A Sound of Thunder

Time Safari Inc. offers hunters in 2055 the opportunity to go back 65 million years and kill a dinosaur. In order to protect the future, clients are told to stay on the hoverpath, and each trip actually confronts the same dinosaur (which would have died moments later in a volcanic eruption anyway).

Everything seems normal after returning from one expedition, but gradual changes begin to transform the world into Jurassic Park, coming in "ripples" every 24 hours. It is up to the time-travelling team to determine how the past was altered and save the world from destruction.

Based on the short story by Ray Bradbury (in which the only change was the evolution of spelling), A Sound of Thunder depicts a wider variety of disruptions, including swarms of giant beetles and exotic vegetation.

But it's never a good sign when a film is released long after being lensed. This much-delayed film was shot in 2002, and three years of tinkering are unable to improve it. While the set design is impressive, as are the myriad of creatures that re-evolve, the CGI of the futuristic Chicago projected behind the actors is an embarrassment. Worse, the actors fake walking by simply shifting their weight from side to side.

At least the scenario is treated seriously by the cast, among them Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, and Ben Kingsley, who relishes his role as a slimy industrialist.

All, however, are stuck with the stilted dialogue of Thomas Dean Donnelly's script. Though the story is by no means predictable, the revelation of the cause of the disruption is rushed and low-key. Still, it's nice to see a city other than New York in ruins.

Director Peter Hyams (who covered similar material in 1994's Timecop with Jean-Claude Van Damme) seems to have merely pointed the camera and called for action. Hyams' inspiration begins and ends with the crumbling landscape, with no thought given to anything or anyone else, including the audience. Rating: 4 out of 10.