Unlike the film, the novel Timeline tried to be a researched challenge to our usual perceptions of the Middle Ages mixed in with the science fiction fascination of moving in time (other than simply letting it pass).  Crichton has mastered the art of couching a handful of facts or thought provoking ideas inside a pulp story that makes the learning painless and entertaining.  Evidently much of the novel's care was deemed too time-consuming to put on the screen or too boring to actually make it into Jeff Maguire and George Nolfi's script.  When compared to the novel, the script has been accused of "dumbing down" the story for no real good reason -- it wasn't that difficult of a story to start with.  One can only hope this doesn't bode disaster for Ocean's Twelve, Nolfi's next outing as writer.

Director Richard Donner seems the guy for the job, not so much because of his Lethal Weapon series as much as for Ladyhawke, Conspiracy Theory and even Radio Flyer.  However, it becomes fairly clear fairly quickly that he's mainly drawing on his Lethal Weapon repertoire.

All stories go through some changes in the process of adapting a novel to script, but the changes made this time (changing some of the women characters to men, adding a French student, making Chris Johnston the son of the lead archeologist) seem mechanical and calculated, giving the film a cold and remote feeling.  We never really care about any of these people or even the outcome of the climactic battle.  Which is too bad, because at the core of the novel is a very interesting story.

One of the missteps is that the adaptation tries to make Chris Johnston (Paul Walker) the main character, when in fact, it's Andre Marek (Gerard Butler) whose story ends up being the most compelling and resonant in the film.  Maybe that's why Butler does the best job here, Anna Friel as Lady Claire as well.  But Billy Connolly (Professor Johnson), Paul Walker and Frances O'Connor seem lost (and I don't mean "in time").  Rossif Sutherland is actually one of the more interesting characters as Francois, but he's killed off so fast, you almost have to blink to see him.

There's nothing terribly wrong with Timeline, but ultimately it's not very satisfying.  Much of the problem may be that for a film about time travel, the actual act or repercussions of traveling through time remain not just unexplored but patently ignored.  Ultimately, Timeline works best as simply a Medieval romp (or battle); the time travel aspects (a group of people ill prepared for the past) add nothing to the story.

For a film that attempts to actually explore the implications of time travel is Feedback, directed by Teo Konuralp (who shares screenwriting credit) and released last year on DVD.  Similar in some ways to Timeline's comparison of time travel to sending a fax (without explaining what happens to the original document), Feedback creates a scenario wherein messages can be sent back in time via a special phone. 

What ensues is a series of unforeseen consequences as three people try to change their fate and fortune.  At times, the film seems like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone, and that's a compliment.  Feedback is low-budget, and at times that's painfully obvious, but ultimately, it has more interesting things to say about life and fate than Timeline even insinuates.  Interestingly, both films are heavily genre pieces over and beyond the science fiction aspects (Timeline as historical drama, Feedback as low-bit crime film).

If you like the Renaissance Fair and are into mindless battles, Timeline is at times a fun diversion.  If you want to think about whether one can escape the flow of time, Feedback has more interesting thematic material.

Joe Steiff is holding out high hopes for a film adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife which has very little to do with the instrument of time travel as much as the implication of time travel on the traveler and the people who love him.

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