A Sound of Thunder (2005)

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers (WGA):

Ray Bradbury (short story)
Thomas Dean Donnelly (screen story) ...

Release Date:

2 September 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

Evolve or die.

Plot:

When a hunter sent back to the prehistoric era runs off the path he must not leave, he causes a chain reaction that alters history in disastrous ways. |

Plot Keywords:

Butterfly | Ripple Effect | Falling Tree | DNA | Hologram

Cast

Armin Rohde	...	John Wallenbeck (as Armin Rhode)
Heike Makatsch	...	Alicia Wallenbeck
Jemima Rooper	...	Jenny Krase
David Oyelowo	...	Payne
Wilfried Hochholdinger	...	Dr. Lucas
Edward Burns	...	Travis Ryer
August Zirner	...	Clay Derris
Ben Kingsley	...	Charles Hatton (as Sir Ben Kingsley)
Catherine McCormack	...	Sonia Rand
Alvin Van Der Kuech	...	Young Technician
Andrew Blanchard	...	George the Doorman
William Armstrong	...	Ted Eckles
Corey Johnson	...	Christian Middleton
Nikita Lespinasse	...	Newswoman on TV (as Nikita Le Spinasse)
Scott Bellefeville	...	Onlooker (as Scott Bellefeuille)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence, partial nudity and language.

Runtime:

USA:110 min

Country:

UK | USA | Germany | Czech Republic

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #40964) | Czech Republic:15 | Australia:M | Canada:PG (Alberta/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:U | Canada:14A (British Columbia/Manitoba) | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Iceland:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Czech Republic

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

Spota's supermarket is reference to Peter Hyams's wife's family name.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The behaviour of the water during the tunnel sequence is incorrect. The bubbles against the train windows could not happen as the windows were angled upwards which means the bubbles would rise straight up, not flow against the windows. Also the way the water flows into the train after the water creature breaks the window is shown, after the initial flow, as a high pressure spray rather the stead flow it would have been.

Quotes:

Ted Eckles: My gun doesn't work.
Payne: Believe it or not, that's a safety feature. They're all tied to Travis' gun. It won't fire until he fires first.
Ted Eckles: Why the hell not?
Clay Derris: To keep clients from shooting things they shouldn't.
Payne: Hey, Derris, how about we don't mention this in our report.
Clay Derris: No harm, no foul.
Payne: Appreciate it. You know, I'm not really that big of a dick. I just to like to talk.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code (#3.2)" (2007)

Austin Movie Show Review

Imagine a film student who's learning to use CGI technology for the first time. His final project in class is to create a full-length feature film using everything he's learned in class the entire semester. His film would be better than A Sound of Thunder.

It's Jurassic Park meets The Butterfly Effect, but it's total crap. The production of this futuristic, sci-fi tale (based on the classic Ray Bradbury short story) is pathetically cheap and completely distracts from an otherwise interesting story. It's 2055, and time travel is now possible. When a group of safari hunters travel back to prehistoric time to kill a tyrannosaurus Rex, an equipment failure causes one time traveler to panic and step on a butterfly, thus disrupting the entire evolution of life on earth.

Cool story, right? Poorly, poorly, poorly executed. The CGI dinosaur is a joke, as are all the other "creatures," and the futuristic outside shots are so lame you can practically see the green screen outline on the actors. Shot during the 2002 flooding of Prague, A Sound of Thunder was delayed for so long because the production company went bankrupt. And it shows.