Timeline (2003)

A group of archaeological students become trapped in the past when they go there to retrieve their professor. The group must survive in 14th century France long enough to be rescued.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers:

Michael Crichton (novel), Jeff Maguire (screenplay),

Stars:

Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Walker	...	Chris Johnston
Frances O'Connor	...	Kate Ericson
Gerard Butler	...	Andre Marek
Billy Connolly	...	Professor Johnston
David Thewlis	...	Robert Doniger
Anna Friel	...	Lady Claire
Neal McDonough	...	Frank Gordon
Matt Craven	...	Steven Kramer
Ethan Embry	...	Josh Stern
Michael Sheen	...	Lord Oliver
Lambert Wilson	...	Lord Arnaut
Marton Csokas	...	Sir William De Kere / William Decker
Rossif Sutherland	...	François Dontelle
Steve Kahan	...	Baker
David La Haye	...	Arnaut's Deputy

Storyline

In this case, a group of archaeologists and combat experts led by Paul Walker and Frances O'Connor use a "3-D fax machine" (so much for technobabble!) to time-travel back to France in 1357, in hopes of retrieving Walker's father and returning safely to the present. No such luck! Fending for themselves against marauding hordes of medieval French warriors at war with the invading British, these semi-intrepid travelers find their body count rising, and the deadline for their return home is rapidly approaching.

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Plot Keywords:

professor | student | france | castle | monastery | 

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Taglines:

This fall you're history

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense battle sequences and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount UIP [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

26 November 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Prisonniers du temps

Filming Locations:

Harrington, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$549,289 (Italy) (9 July 2004)

Gross:

$549,289 (Italy) (9 July 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mutual Film Company, Donners' Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was originally slated to be released in the fall of 2002, however the studio was not happy with the Richard Donner's cut of the film, which included a prologue explaining the disappearance of the Billy Connolly character in the film and contained Jerry Goldsmith's original score for the film. Donner was then forced to re-cut the film by Paramount and asked Goldsmith to edit down his score to the re-cut version of the film, which also prompted another release date by the studio to March 2003. Paramount, particularly studio head Sherry Lansing, was again unhappy with Donner's second cut of the film that he had delivered which completely had eliminated the Billy Connolly prologue, which was essential to the both the Michael Crichton novel and the film's backstory, which was originally scored by Goldsmith as a cue called "The Dig" and the musical recording slate number of 1M1. Donner was forced to re-cut the film once more and the film was again delayed to unspecified date and again Goldsmith was asked to return to the project. At this point, Goldsmith's health was deteriorating due to cancer and had recently begin to score Looney Tunes: Back in Action for his friend Joe Dante, a project which required the assistance of composer John Debney for additional music and would also be his last score as he would pass away on July 28, 2004. Donner really wanted Goldsmith to stay on, but could not for those reasons and liked the score that he had written for the first cut of the film. Paramount then hired composer Brian Tyler, who had written the music for the film, The Hunted, which was released that March in place of Timeline. Tyler would score almost all the identical scenes in which Goldsmith originally scored and each score recorded by both Goldsmith and Tyler are the same length at 74 minutes. The final cut of the film would be 116 minutes from its original 136 min cut, mainly the Billy Connolly prologue clearly absent from re-cut version and the final cut, which proves that the film was clearly interfered with by the studio. Goldsmith's and Tyler's music would be released respectively by Varese Sarabande Records.

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Goofs

When explaining to the group how they would travel to 1357, it is explained that the fax machine was developed 30 years ago. In fact, it was first patented in 1843 by Alexander Bain, and commercially introduced and patented 119 years later in 1964 by Xerox Corporation.

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Quotes

Josh Stern: So are you saying that they could be stuck back there forever?
Steven Kramer: It could be.

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Connections

References The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Just A Little Bad"
Written and Performed by Vikkie Rae Jordan
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

How to butcher a book in 111 minutes.

This is a truly awful adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel Timeline. The book itself is not as strong as Jurassic Park or Prey; it reads like an overenthusiastic action thriller movie, which is a bit shallow for a book, but should make a great basis for an overenthusiastic action thriller movie.

The movie is rushed, shallow, poorly acted, almost totally dis-joined from the story of the book, and whereas the book stretches credibility at times, the movie totally crushes suspension of disbelief.

Crichton's book has well fleshed out, if somewhat annoying characters, more-or-less believable relationships, solid pseudo-physics, solid pseudo-history and at its core a good 'what-if?' story. There are enough extraneous bits to the story to allow it to be pared down to a good 2-hr movie without damaging the basic story or premise.

The movie plays like a high school theatresports troupe ad-libbing their way through Hamlet having read the play once. And the sets aren't much better. It completely misses many of Crichton's best points, and is thoroughly ham-fisted with the few plot elements it retains.

I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, but this was painful.