The Time Machine (2002)

Director: Simon Wells

Writers: H.G. Wells, David Duncan, John Logan

Composer: Klaus Badelt

Starring: Guy Pearce, Mark Addy, Phyllida Law, Sienna Guillory, Laura Kirk, Josh Stamberg, John W. Momrow, Max Baker, Jeffrey M. Meyer, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Omero Mumba, Yancey Arias

More info: IMDb

Tagline: 0 to 800,000 years in 1.2 seconds.

Plot: Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds humankind divided into two warring races.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm a huge Guy Pearce fan but he doesn't seem ideally suited for this role.  Nevertheless, the film doesn't fulfill me as much as I'd like it to.  It's actually pretty good for the first half but it starts to go downhill once Alexander (Pearce) ends up a bazillion years into the future where everything is as it was a few thousand years ago, very primitive.  Maybe this is me being far too picky but shouldn't the language be different or at least a bastardized version of English (some of these people speak perfect English)?  It's remarkable that Mara (Mumba) knows an awful lot about events that took place 800,000 years ago.  Yeah, she's a teacher but come on!  We know some things about what happened that long ago but it's pretty basic shit.  Anyway, this last half of the film suffers from a score that feels better suited to THE LION KING ().  I'm a fan of Klaus Badelt but not this score. I need to wrap this up.  The second half is cheesy and I didn't care for it.  I've never ready the H.G. Wells novel but I did see the 60s film a long time ago.  This might be a faithful telling of the tale but it's not for me. It is cool, by the way, that the director is the great grandson of H.G.W.