Susan Granger’s review of “A Sound of Thunder” (Warner Bros.)
There may have been more ludicrous, preposterous sci-fi movies this summer. I just don’t remember one. Or put it this way: “A Sound of Thunder” makes “The Cave” seem believable.
Set in Chicago in 2055, it’s a cautionary tale. Under a grant from greedy Charles Hatten (Ben Kingsley), scientist Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack) has perfected a time travel computer program (T.A.M.I.). Reminiscent of “Jurassic Park,” these Time Safaris transport wealthy clients into the Cretaceous period to hunt dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The thrill-seekers are warned never to bring anything back nor leave anything behind. Predictably and inevitably, an ominous accident to the ecosystem occurs on one of these ill-fated prehistoric hunting trips.
Biologist Travis Ryer (Edward Burns) rushes to the rescue, along with skeptical Sonia, who repeatedly warned that scary repercussions might occur. They discover man-eating ivy, predatory bat-like creatures and an eel/shark/snake in a distorted parallel evolutionary chain. And Chicago has won the World Series twice for the National League. Now that’s pushing plausibility.
Screenwriters Gregory Poirier, Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, under the leadership of director/cinematographer Peter Hyams eviscerate Ray Bradbury’s short story which served as inspiration. Their chase-filled execution is numbingly mindless, as is the pacing.
Usually bald Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi,” “Sexy Beast”) sprouts a thatch of white hair, while Edward Burns perfects stoicism and Catherine McCormack seethes with anger. That’s all quite understandable because the special effects, even the time wave, are beneath lame. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “A Sound of Thunder” is a pitiful 1. It’s a step backward.
