The Time Machine - 2002

Warner Bros. Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Parkes/MacDonald Productions

Directed by Simon Wells

Cast:

• Alexander Hartdegen – Guy Pearce
• David Philby – Mark Addy
• Emma – Sienna Guillory
• Moorlock Leader – Jeremy Irons
• Flower Shop Worker – Alan Young
• Vox – Orlando Jones
• Mara – Samantha Mumba
• Kalen – Omero Mumba

Story: In January of 1899, a young physics and applied engineering professor at Columbia University is about to propose to Emma. Professor Hartdegen meets Emma at the skating rink at Central Park, and they take a stroll into a secluded area of the park where he proposes. Unfortunately, a thief is lying in wait for them and in the ensuing robbery, Emma is shot and killed. Professor Hartdegen is devastated and retreats into his home laboratory. His goal: to build a time machine that will allow him to return in time to prevent Emma's death. Yet even when his machine is complete, Emma dies in a different scenario. He finds he cannot change the past, so he goes forward instead to find the answer to the riddle. In the year 2030, he encounters Vox, the compendium of all human knowledge at the New York City library, who informs him that time travel is no more than science fiction, so he determines to go farther into the future. In 2037, he finds the world is in shambles because they have thrown the moon out of orbit, and when he climbs aboard his machine to escape the carnage, he is knocked unconscious and unwittingly travels to the year 802,701. Here he is discovered by Mara, an Eloi who has learned “the stone language” and can communicate with him. He soon learns their agrarian community is threatened by the Moorlocks, creatures who live beneath the earth and hunt the Eloi for Food.

Review: Four generations later, we have a revision of this classic science fiction film by none other that the great grandson of H. G. Wells. While entertaining and well presented, this film bears only a superficial resemblence to the original of 1960. Underlying the plot is the question of Fate. Why can't you change the past? The concept of Eloi and Moorlock are somewhat consistent with the original film and the novel, but their roles have significantly changed. The Eloi are fishers and farmers, and they live in cliff dwellings made of bamboo and other natural materials. The Moorlocks are still subterranean creatures, but now they are divided into castes, some bred for hunting, others bred to control. Where the hunters are physically superior, the controllers have telephatic powers which allow them to keep the hunters at bay. Our protagonist is Alexander Hartdegen, not H. George Wells, and his motivation for creating the time machine is love, not commerce or scientific knowledge. The addition of Orlando Jones as Vox allows for the failure of Hartdegen to return to the past, since he contains all human knowledge from the 21st century and some beyond. Guy Pearce presents a believable character, and Samantha and Omero Mumba are excellent in their roles as the brother and sister Eloi who discover and befriend him. Mark Addy is Philby, and an excellent addition to the cast as Hartdegen's mentor and friend. Jeremy Irons portrays the Moorlock Leader with a rare and insightful talent that only he can generate. While his character is not evil in the sense we normally believe, he is still a thoughtful being who offers Hartdegen the opportunity to return to his own time. Rated PG-13 for violence, this film is highly entertaining but certainly not destined to be a classic. It is, however, an interesting revision of the original plot with some well thought out twists and turns, and the romantic angle of the film is sure to keep the ladies interested.