The Time Machine

"The greatest adventure THROUGH all time!"

2002 1h 36m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 2,692

Science FictionAdventureAction

Synopsis

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Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th-century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

“The greatest adventure THROUGH all time!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Guy Pearce
Alexander Hartdegen
Samantha Mumba
Mara
Jeremy Irons
Über-Morlock
Omero Mumba
Kalen
Sienna Guillory
Emma
Orlando Jones
Vox
Mark Addy
David Filby
Phyllida Law
Mrs. Watchett

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Simon Wells
Writers: John Logan, David Duncan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 24 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Simon Wells, shot by Donald McAlpine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Wayne Wahrman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Guy Pearce and Samantha Mumba and Jeremy Irons carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The greatest adventure THROUGH all time!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0268695 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Simon Wells directs. Donald McAlpine behind the camera. Klaus Badelt scores. Wayne Wahrman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 24 years ago.
3Directed by Simon Wells, shot by Donald McAlpine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Klaus Badelt. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Wayne Wahrman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Guy Pearce and Samantha Mumba and Jeremy Irons carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The greatest adventure THROUGH all time!".
8IMDB entry: tt0268695 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "future", "new york city", "based on novel or book", "time travel".

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald McAlpine
Original score: Klaus Badelt
Editing: Wayne Wahrman
Production design: Oliver Scholl
Costume design: Deena Appel
Makeup / hair: John M. Elliott Jr.
VFX supervisor: Thomas J. Smith
Sound: Gregg Landaker
Stunt coordinator: Jeff Imada
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $80,000,000
Box office: $123,729,176
Return: 155% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Time Machine (2002)

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Simon Wells

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What people are saying

JPV8522022-06-04
★ 6/10
Some interesting and even ambitious aspects but this sci-fi thriller was pretty uneven while the visual effects were also a mixed bag from being fairly impressive for its time (20 years now) to pretty shoddy. On the plus side, Guy Pearce was good in the lead. This one also reminded me when Orlando Jones was in a good amount of movies (18 between 1998-2004). IDK, this is one that did keep me entertained. 3.0/5
GenerationofSwine2023-01-14
★ 1/10
I don't know how to approach this one. "The Time Machine" is one of those stories that, rereading it, beings back vivid memories. One of my best friends in high school loaned it to me, I stored it away in my backpack for about a month and then...when we had a field trip to The Board of Trade, I scrounged it out and read it on the train ride. It was one of those stories that is so short I could rip through it in the hour and fifteen minutes between our small town and Chicago. To this day, every time I go back to it, it brings me back to 1997 and, to this day, I distinctly remember finishing it about the time the train stopped and I remember walking into the crowded city feeling like I was in a different world. The story had moved me out of reality so much Chicago seemed jarring. And then they made it into a movie, a remake of a movie and, watching it, I don't know, I didn't have that same sense of being in a totally different world that the book gave me... And the movie, in my mind, has to live up to that experience in some small way. Or at least give you that feeling that same feeling that the world was still spinning that one gets when they walk out of a movie and discover that it had rained. It's an engrossing story and The Time Machine didn't seem to whisk me away like the book did. I can't help but feel it deserved better. It felt like I was watching a movie and, honestly, it gave me the same since that Jackson's King Kong did, it felt like it was trying and horribly, miserably failed. I left feeling "meh," and that was after being excited walking into it, I mean, I read it in 1997 and they made a movie in 2002 and, I was expecting the same feeling. I had waited long enough. So, I don't know, I may be overly harsh on it just because I loved what the story did to me so much, the first time I read it and now, as an adult, it doesn't take me to another world, it takes me back to 1997 again, and high school, and that hour fifteen minute train ride to Chicago. So ultimately, it could be a halfway decent film that I just hate because the story had such a jarring effect on me when I first encountered it.