A Sound of Thunder
cast: Ben Kingsley, Edward Burns
The good: novel idea
The bad: lousy production
The concept of time-traveling is one which is featured heavily in many sci-fi flicks. Films like Back to the Future, Timeline, The Time Machine, etc. all have relied on the dreamy pseudo-scientific principle. While the concept has been done time and time again before, A Sound of Thunder is really the first film to take the idea into new dimensions.
You see the concept of time-traveling should be seen as through its effects. Consider going back in time and changing even the slightest thing: wouldn’t it have a substantial effect on the present? This is the idea presented to us by the film. In the story, time-travel is discovered and used in a sort of amusement business where rich folks pay huge sums of money to “time-jump” and hunt dinosaurs. The only catch is that the killing of the prey must be done in a strictly limited time-frame – a point in time wherein the creature will naturally die anyway, a precaution so as not to disturb the normal flow of time. Of course, as with any human endeavor that plays with the nature of the universe, especially one which is run by a greedy, good-for-nothing entrepreneur (Ben Kingsley), something’s bound to mess up.
The sound of thunder, thus, comes into picture as the world is suddenly and gradually beset by evolutionary mistakes – things which shouldn’t have happened or appeared if time wasn’t toyed around with in the first place. The time-jumping team with the help of an anti-time-jump activist struggles to fix the holes in time; and they do, and in anti-climactic fashion (the ending’s really whack).
If it wasn’t for the lame ending and the low budget nature of the film, the story might up fared far better. I got sick of the dark cityscapes towards the end, and the monkey, lion hybrids made me snicker than scared. You’d go blind from the distracting flashlight-only lighting while the team moves around the devastated city. There is a bit charm provided by the low budget of the film (the CG vehicles are a laugh), but I’d prefer a more realistic rendition considering the subject matter.
Despite everything, A Sound of Thunder manages to keep me awake for the duration and actually triggers the hidden sci-fi geek blood running in my veins. What was presented wasn’t enough (somebody give background to the time-jumping thing), but what was presented was pretty ok anyway. (3/5)
The good: novel idea
The bad: lousy production
The concept of time-traveling is one which is featured heavily in many sci-fi flicks. Films like Back to the Future, Timeline, The Time Machine, etc. all have relied on the dreamy pseudo-scientific principle. While the concept has been done time and time again before, A Sound of Thunder is really the first film to take the idea into new dimensions.
You see the concept of time-traveling should be seen as through its effects. Consider going back in time and changing even the slightest thing: wouldn’t it have a substantial effect on the present? This is the idea presented to us by the film. In the story, time-travel is discovered and used in a sort of amusement business where rich folks pay huge sums of money to “time-jump” and hunt dinosaurs. The only catch is that the killing of the prey must be done in a strictly limited time-frame – a point in time wherein the creature will naturally die anyway, a precaution so as not to disturb the normal flow of time. Of course, as with any human endeavor that plays with the nature of the universe, especially one which is run by a greedy, good-for-nothing entrepreneur (Ben Kingsley), something’s bound to mess up.
The sound of thunder, thus, comes into picture as the world is suddenly and gradually beset by evolutionary mistakes – things which shouldn’t have happened or appeared if time wasn’t toyed around with in the first place. The time-jumping team with the help of an anti-time-jump activist struggles to fix the holes in time; and they do, and in anti-climactic fashion (the ending’s really whack).
If it wasn’t for the lame ending and the low budget nature of the film, the story might up fared far better. I got sick of the dark cityscapes towards the end, and the monkey, lion hybrids made me snicker than scared. You’d go blind from the distracting flashlight-only lighting while the team moves around the devastated city. There is a bit charm provided by the low budget of the film (the CG vehicles are a laugh), but I’d prefer a more realistic rendition considering the subject matter.
Despite everything, A Sound of Thunder manages to keep me awake for the duration and actually triggers the hidden sci-fi geek blood running in my veins. What was presented wasn’t enough (somebody give background to the time-jumping thing), but what was presented was pretty ok anyway. (3/5)
posted by NaCl at Wednesday, September 21, 2005
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