Director: Peter Hyams
Format: DVD
DVD Features:
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack
Trailer
When I think of my favorite genres of film, “Sci-Fi” isn’t often one that comes to mind. There are just too many, especially with the rise of CGI, that are poorly constructed and even more pathetically acted. I read sci-fi novels and enjoy them, but their movie counterparts are almost always a disaster. So, when Dad asked me to go to the movie store and pick up something “science fiction”, I cringed and prayed for any new release that was remotely tolerable. We’ve all already seen War of the Worlds (both versions), so I knew that wasn’t going to fly. During my last sweep of the shelves, however, I came across A Sound of Thunder.
The main theme of A Sound of Thunder is the basic “butterfly effect” scenario. One of the cardinal rules of time travel is never to change even the smallest detail in the past. If even a butterfly is harmed, the future may be affected exponentially. In the year twentysomethingorother, Charles Hatton (Kingsley) has turned the invention of time travel technology into a lucrative business. For an exurbanite fee, the adventurous and social elite can spend a moment hunting game in the prehistoric past. Because the ancient beasts are moments before the point of a natural death (unbeknownst to the paying hunters) the past isn’t affected. That’s only as long as the hunting party remains on the path and doesn’t leave anything behind or take anything home. Inevitably, something has to go wrong. After a failed hunting trip, the team of scientists at TimeCorp (or whatever it was called) start to notice that their timing is off. That’s before the waves of evolutionary change begin to hit. The leading man, Travis Ryer (Burns) seeks the help of scientist Sonia Rand (McCormack) to figure out how to beat the clock and fix the past before it’s too late for the human race. Yes, it’s a plot line that film makers never seem to tire of. The time ripples are an interesting twist, showing progressively the impacts of their altered past and giving the characters something to race against.
The only actor in A Sound of Thunder that I recognized was Ben Kingsley. He’s a veteran of the semi-indie circuit, seen in such films as Species, Lucky Number Slevin, and House of Sand and Fog. He’s a fair actor, but I don’t see him starring in any Hollywood blockbusters. Edward Burns isn’t bad either and I can see him moving up to a Matthew McConaughey type of role. With the exception of those two, the acting was on par with a Sci-Fi Channel made for TV movie.
There is plenty of action to behold in A Sound of Thunder. Most of it consists of running and shooting. It’s the kind of action one might find in Jurassic Park. The waves of time catching up didn’t seem as regular as Sonia Rand would have you believe, but then again, we’re talking about time distortion here. It actually gets the pulse pounding in a couple of scenes (namely the subway sequence).
At the beginning of the movie, there is a horribly awful blue-screen effect that made my hopes sag for what was to follow. One viewer even remarks (on IMBD) that the background in this scene is on a loop. Eeesh. I don’t know how you can get much worse than that. But the dino-critters are not bad CGI and the overgrown city was almost convincing. I really thought that the subway scene was fun.
How did I manage to rent two movies in a row that have titles completely unfit for their content? A Sound of Thunder? C’mon people! My favorite line from the movie is, “What’s the point of having money if you can’t spend it on things other people can’t afford?”
Unless you’re keen on The Sci-Fi Channel, I don’t recommend this film at all. Granted, it wasn’t as horrible as Catwoman or the American version of Godzilla, but I could have gone the rest of my life without watching this one. Think Evolution meets The Butterfly Effect.
Overall Rating: 2 stars
Hottie Rating: 0 stars
Alternate viewing choice: The Butterfly Effect
IMDB site
Official site
Rotten Tomatoes Review
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