Timeline (film)

Timeline
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Produced by	Richard Donner Lauren Shuler Donner Jim Van Wyck
Screenplay by	Jeff Maguire George Nolfi
Based on	Timeline by Michael Crichton
Starring	Paul Walker Frances O'Connor Gerard Butler Billy Connolly
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Editing by	Richard Marks
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	November 26, 2003
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English French
Budget	US$80,000,000
Box office	$43,935,763

Timeline is a 2003 science fiction film, directed by Richard Donner. It stars Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Billy Connolly, David Thewlis, Gerard Butler and Anna Friel. It is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. Jerry Goldsmith was originally set to score, which would have been Goldsmith's last score before his death in 2004, but was replaced by Brian Tyler, after being rejected by Donner due to post-production complications.

Plot

The film begins with a man trying to escape through the forest from the pursuing knight. Just as the knight catches him and hits him with the sword the man disappears. Soon after that the man is discovered barely alive in the middle of the desert, only able to tell a single word - Castlegard. He dies shortly after being transferred to the hospital. One of the physicians discovers a pendant around his neck with the ITC Corp. label. The X-ray photos show many internal organs, veins and bones are out of alignment for an unknown reason. Soon after that an ITC Corp. employee shows up and identifies the dead man as Vincent Taub. He picks up his body and the company decides to cover up the incident.

Archaeologist Prof. Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly) and his students Kate Erickson (Frances O'Connor), Josh Stern (Ethan Embry), François Dontelle (Rossif Sutherland), and André Marek (Gerard Butler) have been sponsored by the ITC Corp. to excavate the ruins of the village of Castlegard in France near La Roque Castle; the village was burned in 1357 during the Hundred Years War as part of a massive battle, incited by the hanging of Lady Claire, the sister of Arnaud de Cervole, that led the French to victory. Prof. Johnston's son, Chris (Paul Walker), is also present at the excavation, but more due to his infatuation with Kate. During the excavation they find the interesting sarcophagus of a French knight and his lady with one of the knight's ears missing.

Prof. Johnston is suspicious of information given to him by ITC and flies back to their headquarters in New Mexico while his students continue to examine the ruins. After not hearing from the professor for a while, the team accidentally discovers a 600 year old parchment with a plea for help written by the professor, along with a bifocal lens from the professor's glasses. When the team contacts ITC and demand to know what is going on, ITC invites the students to their facility. ITC president Robert Doniger (David Thewlis) and vice-president Steven Kramer (Matt Craven) meet the students and explain they were developing the device for teleportation but have discovered a wormhole with one end fixed at Castlegard in 1357. This means they have built a machine that effectively allows time travel. Doniger explains that Prof. Johnston has been extended the opportunity to travel back to the past, but somehow got trapped, and would like the students to help save their professor. Chris, Kate, François and André agree, and, along with ITC security personnel, are given appropriate clothing and special markers that will return them to the present when pressed, but the markers have a 6 hour window.

The group is transported to the past but quickly find themselves amid a battle between English and French forces, killing one of the security guards; another guard is killed as he is preparing to throw a grenade while pressing his marker, and when his body, with the live grenade, return to the present, the machine is destroyed by the grenade's explosion, leaving the other students trapped. André happens to save a woman trapped in the battle, who turns out to be Lady Claire (Anna Friel), unwittingly having changed history by saving her. Lady Claire takes the students to meet Arnaut (Lambert Wilson), but they are soon captured by English forces and taken to Lord Oliver de Vannes (Michael Sheen), who believes they are spies. He kills François as an example and throws them in prison where the professor is being held.

The group attempt escape using their collective knowledge of the history of the battle, but soon encounter Sir William DeKere (Marton Csokas), in reality a former ITC employee named William Decker. Decker reveals that his body has been ravaged by repeated use of the time travel machine that causes damage to his DNA and internal organs, a fact that Doniger has refused to acknowledge and left Decker stranded in the past. Decker takes their markers, forcing the group to become involved with the battle in order to stay alive. During this, André finds himself falling in love with Lady Claire, while Chris and Kate work together with Arnaut to help flank the English troops at La Roque Castle via the secret tunnel, allowing the battle to turn in favor of the French as it did in the original history. Lord Oliver captures Lady Claire but is killed by Arnaut, and André is attacked by DeKere who cuts his ear off. Realizing he is the knight buried in the sarcophagus he uses all his power to defeat and kill DeKere. The students are then able to recover three of the markers and move away to return to the present time.

In the present, Josh and Kramer have reassembled the machine, despite Doniger's eagerness to write the students off as a loss. When the machine is completed, the markers become active. André tells Chris and Kate to return with the professor, having found his true purpose in life and his true love in Lady Claire. As the three begin to return, Doniger attempts to stop them by running into the machine, worried that his treachery will be discovered. He instead is sent back in time as Chris, Kate, and the professor return; Doniger is quickly cut down by a charging English knight. Sometime later, the students have returned to Castlegard, and discover André's legacy, having married Lady Claire and raising three children, Christophe, Katherine, and François.

Cast

• Paul Walker as Chris Johnston
• Frances O'Connor as Kate Ericson
• Gerard Butler as Andre Marek
• Billy Connolly as Professor Edward A. Johnston
• David Thewlis as Robert Doniger
• Anna Friel as Lady Claire
• Neal McDonough as Frank Gordon
• Matt Craven as Steven Kramer
• Ethan Embry as Josh Stern
• Michael Sheen as Lord Oliver de Vannes
• Lambert Wilson as Lord Arnaud de Cervole
• Marton Csokas as Sir William De Kere/William Decker
• Rossif Sutherland as François Dontelle
• Patrick Sabongui as Jimmy Gomez
• Steve Kahan as Baker

Production

The battle sequences used medieval reenactors. Donner limited the use of CGI in the film as much as possible.

The movie's crew visited various European castles from the late 14th century to make the castles and towns look realistic.^{[citation needed]}

Composer Jerry Goldsmith had his score replaced by Brian Tyler's score, because of the changes in the final cut of the film. However, both Goldsmith and Tyler's scores were released on CD.

The character Robert Doniger was named after Harriet Jacobs Doniger, a teacher of Crichton's daughter.^{[citation needed]}

The filming took place in the Laurentian Mountains and Eastern Townships regions of Quebec near Montreal, Also, in the city of Terrebonne (approx. 30 km (19 mi) north of Montreal). Castelgard and other settings from the book where recreated there.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

The film was panned by most critics and did poorly at the box office, only recouping $43,935,763 worldwide from a budget of $80,000,000. The film also received a terrible 12% fresh rating on film website Rotten Tomatoes.

Differences between the film and the novel

• Instead of being inadvertently beamed into the midst of the final battle, where he is killed in the film, in the book Doniger is sent by his Vice President to 1348, during the peak of the Black Death. He is presumed dead, and his VP takes control of the company.
• In the film, company protocols dictate that nothing modern can be sent into the past. In the novel, the protagonists are allowed a few survival items, which come in handy over the course of the novel. The weapons Baretto brings with him are still considered unauthorized and result in the destruction of the machine.
• In the novel, instead of being sent back with the team, Gordon is the Vice President who works with Stern to bring the team back. He takes control of the company from Doniger. Kramer is a woman, Doniger's ex-girlfriend and the company's lawyer.
• In the novel Marek is a Dutch history student with an interest in reenactment. Not Scottish as in the movie.
• In the novel, Chris Johnston is Chris Hughes, unrelated to the professor, and himself a historian.
• Dontelle's character was created for film purposes. In the novel, team members are given earpieces which serve as translators, although the only ones who can communicate effectively are Marek and Johnston. While the medieval characters in the film speak accented, modern English, their counterparts in the novel speak Middle French, Middle English, Occitan, or Latin, which people would have spoken during that time. De Kere can also listen in on their conversations through another headpiece.
• Claire and Arnaut are portrayed in less of a traditionally "chivalrous" manner in the novel. Claire is shown to be cunning and manipulative and not above using sex to further her own ends (the inheritance of her dead husband's property). This might be part of Marek's attraction to her, as she is a more assertive, modern type of woman. Arnaut is not her brother, and is much more hostile (and crude) to the protagonists, who must avoid his army as well as Oliver's (Although he still extends his gratitude to them after they help him prevail in the final battle).
• The siege of La Roque is not won when Chris and Kate sneak Arnaut's troops into the castle, and Claire is never threatened with death during the battle.
• Sir Guy de Malegant, also known as "The Black Knight", is a major antagonist in the book. The character is completely eliminated from the film.
• In the novel, the team goes back for 37 hours. In the film they are limited to only 6 hours, resulting in a substantial abridgement of the story.
• In the book, Marek and Claire have 5 children whose names are unknown. In the film, Marek and Claire have 3 children whose names are known
• In the book, there is a character referred to as the Green Knight. He is a hulking and insane warrior with rotting teeth and a bad case of head lice who lives in an abandoned chapel and kills anyone who approaches. The character was not included in the film.

External links

• Official website
• Timeline at the Internet Movie Database
• Timeline at Rotten Tomatoes
• Timeline at Metacritic
• Timeline at AllRovi
• Timeline at Box Office Mojo
• Film stills