US
Science Fiction
Feature Film
2003

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What to do on a rainy day? Make tea, scones, and watch Timeline of course.

The verdict on Timeline is that it didn't suck. Which is fairly high praise when it comes to time travel movies. I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as time travel. Like matter and anti-matter trying to inhabit the same bit of space and time, paradox cannot exist. So with fiction that involves time travel, I'm always on high alert.

Timeline did have some predictable elements, which dampened my enthusiasm a bit, but overall they did an acceptable job of addressing the paradox issue, while keeping the story moving right along. Any Star Trek fan will peg the red shirts within two seconds of the time-travel-team assembly, and it's pretty clear who the one-eared man turns out to be.

There are a few surprises, and the costuming was well done. It was also very neat to see trebuchets and flaming arrows at work against a black sky. What was missing for me was just a bit more... something. Jeopardy for the lovers, maybe. Maybe a bit more heroism. Or, maybe a tighter focus on fewer characters. The story shifts between four different narratives, and that may have fractured it a bit too much.

But, it served quite well for a rainy afternoon of hot tea, scones, clotted cream and jam.