Time-travel tomfoolery, from a novel by Michael Crichton, wherein a team of archaeologists, together with three ex-Marines for security, are sent back to the 14th-century site they are currently excavating in the French countryside. What a treat for them! — if only they were not on a desperate rescue mission to bring back the head of the team (after finding one of his bifocal lenses in a sealed chamber unbreached for 650 years), and the "wormhole" through which they have squirmed were not going to close up in five and a half hours, and they were not caught between the crossed swords of the French and the English on the very day in history when Castle La Roque is slated to fall. The standard question — is history destined to repeat itself, or can it be rewritten? — is asked and answered, and the standard quota of mind-bogglers and brain-twisters is met and surpassed, and the dialogue delivers the standard snickers: "The past is where it's at," and "Trust me, we're in 1357 France," and "The only thing worse than dying here is living here," and so forth. The slapdash direction (Richard Donner), the lightweight cast (Paul Walker, Gerard Butler, Frances O'Connor, Neal McDonough, Billy Connolly), and the heavy-handed music (Brian Tyler) cannot detract from the silliness, and can sometimes augment it. Only the exchange of fireballs and flaming arrows across the night sky lifts the movie to a loftier level, and only momentarily. (2003) — Duncan Shepherd
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