The Time Machine review

I am sure H.G. Wells would be impressed with the job his great grandson, Simon Wells, has done directing the remake of his classic novel. The film moves almost as briskly as the time machine itself. Possessed of a refreshing energy and brevity, it whisks you through a simple and meaningful story, embossed with striking effects.

The emphasis on the more philosophical aspects of time travel provides a satisfying complement to the film's romance, humour and adventure. "What is time travel, but your futile attempt to control the past," states the evil leader of the Morlocks (Jeremy Irons) to Professor Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce), the intrepid inventor of the time machine, who he taunts, referring to him as, "a man humbled by those terrible words: what if?"

The "what if?" alluded to by Über-Morlock is the question that prompts Hartdegen, a professor of maths and physics at Columbia University, to build the time machine. When his fiancée Emma (Sienna Guillory) is murdered in Central Park, he focuses his grief and genius on building a machine that will enable him to travel back in time and prevent her death. Although the stunning art deco-ish invention of chrome, wood and glass that prompts one curious admirer to announce, "I bet that makes a hell of a cappuccino," is able to defy the laws of physics, he has less luck with the laws of fate and is unable to save her. Devastated, he sets off in his machine to find out why he's unable to change the past.

The time travel sequences are striking, with Hartdegen and the machine remaining still while the surroundings change as he moves from the site of his laboratory in 19th century New York to the same spot in the year 2030. There he comes across the hologram Vox (Orlando Jones), "a compendium of all human knowledge". In one of the film's moments of whimsy, when the professor asks what he knows of the time machine, Vox mentions Wells's book and that it became a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Convinced civilization is still not advanced enough to answer his nagging question, Hartdegan sets off still further into the future. Much further. To watch his journey forward through more than 800,000 years is as chilling as it impressive as the world undergoes myriad changes before ending up once again a primeval landscape. There he is befriended by the beautiful Mara (Samantha Mumba) whose tribe live in constant fear from the terrifying underground dwelling Morlocks. While Mara teaches the professor not to dwell on the past, he teaches her and the tribe to fight back against their foe.

Guy Pearce's Hartdegen doesn't make a wholly convincing leap from introverted nervy scientist to valiant hero, but The Time Machine's perpetual action and opulent look provide little time to dwell on its few shortcomings.