). Mara takes him under her wing and shows him the sights and scenery of the Eloi village via canoe. Of particular interest is "the Lex"--the leftover slabs of stone inscriptions, tombstones, metal engravings and subway walls of the former New York City. While the Eloi villlage seems like paradise, something is strange about it. Alex finds no old people and shares the communal nightmare that the Eloi share. The mystery stays in place until the next day when Alex decides to leave.
The Time Machine is ready to go, but Mara asks a favor of Alex. She wants him to take Kalen with him to the past. Before Alex can ask what he's saving Kalen from, a trumpet sounds and Mara bolts off to save Kalen from the Morlocks.

These(new & improved!) Morlocks hunted and captured many of the Eloi -- including Mara! With Kalen's reticent help, Alex sets out to find the Morlock hideout. First they'll need to go to the source of the Lex. The two find a cave that used to be the Fifth Avenue Library, with a partially functional Vox. Vox tells Alex what happened after 2037--how the world was destroyed, the human race split into two hominid species and hinted at the Morlocks use of the Eloi for cattle. Alex asks where the Morlock hideout is. Vox replies, "Just follow the breathing."
The breathing is actually the sound of exhaust from underground Morlock machines that keep life on the surface going. Alex heads into the opening to save the Eloi, specifically Mara. Unfortunately, Alex is captured and brought to where Mara is being held. She's in a cage under the psychic thrall of the other person in the room: the Uber-Morlock(perennial villain Jeremy Irons, Dungeons and Dragons). Turns out there's more than just one set of Morlocks; there are many Morlock communities and each community has the psychic adept. Uber-Morlock can read Alex's minds and begins to belittle him for his choice to meddle in the realm of time. He lets him know that there's nothing he can do and that he should just go home--and presents the Time Machine to him.
Anyway, Alex takes offense that he should just give up on the Eloi and decides he should kick the Uber-Morlock's ass. The fight begins as the Time Machine hurtles forward in time and after getting pounded, Alex defeats the Uber-Morlock by hanging him outside of the temporal bubble the Time Machine makes. Alex stops the machine in the year 635,424,810 and sees that the world has been worn down by the actions of the Morlocks. Alex then heads back to 802,701 to save Mara. He appears just after he left and frees her from her cage. Alex then sets his Time Machine to self-destruct. They run out of there and get out just as the Time Machine explodes and releases a temporal wave that erases anything it touches from existance, doing that jump action heroes do just as the fireball is about to hit you. You know the one.
Mara thinks that Alex would be sad that he can no longer go back to 1900, but it turns out that Alex has resigned himself to fate and says:

"It was only a machine."

Meanwhile back in 1900, Filby and Mrs. Watchit are worried about their missing professor and where he went. They have no idea he invented a time machine or that he's not coming back from a journey of 800,000 years. All they know is that they miss him very much, and they hope he has found what he's been looking for.

FIN

CHOICE CUTS:
-The whole idea of time travel. It causes many more problems than it could ever fix.
-Mara. Sooo sexy in her premature wisdom.
-The design of the 2030's. A combination of old buildings and shiny new ones.
-The jogger who makes the comment about Alex's "capuccino machine". Her performance is simple yet captivating.
-The Millenium Version of the Time Machine. So shiny!
-The designs, settings, people and culture of the Eloi village in 802,701. It's so beautiful, I almost cried. Almost.

PRICELESS MOVIE QUOTE:
-Emma, after a few moments of a nervous Alex trying to retrieve the engagement ring from his pockets:

"You know the mood is rather dying here."