A Sound of Thunder

The possibilities of time travel make for complex science fiction. As one of Sci-Fi's great writers, Ray Bradbury saw the potential for making a point and used it to a frightening end. As a lame-duck director, Peter Hyams saw the opportunity to make one more project and maybe give his career some much-needed resuscitation. The misaligned dichotomy simply results in a mess.

In the mid-21st Century, Travis Ryer (Ed Burns) leads prehistoric hunting safaris, from which the Time Safari (groan) company earns its bread and butter. Having seized the time machine built by Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley) built up his company to overcharge the indulgent rich who seek to have a new experience. On a trek with a pair of thrill seeking buddies, a couple of things go wrong, and although everyone survives, the mistake causes changes in time and evolution. It is at this point where the noticeable deviation from Bradbury's story occurs. In the original tale, there was no going back to fix the problem, and the time travelers were left to face the horror of a world which had been subtly altered to permit ignorance, bigotry and fascism to be the dominant qualities of mankind. In the hands of these screenwriters, the mistake simply becomes a vehicle to generate a variety of creepy-crawly monsters that stalk the people of the story as they try to literally race against time and fix the mistake.

The script drags all the clichés out and leaves the actors to cover them. There is the greedy CEO, the disillusioned scientist, the noble hero, loyal sidekick and even a corrupt official. The scientist expresses her outrage at the corporate abuse of her invention to the hero who is a better man than she expected. All the actors do everything they can to rail against the pitfalls they are presented with. Ed Burns conveys an easy hero's swagger and knows that he'll get more mileage out of underplaying than by shouting. Catherine McCormack does a highly competent job of spouting endless reams of technobabble while managing to sound like she actually knows what she is talking about, but she and Burns simply have no romantic chemistry. How Academy Award Winner Ben Kingsley ended up as part of the production is anyone's guess, but the quirks that he piles into the carnival-mouthed "Charles Hatton" are the single best bit of entertainment.

Hyams fumbles the details to the point of insulting the audience. People make all sorts of irrational decisions just to forward the plot or introduce a set piece. When someone makes a mistake, they usually recheck their work. Here the tech drops a piece of equipment and visibly damages it. He re-stacks it and ignores it. Even the hero, at one point, declares that the party must go down into the dark, abandoned, unstable and partly flooded subway tunnels because "it's the only way". Presumably, it's better to have the odds stacked against you where you might run into bloodthirsty creatures instead of staying on stable ground where you might run into bloodthirsty creatures. Although there isn't any sort of racial subtext, the movie goes so far as to sacrifice the only major African-American character as a distraction to hungry monsters so the white people can run for their lives. It doesn't seem to be making any sort of real-world point, and the editor does struggle against this obviously outdated plot moment. However, it ultimately plays out badly and without dignity.

There is also no reason (other than it looks cool) to believe that changes in time would occur in visible waves of force that knock people and cars around, but not buildings or animals. One can imagine that this might have been at least fun in the hands of a militantly perfectionist filmmaker like Jim Cameron who beats even clichéd celluloid moments until they resound with the exact shape and feel he demands. In spite of making several films throughout the 90's and recent years, Hyams peaked with "2010: The Year We Make Contact" in 1984 - while standing on Stanley Kubrick's cinematic shoulders. Even taking the troubled production history of "A Sound of Thunder" into account, Hyams butchers the possibilities here.

The audience is denied the simple delight of watching special effects during a sci-fi adventure because of the shoddy craftsmanship and a lack of money. Several virtual sets were created to make a more complete city of the future, but they often look unrendered and more like a very good artist's drawing. However this is not a substitute for a good set, and it is painfully clear when actors are standing in front of a green screen. This was originally slated for a 2003 release, which would have put it ahead of the virtual productions of "Sky Captain" and "Sin City". Had things not been derailed by the original production company's bankruptcy (see the "Thunder" trivia section on IMDb.com), then maybe this would have been noteworthy in its attempt to push special effects boundaries. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, there were many times when the audience at this screening burst into laughter at some of the sights. The one thing that Hyams' FX team does get right is the gang of computer-generated creatures that should have been the design for the villain in his 1997 movie, "The Relic". As cool as the things look, it is 8 years and 3 movies past due.

Failures in effects and leaps of logic can be forgiven, but only up to a point. This is not a misfire form an otherwise successful director. This is a poor turn by a weak hand who refuses to respect his characters or the audience who has come to be entertained. Only the actors make the weak production bearable. "A Sound of Thunder" got a second chance to pull things together, but look into your own future and avoid watching this mistake.

2 out of 10

I don't understand the vitriolic and negative reviews. Were those people expecting an informative documentary like on Discovery channel? And I don't think Ray Bradbury would be upset at the treatment his short story received. His story was fantasy, well-written and clever, and putting that on the screen would be a challenge. I think the writers, producers, director and actors have done a pretty-good job of it.

From memory, Bradbury's story ends when it is discovered that evolution has changed because of a tiny alteration in a time-travel incident. But that would make the movie 37 minutes long, so the modern writers have to find a remedy, and stretch it out to a reasonable length.

Ryer (Burns) knows what has to be done and he has to get the inventor of the TAMI machine, Sonia Rand, (Catherine McCormack) to help, but New York is now a jungle and there are hordes of ape-lizards, and ape-bats and nasty eagles too. They have to get to a university with a working particle accelerator. What a challenge, through the flooded subway and always pursued by monsters.

Suspend ones reasoning, just take it for a way-out fantasy. And it looks better when watched for a second or third time.

The story is good, the characters are well-defined, the acting is good, (especially that of a support character Eccles (William Armstrong) who is absolutely terrified), and there is some memorable dialogue, so I've given it a 7.

For once, Catherine McCormack doesn't even get kissed!

2055 , Chicago , Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley) an avaricious tycoon is an owner of a valuable enterprise about time machines called Tammy that is converted in a time traveler towards the Jurasik and carrying rich tourists to kill dinosaurs . Hatton receives his clients after their time safari and he likes to compare them with great explorers : Marco Polo , Christopher Columbus , Armstrong and others . Travis (Edward Burns) is a resourceful scientist at charge of the risked hunting . Scientist Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack) as invention creator warns the dangerous experiments . Thus , the machine cannot ultimately control itself and it is created a time wave similar to Tsunami which changes the earth . Then , it appears various predator animals and colossal carnivores , humans try desperately escape of weird animals and they are chased by fanged giant creatures through a leafy vegetable city .

This thrilling sci-fi picture blends suspense , tension , bone-chilling scenes , genuine scares and amount of images have you on the edge of your seat . Abundant special effects are generally made by computer generator , as it is well reflected on an amazing array of technical bizarre creatures , such as : prehistoric Allosaurius , giant eel, mutants animals , ferocious and carnivorous plants and insects developing a bloodthirsty hunger . The film is based on a Ray Bradbury novel , a short story titled ¨A Sound of Thunder¨ but are modified some deeds , in the book the fatal accident is produced during the presidential election and the winner results to be a fascist candidate , while the movie is narrated in actioner as well as spectacular style . The picture was averagely directed by Peter Hyams (replacing Renny Harlin who was fired from the producers for disagreements with Ray Bradbury) , though production was slowed when severe floods in the summer of 2002 in the Czech Republic caused considerable damage to the set . One major reason for the film's long delay is that the original production company went bankrupt during post-production , and there simply wasn't money to finish the film . Director Peter Hyams is a nice filmmaker and usual cameraman of his films , realizing good Sci-fi titles (¨Capricorn one¨ , ¨Outland¨) and even a similar movie about time travels , but better directed , such as ¨Timecop¨(1994) with Jean Claude Van Damme . Atmospheric musical score fitting to action by Nick G. Smith . The movie failed in the box office and was exhibited in 2005 , two years later its shooting . The movie was filmed in Republic Czechoslovakia with difficulties but had a lot of floods in Praga . Rating : Average but entertaining .

A time machine, that has the ability to take you back to prehistoric times and hunt a dinosaur. Will you take the chance? With this risk comes others... changing something so small can turn into something much bigger. The operation is carefully planned out, but there is always room for error.... The film A Sound of Thunder is based off of the well known short-story written by Ray Bradbury. Directed by Peter Hyams, the film stars Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, Ben Kingsley, and Jemima Rooper. A Sound of Thunder was released in the year 2005, after some financial difficulties that delayed the film's release. The film is of the science fiction genre- a company called Time Safari Inc. uses a time machine to bring its wealthy clients back in time to hunt a tyrannosaurus rex. A Sound of Thunder is about a series of trials faced by Dr. Travis Ryer (Edward Burns) and the rest of the staff at Time Safari Inc. Dr. Ryer is in charge of running the "time safaris", and he works closely with the rest of the time travel team to ensure that not even the most minute change is made to the past. Despite their efforts, one of the clients accidentally changes one tiny thing- and this leads to many other changes in evolution that are much larger. It is up to Dr. Ryer and his team to determine what is causing all of the changes in the modern world- and how to reverse the damage that has been done. It will be difficult though, and there are no guarantees that the change is reversible. The concept of A Sound of Thunder is one that is actually quite intriguing. You wouldn't think that manipulating the small, insignificant life of a creature from tens of thousands of years ago could change the entire course of evolution. In general, the idea of time-travelling back to prehistoric times is mind-boggling, as it makes one wonder if that concept will someday be a reality in our world, which becomes more technologically advanced every day. What if someday, this movie doesn't seem so crazy and unrealistic? Anything can happen, and if you choose to look at the movie in a more serious light, it may lead you to ask the bigger question... is time travel really possible? Overall, I did enjoy the film when I didn't think about the cheesy special effects and mediocre script. I would recommend the movie to anyone who just wants a casual way to pass the time and doesn't have very high standards. For the most part, A Sound of Thunder is family friendly, but younger viewers may not fully understand the concept. There is also some foul language in certain scenes, as well as a couple of suggestive ones. This movie also has a roller coaster of a plot that can be slightly hard to follow, but anyone can get a kick out of it. This film will keep your attention, and it is one of those films that you "love to hate".

I live for movies like this.

Saw it in a theater with about 12 other people. 3 people left about 20 minutes in. I'm not sure if they left because the movie was so bad or because they couldn't hear the dialogue over the laughter of the rest of us.

Mediocre special effects don't excite me. Abysmally bad special effects are wonderful. I disagree with the previous commenter -- I don't think the actors were walking on a treadmill in front of the green screen, I think they were just standing in place and shifting their weight from one foot to the other.

Sir Ben Kingsley is clearly aware of the "quality" of this film and embraces the ridiculousness, having a great time reading his absurd lines.

The plot, the dialogue, the special effects, the creatures, the actor's accents -- each piece of this movie is worse than the last. There were at least three scenes that made me laugh so hard I cried.

I love dumpster-diving through bad movies in search of treasure. The recent crop of bad movies have been just plain boring. This one is the diamond that makes it all worthwhile.