Timeline (2003 film)

Timeline
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Screenplay by	Jeff Maguire George Nolfi
Based on	Timeline by Michael Crichton
Produced by	Lauren Shuler Donner Jim Van Wyck Richard Donner
Starring	Paul Walker Frances O'Connor Gerard Butler Billy Connolly
Cinematography	Brian Tyler
Production companies	Donners' Company[1] Artists Production Group[1]
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures[1] Mutual Film Company[1] Cobalt Media Group[1]
Release date	November 26, 2003 (2003-11-26) (United States)
Running time	116 minutes[1]
Countries	United Kingdom[1] United States[1]
Languages	French[1] English[1]
Budget	$80 million[2][3]
Box office	$43.9 million[3]

Timeline is a 2003

Johnston travels to the American headquarters of the ITC Corporation, his project's sponsor, to inquire whether or not they have tampered with the site. The students discover a lens from Johnston's bifocals and a note begging for help, although both date over 600 years old. When the students contact ITC, the company invites them to its headquarters.

There, the team is introduced to ITC president Robert Doniger and vice-president Steven Kramer. Doniger reveals that in the process of developing teleportation technology, they locked onto a stable wormhole to 1357 Castlegard. Johnston was invited to see the past for himself, but his group has not returned, and they want the students to go back in time to locate him. All but Josh volunteer to go.

The volunteers are stripped of all modern technology save for pendant-shaped markers they can use to initiate their return. The students are joined by a security team including ITC's head of security, Frank Gordon, and two former military men.

On arrival in 1357, the team finds itself in the path of a young woman chased by English knights; the security men are killed while protecting the group, although one activated his marker after priming a grenade. When his body arrives in the present, the grenade detonates and shatters much of the teleportation device. Josh aids Kramer in making repairs.

The team evades the knights, and the woman leads them to the English-controlled Castlegard. They are captured and brought before Lord Oliver de Vannes and his second in command, DeKere. The team members are stripped of their markers, and de Vannes kills François, believing he is a French spy. The others are imprisoned along with Johnston, who previously has promised de Vannes that he can make Greek fire for the English in exchange for his life. They make their escape but are pursued by the English. Gordon and Johnston are recaptured, while the others make for the monastery, led by the woman.

DeKere reveals himself to Gordon and Johnston as former ITC employee William Decker; he had frequently used the teleportation device but was not told by ITC that each use damaged his DNA until it was too late, at which point he would die on a return trip. He plans revenge on ITC and kills Gordon. De Vannes orders his knights to march on LaRoque castle, and DeKere brings Johnston along.

At the monastery, Marek, Kate, and Chris meet de Cervole and realize the woman is Lady Claire; they have changed history by saving her. Marek, who has become infatuated with Lady Claire, is given a horse to rescue his friends. Kate and Chris help to swing the upcoming battle in the French's favor by leading de Cervole's men through the monastery tunnels they had previously mapped to the castle.

As the battle starts, Marek is captured in his rescue attempt; Lady Claire is also kidnapped. Marek frees himself, Lady Claire, and Johnston, while Chris helps de Cervole defeat de Vannes. Enraged, DeKere slashes off Marek's earlobe, and Marek realizes he is destined to be the knight in the sarcophagus. Marek defeats DeKere, recovers the markers, gives them to the others, and says his goodbyes while running off to help the French assure victory and restore history.

As the three returnees activate their markers, in the present Josh and Kramer have finished the repairs after coming to learn that Doniger tried to sabotage their attempts; Doniger fears that when the students' stories become public, ITC will suffer great financial losses. As the machine activates, Doniger races into it, attempting to block the teleportation, but instead he is sent back to 1357, where he arrives outside the castle and is presumably killed by a charging knight.

Chris, Kate, and Johnston safely return. Later, the team returns to the Castlegard ruins, re-examine the sarcophagus, and find that Marek and Lady Claire led a prosperous life after the war and had three children: Christophe, Katherine, and François.

Cast

• Paul Walker as Chris Johnston
• Frances O'Connor as Kate Ericson
• Gerard Butler as André Marek
• Billy Connolly as Professor Edward A. Johnston
• David Thewlis as Robert Doniger
• Anna Friel as Lady Claire
• Neal McDonough as Frank Gordon
• Matt Craven as Steven Kramer
• Ethan Embry as Josh Stern
• Michael Sheen as Lord Oliver de Vannes
• Lambert Wilson as Lord Arnaud de Cervole
• Marton Csokas as Sir William De Kere/William Decker
• Rossif Sutherland as François Dontelle
• Patrick Sabongui as Jimmy Gomez
• Steve Kahan as Baker

Production

The battle sequences used

Timeline performed poorly at the box office, only recouping $43 million worldwide from a budget of $80 million.[3]^[4]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 13% based on reviews from 144 critics. The site's consensus states: "This incoherently plotted addition to the time-travel genre looks and sounds cheesy".^[7] On Metacritic the film has a score of 28% based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[8] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F.^[9]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called it "Glorious so-bad-it's-good entertainment."^[10] Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4, and wrote that it was "not so much about travel between the past and the present as about travel between two movie genres" namely "a corporate thriller crossed with a medieval swashbuckler". He was disappointed that the elaborate premise was not put to greater use, that it was essentially nothing more than a frame for action scenes.^[11] Robert Koehler of Variety wrote: "Lacks the consistent tone, pace and point of view for either a science fiction thriller or medieval war adventure."^[12]

References

External links

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