By the third millennium, special-effects became sufficiently sophisticated to finally bring Wells' tremendous novel(s) to the screen with their full visual, visceral and narrative impact. Yet here again; just like Speiberg and his 'War Of The World' a director thought he knew better than the original and decided to 'screw around'.
I'll begin with some praise. The time machine as a vehicle was wonderfully realised. Instead of an 'armchair with a spinning parasol' from the 1950's movie, we had something that was both mechanical in a 19th century fashion, but with an 'optical-visual' update that made it seem wonderfully contrived. The effect was dramatic - a great amalgam of science and fantasy that did HG Wells proud. I particularly liked the telescopic mounting-steps.
But then there was the story. The soppy, predictable romances both in present and future might have been concocted by Disney. We had the idealised Eloi community - and far more human-looking than Wells imagined - with a politically-corrected mixed-race heroine yummy-mummy who might have been born next door. That is; if you lived in the 20th/21st centuries. Their idealised circumstances were given emphasis by rather stylistic Polynesian tribal music scores. Everything is apparently sweetness and light - or is it? And, of course, they've had the good sense to carry on speaking English with American accents. As you would after 800,000-odd years. Hmmm.
The Eloi are just so nice, it makes their contrast with the Morlocks that much more civilised when the latter finally appear. Moral issues are simplified for the crass modern viewer. Here the Eloi are a sensible, practical self-sufficient people in their own right. And, of course, they're human. Morlocks, by contrast, are hideous, strong, violent carnivorous hunters. Unlike those envisaged by Wells; these Morlocks can come out in daytime, and they possess superhuman strength and agility. There's no ethical dilemma here.
Or is there? later we discover that the Morlocks themselves employ a caste system like that of termites. And our time-traveller finds himself introduced to the grand-wizard-Morlock-bloke-thing who is seriously brainy. He can even read minds. Why, it's Jeremy Irons reprising his intellectual bad guy role in such a beautifully-coiffured blonde wig that whatever the Morlocks may lack in table-manners they evidently make up for in hairdressing skills. He has rather disagreeable plans for the yummy-mummy whom he also holds captive. To his credit; he offers to let the time-traveller go - with no strings. But that would mean abandoning the yummy-mummy to a fate worse than death or something, and in true comic-book fashion a hero can never do that.
Instead, he sabotages his time-machine, destroying the Morlock enclave, and presumably gets to screw his yummy-mummy into an indefinite Morlock-free future. Though whether he will sire any offspring is a moot biological point; 800,000 years is a long period of gene isolation.
Four of my stars go to the machine. The other two are for sundry effects and sets. But the rest? Well; script and plot were complete junk. Acting was 2nd rate. As to Wells' classic novel and idea? All of his imaginative and thought-provoking concepts were jettisoned in the name of a bog-standard hero-saves-hapless-'maiden', romance-against-adversity tale as crass as 'Pearl Harbour' and as predictable as 'Titanic'. Mediocre; worth a single watch, but no substitute for the book.
What the hell's wrong with directors these days? With a little more thought, this could have been great.
I'll begin with some praise. The time machine as a vehicle was wonderfully realised. Instead of an 'armchair with a spinning parasol' from the 1950's movie, we had something that was both mechanical in a 19th century fashion, but with an 'optical-visual' update that made it seem wonderfully contrived. The effect was dramatic - a great amalgam of science and fantasy that did HG Wells proud. I particularly liked the telescopic mounting-steps.
But then there was the story. The soppy, predictable romances both in present and future might have been concocted by Disney. We had the idealised Eloi community - and far more human-looking than Wells imagined - with a politically-corrected mixed-race heroine yummy-mummy who might have been born next door. That is; if you lived in the 20th/21st centuries. Their idealised circumstances were given emphasis by rather stylistic Polynesian tribal music scores. Everything is apparently sweetness and light - or is it? And, of course, they've had the good sense to carry on speaking English with American accents. As you would after 800,000-odd years. Hmmm.
The Eloi are just so nice, it makes their contrast with the Morlocks that much more civilised when the latter finally appear. Moral issues are simplified for the crass modern viewer. Here the Eloi are a sensible, practical self-sufficient people in their own right. And, of course, they're human. Morlocks, by contrast, are hideous, strong, violent carnivorous hunters. Unlike those envisaged by Wells; these Morlocks can come out in daytime, and they possess superhuman strength and agility. There's no ethical dilemma here.
Or is there? later we discover that the Morlocks themselves employ a caste system like that of termites. And our time-traveller finds himself introduced to the grand-wizard-Morlock-bloke-thing who is seriously brainy. He can even read minds. Why, it's Jeremy Irons reprising his intellectual bad guy role in such a beautifully-coiffured blonde wig that whatever the Morlocks may lack in table-manners they evidently make up for in hairdressing skills. He has rather disagreeable plans for the yummy-mummy whom he also holds captive. To his credit; he offers to let the time-traveller go - with no strings. But that would mean abandoning the yummy-mummy to a fate worse than death or something, and in true comic-book fashion a hero can never do that.
Instead, he sabotages his time-machine, destroying the Morlock enclave, and presumably gets to screw his yummy-mummy into an indefinite Morlock-free future. Though whether he will sire any offspring is a moot biological point; 800,000 years is a long period of gene isolation.
Four of my stars go to the machine. The other two are for sundry effects and sets. But the rest? Well; script and plot were complete junk. Acting was 2nd rate. As to Wells' classic novel and idea? All of his imaginative and thought-provoking concepts were jettisoned in the name of a bog-standard hero-saves-hapless-'maiden', romance-against-adversity tale as crass as 'Pearl Harbour' and as predictable as 'Titanic'. Mediocre; worth a single watch, but no substitute for the book.
What the hell's wrong with directors these days? With a little more thought, this could have been great.