A Sound of Thunder

Apparently, 80 million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to. That's the budget for A Sound of Thunder, a film based on a Ray Bradbury story first published over 50 years ago. The basic premise is one that should be familiar to most anyone. A group of people travel into the prehistoric past and change one little thing, which in turn sets into motion drastic changes in their present, like evolutionary dominoes.

Translating a short story into a feature film must be quite the task, but where A Sound of Thunder goes horribly wrong isn't in having a lack of material to work from, but in adding the wrong kind of padding. There are entire sequences of the movie that could have been dropped altogether, allowing the filmmakers to concentrate on improving what is one of the single most bland, badly-lit, mediocre special effects driven films I have ever seen. I half expected Uwe Boll's name to pop up in the credits somewhere, and I seriously could not believe that A Sound of Thunder wasn't made for the Sci-Fi channel. At one point J. seriously compared it unfavorably to Boa Vs. Python. Making things even worse, this movie has been sitting on the shelf for over two years, during which time surely somebody could have made an effort to edit it a little better, maybe even fix the little mistakes and incongruities strewn throughout. It's probably only because I'm an animator that I notice these things, but there were scenes with real people walking in front of CGI backgrounds where the people weren't just moving forward, but also drifting sideways at the same time. It was like they were on another plane of existence entirely.

The plot is king in A Sound of Thunder, something I normally wouldn't object to, except other little tidbits are thrown out there and never really go anywhere. For example, the main character has a chat with one of his co-workers, and they hint at a past together, one which has resulted in the main character feeling obligated to look after her. Not only is this never mentioned again, but when she's in peril he seems even less interested in her safety then if it was someone who he doesn't supposedly have an emotional investment in. And that's just one of dozens of examples of shoddy storytelling that make A Sound of Thunder stumble.

Aside from the lousy characterization, A Sound of Thunder also boasted a pre-Jurassic Park level dinosaur, boring set design, Ben Kingsley's hair, and only a few small, seemingly accidental instances of suspense. The entire movie centred around a small group of professional scientists/hunters, leaving the main ingredient of a good disaster movie on the cutting room floor, that is, small vignettes of everyday people dealing with the crisis. The few times they did deal with that aspect of the story were by far the best moments of the film. To cap it off, there were so many glaring plot holes and forced coincidences that it would make Warrenzone's list of Toolbox Murder transgressions pale in comparison. I'd mention a few, but the only real reason anyone could halfway enjoy A Sound of Thunder is for the unintentional laughs and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone. O.K., just one. I can't resist. The next time I'm confronted by a horde of slumbering reptilibaboons, I'll know to constantly shine a light in their face to keep them from waking up.

Not the worst movie I've seen all year, but it certainly comes close, A Sound of Thunder's only saving grace was in ripping it apart afterwards. Do yourself a favour. Skip the movie, save ten bucks and read the original story online instead.