A Sound of Thunder

EDWARD BURNS stars in Franchise Pictures’ suspense thriller “A Sound of Thunder” also starring Catherine McCormack and Ben Kingsley and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo by Murray Close

This attempt on Bradbury’s short story began with a solid idea, but the outcome was probably less than what they expected. The film is cast well, but is mired by somewhat dull writing and cheesy special effects at some parts during the movie.

Time travel has always been a thing of science fiction but the rules for time travel in this film, as well as from the book, seem very reasonable and the whole idea of killing something off that shouldn’t be, will kill everything.

In the year 2055, Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley), is the greedy overlord of Time Safari, a company located in Chicago. Wealthy hunters can pay the company a hefty amount to hunt ancient game, dinosaurs. Though this may not sound like a good idea, there are a few very strict rules the hunter must follow, 1. Never step off the path (don’t change anything!), 2. Don’t bring anything back, and 3. Don’t leave anything in the past. These rules must always be followed because huge consequences could result—from the book, the outcome of an election, the syntax or spelling in a given language, etc; or, as in the film, something drastic—the entire course of biological evolution.

Travis Ryer (Edward Burns), is a tour guide for Mr. Hatton’s hosted expeditions. He takes hunters back in time in special suits (so their bacteria won’t get into the prehistoric world and be dangerous to important organisms), equipped with liquid nitrogen bullet holding guns and time limits. The time limit is the amount of time the hunters have to take down their prey before the animal originally would have died, so as to avoid modifying any critical event in the evolutionary timeline. On one particular expedition, there is an accident. In a panic, one member of the crew steps off the path—big mistake.

Soon, temperatures soar in November, plants grow at outrageous rates, huge time-tsunamis engulf Chicago, and carnivorous baboon-dinosaur creatures emerge from nowhere.

Travis seeks the help of Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), who originally invented the time traveling computer process, with hopes of using it for the regeneration of extinct creatures, to go back in time and set things right. The film failed to convince me of the plausibility of most, if not all, of the animals on earth being driven to extinction by a few trips of over-hunting or a lethal virus.

I really believed this film had a chance at being good. It was a good concept, but I think it was taken to an extreme and the $80 million budget for this film wasn’t spent wisely. Besides the fact that Franchise Pictures, the creators of this film, went bankrupt during its production, it looks like they didn’t quite get a chance to finish it. The Allosaurus (the big thing in the jungle with razor sharp teeth at which the characters are shooting) in the film looks clearly like computer graphics, unlike much of the work in “Jurassic Park”. Its entire body appears wet, slimy and a little like play-doh. On the other hand, the baboon-dinosaurs were very believable, but then again, they appeared mostly in the dark, so it was very hard to tell.

The Chicago portrayed in this movie was a little too futuristic. I mean, there is a difference of only fifty years and, if you ask me, a lot hasn’t really changed (but in I, Robot, only set thirty years in the future, looks much like the futuristic Chicago in this film). The theory that most animals in the world will be gone is kind of unrealistic. The cars in the film look like small Humvees crossed with some kind of bulldozer you would see at a construction site. At one point, McCormack and Burns are walking outside on the street, the screen is easily identifiable, not to mention the traffic is CGI and never seems to halt.

Overall this film is on par with TV movies on the Sci-Fi channel. The special effects are somewhat fake, the story contains many flaws, and at times the plot can take an extremely outrageous turn. However, the entire idea wasn’t bad, because the idea of accidents in the past having consequences in the future is logical. The film can be treated like a pie, the crust is good, but the filling just doesn’t taste right. It is worth seeing, especially if you like science fiction; as movie, it’s just decent.

Max Einhorn is featured as a guest columnist. His articles also appear at Maximum Movies.

A Sound of Thunder • Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for Sci-Fi violence, partial nudity and language. • Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

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