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Reviews
Timeline (2003)
Stick to the book...
Warning: spoilers follow.
By itself, this movie would be another average adventure movie (don't let the time travel element fool you; about 30 seconds of the movie actually has to do with time travel). However, since it's based on the brilliant novel by Michael Crichton, it has a higher standard to live up to, and fails miserably. Crichton's book develops a rich story involving the world of 1357, the development of the time travel technology (which isn't actually time travel; see below), and the backstories of the diverse characters involved. This movie instead presents a 14th Century where people speak modern English and French (huh?), a bizarre story involving a locked wormhole, and basic cardboard characters. One of the book's most interesting aspects that has been cut out of the movie involves the time travel technology itself. In the movie, ITC has found a wormhole that links back to Castelgard, France on April 2nd, 1357. It's a pretty basic device to speed the movie along. However, the novel details that the technology actually destroys the user and instantly recreates them in an alternate universe that happens to be in a different time. Thus, ITC can send people to any place or any time in history, not just 1357 France. The novel also develops a rich interplay between the main characters. Chris and Kate aren't set up to be a couple until the very end of the story, instead of just after they arrive as the movie shows. Andre Marek's character suffers worst in the movie; his novel version gives much more reason to why he wants to stay in the 14th Century and more insight to his studies. Finally, Crichton's novel goes to extreme lengths to detail the world of 1357. It's not just about the clothing or the language (which is not even close to modern dialect; another multilation by the movie.) It's an entirely different world. England and France as we know them do not exist; the fight over La Roque and Castelgard is between two warlords, not entire nations. Our heroes cannot simply fight their ancestral counterparts toe to toe; the people of the 14th Century, while short-lived and superstitious, were much stronger than modern humans. The novel characters are fitted with custom earpieces to translate the local language for them, though they cannot speak it very well, if at all. The movie also leaves out several interesting and important plot lines from the novel, including a jousting tournament, Chris running afoul of Lord Oliver, and a climatic confrontation between Oliver and Arnaut in La Roque's dungeon. In addition, the plots of De Kere and transcription errors are also fully explained instead of petering out. So, in conclusion, Timeline is another cookie cutter popcorn adventure movie. It's mildly entertaining, but if you'd like to find out what this movie could have been, read Crichton's novel.
StarCraft (1998)
Best real-time strategy game ever!
StarCraft is a real-time strategy game (RTS) set in the early 26th century in the Koprulu Sector at the edge of our galaxy. The balance of power is a stake as three of the most powerful species in the Universe go head-to-head. The nomadic Terrans, brutal Zerg, and stalwart Protoss each seek the ultimate prize: survival of their species and domination of the galaxy. This game is truly a milestone in RTS development. The graphics are great, play control is intuitive, and the storyline is top notch. Blizzard Entertainment takes an interesting approach by telling the story from the perspective of each race in three separate acts. Thus, the events from Act I (Terrans) are then referred to from the other side in Act II (Zerg) and are acted upon. All in all, this game is worth its weight in gold!