When a team of student archaeologists on a dig at a medieval site in France find their team leader has disappeared. They are suddenly in 14th century feudal France on a perilous journey beyond their wildest dreams. Now, to find their missing professor and avoid a potentially catastrophic event, they won't be excavating the past, they'll be living it.
(50 votes)
2.
In the heart of the beautiful and historically rich Dordogne Valley of France, a team of archaeology students and their professor diligently work to uncover the ruins of a 14th-century castle. For Professor Edward Johnson (Billy Connolly), the project is the culmination of a lifelong dream. Aided by assistant professor Andre Marek (Gerard Butler), his son Chris (Paul Walker) and students Kate (Frances O'Connor), Stern (Ethan Embry) and Francois (Rossif Sutherland), Johnston has made major strides in unearthing not only La Roque Castle but also a monastery and structures from the surrounding village of Castelgard.
But things are about to go haywire...
Suspicious of the dig's benefactor, International Technology Corporation (ITC) and the man who runs it, Robert Doniger (David Thewlis), Professor Johnston heads to ITC headquarters in New Mexico to get some answers, and while he's away, his students discover a chamber that has been sealed for more than 600 years. Marek and Kate descend into the unstable room, and just before a near disastrous cave-in, they make two startling discoveries -- a bifocal lens, which couldn't have been invented before the chamber was sealed, and even more intriguing, a handwritten plea for help dated April 2, 1357 ... from Professor Johnston!
Just enough of Michael Crichton's novel survives in Timeline to make it a passable popcorn thriller. It's likely that Crichton fans will lament the shallowness of director Richard Donner's film, and its gee-whiz style of acting lays waste to any scientific credibility that Crichton's scenario might have retained. Still, the Crichton formula is a sturdy one, following the model of Westworld and Jurassic Park by involving a small band of adventurers in a fantastical realm of danger and death. In this case, a group of archaeologists and combat experts (led by Paul Walker and Frances O'Connor) use a "3-D fax machine" (so much for technobabble) to time-travel back to France in 1357, in hope of retrieving Walker's father (Billy Connolly) and returning safely to the present. No such luck. Fending for themselves against marauding hordes of medieval French warriors at war with the invading British, these semi-intrepid travellers find their body count rising, and the deadline for their return home is rapidly approaching. All well and good, so far, and the castles-and-crossbows action reaches a fever pitch, but it's obvious that Donner is too lazy to make the much better film that this could and should have been. Despite its enjoyable highlights, Timeline is perfunctory entertainment. --Jeff Shannon
(45 votes)
4.
They Had To Travel Into The Past To Save The Future.
Popular action star Paul Walker (The Fast And The Furious) leads an ensemble cast as a group of young archaeologists who confront the intrigue-and perils- of time travel in Timeline, "...an unforgettable thrill ride..." directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) and based on the best selling novel by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park). While excavating in the Dordogne Valley of France, a scientific research team's new invention, a time-travel machine, has inadvertently sent archaeology professor Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly, The Last Samurai) back to 14th century France...and ha landed him in the middle of the raging Hundred Years War between the French and English. Johnston's only chance for rescue lies in the hands of his son Chris (Walker), his assistant professor Andre Marek (Gerard Butler, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life), and several of his students. The intrepid time travelers must make the same treacherous journey and, with the deadline of only eight hours now ticking away, must navigate through the hostile, war-torn territory and retrieve the professor before he's lost to history forever.
(43 votes)
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