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Novelist-screenwriter Michael Crichton tackles time travel in this hair-raising action thriller, directed with a sure hand by Richard Donner. Paul Walker plays the son of a scientist (Billy Connolly) who vanishes one day while searching the ruins of a 14th-century castle in France. Turns out he's been whisked back in time through a wormhole discovered accidentally by researchers working on a teleportation machine for a ruthless industrialist (David Thewlis). Joined by his dad's intrepid coworkers (Frances O'Connor and Gerard Butler), Walker voluntarily enters the wormhole in hopes of finding his father, who is imprisoned in a castle on the day of a historic battle that will alter the balance of power between France and England. Crichton's story makes plain the dilemma faced by these time travelers: How do they rescue the scientist and spirit him away without interfering in a way that could change the course of history? It's a conundrum that's been explored by numerous science-fiction writers over the years, and one for which there is no easy solution. But Donner isn't prone to intellectualizing, so he puts his players through their paces as swiftly as possible, with just enough scientific hoo-hah to make the story credible. Walker is appropriately dashing in the lead, although Butler runs him a close second in terms of heroics. And O'Connor, as The Girl, doesn't play sweet; she's a rough-and-ready modern girl with a taste for adventure and a stubborn streak that’s a mile long. Ultimately, Timeline, like most time travel films, won't stand up under rigorous scientific scrutiny -- but then, it doesn't have to. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Directing his first film since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, Richard Donner helmed this big-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. Featuring a script by first-time screenwriter George Nolfi, Timeline begins in France in the near future. A group of students from Yale are there studying a medieval site, when their professor, played by Billy Connolly, mysteriously goes missing. To make matters more enigmatic, the students are then taken back to the United States by a shadowy technology company called ITC, led by Robert Doniger (David Thewlis). The eccentric Doniger explains that because of a machine that his company built, their professor is trapped in 14th century France. In order to rescue him, two of the students, Chris Hughes (Paul Walker) and Kate Erickson (Frances O'Connor), along with Andre Marek (Gerard Butler), an archeological site manager, must travel to France, circa 1357, amid archaic war, deadly diseases, and other unexpected pitfalls. Meanwhile, David Stern (Ethan Embry), a third student, stays behind to keep an eye on the shady Doniger. Matthew Tobey

Product Details

• UPC: 097363386841
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:55:00
• Sales Rank: 14,704

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