Review of A Sound of Thunder (2005) by Anna Lee H — 02 Jul 2009

There's a lot of hate directed towards this film and it is mostly understandable. Granted, the effects are, at times, atrocious. The street scenes and cars look like pre-viz treatments. It came as no surprise to find out, that is what they are. The films production company went bankrupt during post-production and so we are left with an unfinished film. The poor effects allows you to focus on the plot, which will go one of two ways. I found it rather engaging with some nice early ideas, before it descended into action. The designs for lizard apes and giant bats were rather impressive to me. For some reason I just like Edward Burns, he isn't the greatest actor in the world but for some reason I always like him. Kingsley has an interesting character, he adds charisma into the businessman that puts money above all else.

Others that watch this film may be infuriated and irate with the handling of time travel. I believe in films we must have a suspension of disbelief, but a film still needs to follow it's own rules...Except for time travel movies. To me, time travel is just so complex and theoretical that it is hard to translate well to film, unless you say "Just because...".

I wasn't bored, I wasn't annoyed (apart from one moment with a hot wiring scientist) and I even felt a little connected to it. It's the sick, dirty puppy at the pound. You find it cute and endearing, but you don't want to take it home.