Peter Hyams’ “A Sound of Thunder” premieres today without any trace of advertising or promotion.
“A Sound of Thunder” is, in its simplest form, a time travel adventure featuring dinosaurs. Think “Butterfly Effect” meets “Jurassic Park.” Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, author of “Fahrenheit 451,” the movie adaptation opens in Chicago, 2055, where time travel is not only possible but also a lucrative market. Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley) offers the chance of a lifetime to wealthy adventurers — to go back in time and hunt dinosaurs.
There are three rules: Don’t change anything in the past, don’t leave anything behind and most importantly, don’t bring anything back. Naturally, throughout the course of the film, the rules are broken and evolution itself runs off its tracks.
Plant life grows to massive proportions and new species of predatory creatures emerge. Only two people know what’s happening, Dr. Travis Ryer (Edward Burns), who leads the hunting expeditions into the past, and Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), the scientist who invented the time travel technology. Ryer and Rand must figure out how to go back and fix whatever error was made in order to save the human race from extinction.
The film opens well enough. The exposition scenes are actually interesting. The interaction of the characters gives the audience insight into the character’s minds. The film features an ensemble cast, with Kingsley (“Gandhi” and “Schindler’s List”) as the clear MVP.
Kingsley makes the most of the character he’s given by playing up the slick executive who “could sell art lessons to a blind man.” The rest of cast is decent, but they never really convey the urgency the audience comes to expect when things of this nature go awry.
The film’s structural problems are numerous. Firstly, as with many time travel movies, the script has multiple plot holes. The ending is unsatisfying, leaving many loose ends. The dialogue is not ridiculously insulting, but it’s not Shakespearean either. The film also seems longer than it actually is. This is due to the fact that much of the film plays like a video game. Go to this level, collect this item, beat this dinosaur, repeat, and it all takes way too long.
Speaking of video games, the special effects in this movie are atrocious. The green screen effects are the worst in recent memory, and the CGI looked like pixilated computer game imagery. The filmmakers appear to have tried to cover this up by poorly lighting many scenes, but to no avail.
But there are a few good things about the film. Ray Bradbury fans won’t feel too betrayed by this adaptation. The movie takes Bradbury’s original short story for a ride without completely killing it.
Also, director Hyams’ vision of Chicago in 2055 is a welcome departure from most futuristic fare offered nowadays. He blends the old with the new in a world that looks like a place that could actually exist in 50 years.
Hyams’ creativity also shines when imagining not only what creatures would look like if left to evolve uninterrupted for 65 million years, but also what they would sound like.
Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good in this woefully put-together film. It is no mystery why Warner Brothers has failed to promote this one. It would appear that they’re writing it off as a loss in advance.
