(rated PG-13, 96 mins.)
Driven in desperation by a personal tragedy that now drives him, scientist and inventor Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) is determined to prove that time travel is possible and wants to change the past. Hurtled 800,000 years into the future, (after fleeing in desperation from a time travel experience), Hartdegen is tossed into a world of sci-fi creatures, discovering that mankind has divided into the hunter…and the hunted. Based on the classic science fiction novel by H.G.Wells (great-grandfather to Simon Wells, director of the movie), the story goes from an “Age Of Innocence” feel with Emma (Sienna Guillory) to a second act in the future which in this case, is not a good place to be stranded. The movie also marks the film debut of Dublin-born singer Samantha Mathis who befriends Hartdegen. Orlando Jones is a fun plus as the ageless New York librarian with a know-it-all attitude. Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons makes for a better bad guy in this story with elegant vile then he did tackling his last bad guy in “Dungeons and Dragons.” But, it’s clearly Pearce who takes the leap from “Memento” into Hollywood big fantasy that again proves as spectacular as he did in “L A Confidential.”
