I thought TIMELINE started out a bit shaky, but before long I was hooked by the story. The characters are very appealing, and the action never flags. Granted, as medieval action flicks go, this is no BRAVEHEART, but it's a solid 7/10 in my opinion. I have no idea why the typically savvy IMDB users rated it so low.
It should be pointed out that the English language spoken in 1357 would not be understandable by any modern American other than a scholar of Middle English literature. Just glance over a little Chaucer (died 1400) to see how alien our mother tongue was 600 years ago. Also, keep in mind that this film was set before the Great Vowel Shift of the early 15th century, through which our language traded German-sounding vowels for the familiar modern forms. Crichton handled the language problem quite deftly in the novel. I wish the filmmakers had take a similar approach, rather than catering to the lowest common denominator.
The DVD has three nice "making of" documentaries, on top of a very pretty transfer from film to digital, so I recommend TIMELINE without hesitation.
It should be pointed out that the English language spoken in 1357 would not be understandable by any modern American other than a scholar of Middle English literature. Just glance over a little Chaucer (died 1400) to see how alien our mother tongue was 600 years ago. Also, keep in mind that this film was set before the Great Vowel Shift of the early 15th century, through which our language traded German-sounding vowels for the familiar modern forms. Crichton handled the language problem quite deftly in the novel. I wish the filmmakers had take a similar approach, rather than catering to the lowest common denominator.
The DVD has three nice "making of" documentaries, on top of a very pretty transfer from film to digital, so I recommend TIMELINE without hesitation.
