Film Review 'Timeline' directed by Richard Donner

Archeological students get more than just an experience of digging up the past on an excavation trip to France. They actually find themselves living in the 14th century and must cross back into their own era to survive. This science fiction thriller drama is certainly a tale of leaving the past in the past or you find yourself living in it.

Many a popular self-help guru has said that the more you think and delve into the past the more likely you are to live in it. Timelime is an extreme case of that. Between a multinational corporation and its time machine the events of history are altered. The motivations behind why ITC Corp decides to sponsor a dig on an ancient French village are unclear at first but the impact of its decisions puts everyone at risk. Not to mention that the English and French warfare threatens to destroy the plans of people from the future despite their advanced knowledge.

A team lead by Prof. Edward Johnston is sent to rural France by ITC Corp to conduct a dig on an ancient village named Castlegard. After their initial findings, the students remain in France when Johnston returns to the U.S. to meet with ITC Corp. When Johnston doesn’t contact them and the students find a distress letter on an excavation site written by him they contact ITC Corp. The company reveals that Johnston is trapped in the Middle Ages and the students decide to time travel and rescue him.

The students may have felt that their six centuries of intelligence give them an advantage over the 14th century warriors but without their high technology guns and lasers are no match for swordplay. It’s a movie idea that has seen several incarnations. Time travel is not a new concept but it always peeks imagination. If you could really be “faxed” back in time would you be game for it? Maybe experiencing history is a once in a lifetime opportunity but most of us much prefer our iPods, laptops, e-readers, and cell phones. If you can’t imagine life without gadgets and before the invention of personal computers, then stay in the 21st century.

Once back in medieval times, the students and ITC Corp security officers find themselves in the middle of a bloody war between England and France. When their time machine is destroyed the group is trapped and must find a way to access a worm hole to get home. In the meantime their presence alters the course of history. Facing an uncertain future in the past, the students try to stay alive long enough for ITC Corp to fix their time machine before they perish into history.