Timeline(2003 film)

Timeline
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Screenplay by	Jeff Maguire George Nolfi
Based on	Timeline byMichael Crichton
Produced by	Lauren Shuler Donner Jim Van Wyck Richard Donner
Starring	Paul Walker Frances O'Connor Gerard Butler Billy Connolly
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Edited by	Richard Marks
Music by	Brian Tyler
Production companies	Donners' Company Artists Production Group
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures Mutual Film Company Cobalt Media Group
Release date	November 26, 2003(2003-11-26)(United States)
Running time	116 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Languages	French English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$43.9 million

Timelineis a 2003historicalscience fictionadventure filmdirected byRichard Donnerand starringPaul Walker,Frances O'Connor,Gerard Butler,Billy Connolly,David Thewlis,andAnna Friel.Based onMichael Crichton's1999 novelof the same name, the screenplay concerns a team of present-day archaeology and history students who are sent back in time to medieval France to rescue their professor from the middle of a battle.

Jerry Goldsmithcomposed the original score, which would have been his last before his death in 2004 (his actual last score wasLooney Tunes: Back in Action), but was replaced with a new score byBrian Tyler,after the first cut was re-edited and Goldsmith's increasing health problems prevented him from continuing. The film was poorly received by critics andbombed at the box office,losing an estimated $49 million.

Plot

Professor Edward Johnston leads an archaeological study of the village of Castlegard, nearLa RoqueCastle inDordogne, France,the site of the 1357 hanging of Lady Claire, sister toArnaut de Cervole.Her martyrdom ledFranceto win theHundred Years Waragainst theEnglish.Johnston's team includesScottisharchaeologist André Marek; Johnston's students Kate Erickson, Josh Stern, and François Dontelle; and his son Chris. While excavating a nearby monastery, they find asarcophaguscontaining the remains of a French knight with a lopped ear, holding the hand of his lady, an unheard-of practice for the time.

Johnston travels to the American headquarters of the ITC Corporation, his project's sponsor, to inquire whether or not they have tampered with the site. The students discover a lens from Johnston'sbifocalsand a note begging for help, although both date over 600 years old. When the students contact ITC, the company invites them to its headquarters.

There, the team is introduced to ITC president Robert Doniger and vice-president Steven Kramer. Doniger reveals that in the process of developingteleportationtechnology, they locked onto a stablewormholeto 1357 Castlegard. Johnston was invited to see the past for himself, but his group has not returned, and they want the students to go back in time to locate him. All but Josh volunteer to go.

The volunteers are stripped of all modern technology save for pendant-shaped markers they can use to initiate their return. The students are joined by a security team including ITC's head of security, Frank Gordon, and two former military men.

On arrival in 1357, the team finds itself in the path of a young woman chased by English knights; the security men are killed while protecting the group, although one activates his marker after priming a grenade. When his body arrives in the present, the grenade detonates and shatters much of the teleportation device. Josh aids Kramer in making repairs.

The team evades the knights, and the woman leads them to the English-controlled Castlegard. They are captured and brought before Lord Oliver de Vannes and his second-in-command, DeKere. De Vannes kills François, believing he is a French spy. The others are imprisoned along with Johnston, who previously promised de Vannes that he could makeGreek firefor the English in exchange for his life. They make their escape but are pursued by the English. Gordon and Johnston are recaptured, while the others make for the monastery, led by the woman.

DeKere reveals himself to Gordon and Johnston as former ITC employee William Decker; he had frequently used the teleportation device but was not told by ITC that each use damaged his DNA until it was too late, at which point he would die on a return trip. He plans revenge on ITC and kills Gordon. De Vannes orders his knights to march on LaRoque castle, and DeKere brings Johnston along.

At the monastery, Marek, Kate, and Chris meet de Cervole and realize the woman is Lady Claire; they have changed history by saving her. Marek, who has become infatuated with Lady Claire, is given a horse to rescue his friends. Kate and Chris help to swing the upcoming battle in the French's favor by leading de Cervole's men through the monastery tunnels they had previously mapped to the castle.

As the battle starts, Marek is captured in his rescue attempt; Lady Claire is also kidnapped. Marek frees himself, Lady Claire, and Johnston, while Chris helps de Cervole defeat de Vannes. Enraged, DeKere slashes off Marek's earlobe, and Marek realizes he is destined to be the knight in the sarcophagus. Marek defeats DeKere, recovers the markers, gives them to the others, and says his goodbyes while running off to help the French assure victory and restore history.

As the three returnees activate their markers, in the present Josh and Kramer have finished the repairs after coming to learn that Doniger tried to sabotage their attempts; Doniger fears that when the students' stories become public, ITC will suffer great financial losses. As the machine activates, Doniger races into it, attempting to block the teleportation, but instead he is sent back to 1357, where he arrives outside the castle and is presumably killed by a charging knight.

Chris, Kate, and Johnston safely return. Later, the team returns to the Castlegard ruins, re-examines the sarcophagus, and finds that Marek and Lady Claire led a prosperous life after the war and had three children: Christophe, Katherine, and François.

Cast

• Paul Walkeras Chris Johnston
• Frances O'Connoras Kate Ericson
• Gerard Butleras André Marek
• Billy Connollyas Professor Edward A. Johnston
• David Thewlisas Robert Doniger
• Anna Frielas Lady Claire
• Neal McDonoughas Frank Gordon
• Matt Cravenas Steven Kramer
• Ethan Embryas Josh Stern
• Michael Sheenas Lord Oliver de Vannes
• Lambert Wilsonas LordArnaud de Cervole
• Marton Csokasas Sir William De Kere/William Decker
• Rossif Sutherlandas François Dontelle
• Patrick Sabonguias Jimmy Gomez
• Steve Kahanas Baker

Production

The battle sequences usedmedievalreenactors.Richard Donnerlimited the use of CGI in the film as much as possible.

ComposerJerry Goldsmith,who had previously collaborated with Donner onThe Omen,completed a score for the film - his final score before his death in 2004 - but it was replaced by a different score composed byBrian Tylerafter Donner was forced to re-cut the film at the insistence ofSherry Lansing,the then-head ofParamount Pictures.However, both Goldsmith and Tyler's scores were released on CD.

Reception

Timelineperformed poorly at the box office, only recouping $43 million worldwide from a budget of $80 million.

Critical response

OnRotten Tomatoes,the film has an approval rating of 13% based on reviews from 144 critics. The site's consensus states: "This incoherently plotted addition to the time-travel genre looks and sounds cheesy".OnMetacriticthe film has a score of 28% based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".Audiences surveyed byCinemaScoregave the film a grade C+ on a scale of A to F.

Kirk Honeycutt ofThe Hollywood Reportercalled it "Glorious so-bad-it's-good entertainment." Roger Ebertgave it 2 out of 4, and wrote that it was "not so much about travel between the past and the present as about travel between two movie genres" namely "a corporate thriller crossed with a medieval swashbuckler". He was disappointed that the elaborate premise was not put to greater use, that it was essentially nothing more than a frame for action scenes. Robert Koehler ofVarietywrote: "Lacks the consistent tone, pace and point of view for either a science fiction thriller or medieval war adventure."

External links

• TimelineatIMDb
• TimelineatAllMovie
• TimelineatBox Office Mojo