A Sound of Thunder

Plot synopsis:
In Chicago, 2055, the Time Safari company offers the ability for people to hunt dinosaurs in the past via time travel technology. As a precaution against the potential change of the past, the company preys only on the dinosaurs who would otherwise die of natural causes and keeps the clients from stepping off the designated path. Because of the dangers of interfering with the time line, the company's activities are vocally attacked by Sonia Rand, the developer of the time machine software TAMI, who feels scorned for not receiving credit and fears they may alter the past through their activities.
A trip with clients Eckels and Middleton goes afoul when the gun carried by team leader Travis Ryer fails to go off. The dinosaur, an Allosaurus, rushes the group, scattering the clients. Ryer kills the dinosaur, regroups the clients and returns to 2055, unaware that Middleton had stepped on a butterfly. The next day, they hear reports of global increases in temperature and humidity, and Ryer observes a sudden increase in plant life. On their next trip, they find that the Allosaurus they intend to hunt is already dead when they arrive and the volcano erupting much sooner. They quickly return and report the changes, and the government shuts down Time Safari to investigate. Ryer learns from Rand they are being struck by "time waves" that cause drastic alterations to the city as they pass due to something that happened on a previous expedition. Ryer and Rand narrowly escape a building after a time wave causes the appearance of thousands of beetles and a tree bursting through its structure. Rand warns that more time waves can be expected, and each will affect more advanced life forms, people being the last.
They return to Time Safari to try to fix what has gone wrong along with the government. They are struck by another time wave that leaves the city without power and now covered by dense vegetation. Evaluating the machine's logs, they find that the Eckels/Middleton expedition had come back a few grams heavier and that the bio-filter was turned off. They recognize that they can use the time machine to go back to intercept their past selves so as to prevent whatever happened, but will only have a few seconds to act, and so must work to figure out who they need to stop. The Time Safari finds their equipment and gear free of anything, so Ryer and Rand lead a group through the city - now filled with evolved and deadly Baboonlizards and other new hazards that kill some of their party members - to find Eckels and Middleton. Eckels is safe but asserts he remained on the path, while Middleton, poisoned by the new wildlife, takes his life before they can stop him. However, they are able to find a dead butterfly on the sole of the suit he used for the safari. The party makes it back to Time Safari after more time waves hit, now finding the time machine partially underwater and unusable. Rand obtains the hard drive containing the TAMI software with plans to use it with the nearby university's particle accelerator as a substitute time machine.
Ryer and Rand are the only two survivors once they finally make it to the university, Rand noted that the appearance of simian-like Babboonlizards from the latest time wave means the next one will wipe away humanity. Rand prepares the accelerator and stays behind while Ryer goes through the time portal, just as the last time wave hits turning Rand into a humanoid catfish-like creature. Ryer catches up to the previous expedition, catches Middleton to prevent him stepping on the butterfly, tells Jenny the bio-filter is off at the same time asking her to give his earlier self a recording of the events he has witnessed. The expedition returns without incident to the future they had left. Ryer shares the footage with Rand.

Tags: alternate reality, stupid, boring, flashback

Review:
I disagree with the previous commenter -- I don't think the actors were walking on a treadmill in front of the green screen, I think they were just standing in place and shifting their weight from one foot to the other.Sir Ben Kingsley is clearly aware of the "quality" of this film and embraces the ridiculousness, having a great time reading his absurd lines.The plot, the dialogue, the special effects, the creatures, the actor's accents -- each piece of this movie is worse than the last.
I mean the movie has a lot of problems but it seemed like some small things were cut or at least cut differently.I'm hoping that the DVD will have a commentary track so we can hear the behind-the-scenes story of what really happened.
In the hands of these screenwriters, the mistake simply becomes a vehicle to generate a variety of creepy-crawly monsters that stalk the people of the story as they try to literally race against time and fix the mistake.The script drags all the clichés out and leaves the actors to cover them.
Even taking the troubled production history of "A Sound of Thunder" into account, Hyams butchers the possibilities here.The audience is denied the simple delight of watching special effects during a sci-fi adventure because of the shoddy craftsmanship and a lack of money.
USAToday.com called it: "A story that is a pale imitation of a Michael Crichton novel." The Los Angeles Times said: "The picture looks as murky as its story line and most everything on the screen looks patently fake." CNN.com remarked: "'Sound of Thunder,' smell of garbage." But Variety.com summed it up nicely: "Every bit as bad as advance buzz has indicated..." And then some.I first heard about this movie prior to its release on TVGuide.com's "Coming Soon" section.
So I read the short story by Ray Bradbury, upon which the movie was supposedly based and, even though I had a hard time visualizing such a story expanded to 2 hours of running and screaming on the big screen, hoped for the best.
In the year 2055, time travel has been patented by a greedy businessman played by none other than Sir Ben Kingsley (as he's credited), sporting a white wig that one movie critic likened to a lump of cotton candy, and yet another likened to a massive White Persian cat perched atop his head.
At one point, the camera tracks the two main stars, Edward Burns and Catherine McCormack, as they cross a busy futuristic street in one of the worst on-screen examples of green-screen effects I have ever witnessed in a big budget movie.
The sets are also awful and cheap looking, like they can fall over and break down every moment.The movie never gets tense, exciting or adventurous since the story is brought in the least interesting and engaging way possible.
After seeing you in so many wonderful movies, even as a great villain in Sexy Beast, this performance just looked like you were making a bad used-car salesman impression..
The actors don't live up to my expectations there performance is unbelievable they could have just phoned it in an saved all of us a loss of time and money..i really didn't like this movie, after the acting started to bore me to death of i thought the special effects would pay the ticket but forget it they suck most of all, a wast of a very good piece of literature..Bradbury would also say this movie really really doesn't live up to expectations for his fansIf there is any other option at the multiplex take it!!!!.
I was shocked I had missed this film - based as it is on the seminal Bradbury short story that explored (and coined) the butterfly effect of alterations in the past having repercussions in the future.
A little research turned up the production problems that resulted in the horrible digital effects (basically just pre-viz or old video game quality) so I won't trash them further (although in ANY world the actors painfully "fake-walking" in place while the green screen image scrolls behind them would be laughable) but the blatantly stupid way the whole butterfly effect is dealt with ("Time Waves will look cool!" someone must have said) and having first rate actors spew third rate dialogue does nothing but condemn the film to the heap of Time-Travel failures.
The film is based on a Ray Bradbury novel , a short story titled ¨A Sound of Thunder¨ but are modified some deeds , in the book the fatal accident is produced during the presidential election and the winner results to be a fascist candidate , while the movie is narrated in actioner as well as spectacular style .
Director Peter Hyams is a nice filmmaker and usual cameraman of his films , realizing good Sci-fi titles (¨Capricorn one¨ , ¨Outland¨) and even a similar movie about time travels , but better directed , such as ¨Timecop¨(1994) with Jean Claude Van Damme .
The adapted Ray Bradbury science fiction story about time travel suffered the great floods of 2002 in Prague and lack of money that delayed its release for 2 years.
The characters who hire Ed Burns to take them back in time to hunt dinosaurs are frequently overacting; the set pieces distinctly function as scene breakers or time wasters, ending up giving nothing to dramatic flow and sequential logic.I can't find anything good to say other than the butterfly effect is a sound premise that won't be heard in this vehicle.
The idea that changing even a minute part of history would affect all subsequent history is worth exploring.A Sound of Thunder is a whimper and should be sent back in time to the '50's, where poor production values were valued in B movies.
This tacky film version of his short story from the 1950s about time travel and the effect it might have on de-evolution is not well known from the theatrical run (did it have one?) and exists now as a DVD on the shelves released during a slow week.What looks to be a fancy sci-fi thriller form the opening scenes quickly fools us as the computer generated graphics are re-run unaltered throughout a film that is supposed to be about different 'trips' back in time where a major company sells macho guys in 2055 the chance to hunt dinosaurs by paying exorbitant fees to travel back in time to prehistoric jungles.
Of course there is a pretty damsel who knows how to reverse the process and a hunky man to risk his life to act on her orders and everything is eventually OK.Yes, that is the story...and the most surprising fact about this poorly scripted, abysmally acted mess of a film is that it attracted some fine talent to portray the comic book flat characters.
I think the writers, producers, director and actors have done a pretty-good job of it.From memory, Bradbury's story ends when it is discovered that evolution has changed because of a tiny alteration in a time-travel incident.
Not among a mass audience and not among reviewers.It got to the point that I and many with me, didn't really have much expectation left, but stubborn as we are, we went and saw it anyway and we loved it, totally amazed by both the film itself, and the stupidity of reviewers and moviegoers in general.Peter Hyams, the maker of Capricorn One and 2010 is finally back.In 2055 time travel has been invented, and it's all in the hands of a greedy industrial entrepreneur, a project guarded by a corrupt government official, all presented very believable and true to life.
People shouldn't make movies about dinosaurs if they can't afford to make the prehistoric creatures look as good or better than those in Jurassic Park.
The story is a complete nonsense, the effects are below the level of a TV production; even the editing is a mess.The only thing that kept me in the theater was that I wanted to know the end of the story, although I was pretty sure it was going to be silly (and it was).There are better ways to spend your time and money..
As a child in the 60s I read a Sci-Fi comic book (based on Ray Bradbury's short story of the same name) that had the characters traveling back in time and hunting dinosaurs from an elevated path.
I found out about the story only after the video store tell me the story, so quickly I went to the movie theater to watch what it is as the last day of filming, The Sound of Thunder.While the time wave don't have the same effect of changing all the events, the premise or actually the excuse of traveling back in time where the dinosaur will die anyway.While some parts of the movie Ben Kingsley appears to be funny.
If all you people who voted 1 to 5 for it think it is that bad i'd suggest you watch documentaries from now on as by voting this low for A SOUND OF THUNDER you insult the essence of the word 'MOVIE' and their-in imagination itself.Granted his movie has its flaws but it deserves at least a 6 rating, no matter what anyone says..
Good story line, changing the past and having it come to bite everyone in the ass because they messed with time travel, bad effects.
Well, there are so many other comments out there that hit the nail on the head I should not need to add to them.But....I had read this book in school 20 years back and was hugely looking forward to seeing this flick.Its a disaster..so many awful things.The effects are risible and yes...at one point, though you don't see it...you just know they are walking on a treadmill..honest!!If you've seen the movie , you'll know exactly what I am talking about.As for the token black dudes scene talking to himself...what the heck was that all about?And ben Kingsley was not the brilliant actor in this...folks are just saying that because he has a rep.He was just as tosh as the rest...only doing this mince to buy new wallpaper for his house or whatever.
It looks stupid, defies the purpose and wastes your time.Well, this movie is like that sock, but with holes.A millionaire without scrupulous (sight!) is selling tickets to travel back in time to the cretaceous and "hunt" a t-rex.Excuse me, if we human in the future were able to create such a machine, would it be used for such an idiotic purpose?
Thinking along the lines of 'Hey, we'll take a beloved story that sci-fi geeks will want to see and turn it into a super-duper high tech time-traveling piece with sexy stars and big action scenes of Chicago under siege"The idea then was passed on to a couple of hack writers (that's okay, I like hack writers) I don't like hack writers, however, when they think they're smarter than the original source material.
In the final analysis the movie sucks because it lacks a story, real characters, direction, visuals, and has loads of boring acting -- but wait there's more -- giant plot holes, mistakes, bad green screen scenes, no point, a bankruptcy mid-way through a flood in the Baltic country it was filmed in -- But wait there's more -- special effects that were not finished, and even if they were they wouldn't have been that good anyway and two strikes for having Ed Burns in it.So how is this any different than say -- anything Roger Corman did or any sci-fi flick from the 50's and 60's.
I go into a radiation theatre film (such as The Beginning of the End, Zero Hour or the Invasion of the saucer men) knowing its an innocent romp, I expect a film based on a celebrated author's short story coming out with a high budget with Peter Hyams at the helm to be a little more like than below average.
Not in this movie.The funny thing is that the story couldn't be worse, but it is almost over-shadowed by the terrible effects, the brutal acting and retarded dialog.If I see any of the stars, producers or the director of this film walking down the street I will punch them in the mouth...and that includes the chicks..
Well, I can only say that my expectations were shattered and this film fell short of being a c-rate movie if not for their use of special effects which were probably created at home with Macromedia or something of that sort.
Believe me, I've seen far worse (check out my reviews of Dragon Fighter and 10.5: Apocalypse).This movie is based on a short story by Ray Bradbury about a company that sends wealthy tourists to the past to hunt dinosaurs.
Subsequently they must fight many monstrous creatures on their dangerous journey.The interesting premise is based on a short story by the famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury but something went horribly wrong with the film version: the movie fails on so many levels that it's not even funny.
First I hate myself for buying this dumber than dumb attempt at a sci-fi and second I hate myself for viewing it.The movie is horrendously poorly acted, poorly scripted and all I can say, if in fact we're as dumb as they are in 2055, when this flick is supposed to take place, the end can't be too far off.I bought this as a 5 dollar previously shown DVD.
While the special effects and the acting are not the best and the plot holes do exist, it is still a really good movie.If you want to see animals you never seen before this is one for you.
Sound of Thunder should be given a chance to be seen and people should keep in mind that they could like this movie for the mere creativity that went into the original story.
All the other characters needs some work...Moving on the script was poorly written, tho in the movie there were some comic relief which is good but not enough to save the movie The ending is different from what Mr.Bradbury intended and seems just too unrealistic even for a Sci-Fi. The time travel theory they used seems improbable mainly because I know of other theory that is more widely accepted (of course the average viewers don't know as much as I do so they should be OK).
Nothing seemed to scream out that the story was not worthy of my time like so many other movies which make me squirm or groan.I enjoyed it, it was well done and might I say, that it turned out rather well considering that the makers of this film were shortchanged along the way, by the powers that grant funding for films to be made.Congratulations to all who worked on this effort.
One should think that the producers would have smelled the rat by now, but no: Some schmuck unleashed Hyams on yet another sci fi classic: Ray Bradbury's shot story "A Sound of Thunder".Everything about this movie is bad.
While I thought this would be another Jurassic Park, and kept my expectations low, it turned out to be a jolly entertaining movie, though a bit formulaic.Based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder is set in 2055 Chicago, where scientists have harnessed the power of time travel, and corporations capitalizing on the technology for the rich to embark on a Time Safari, going 65 million years back in time to hunt dinosaurs, in a controlled environment.Wait, won't this disrupt the space-time continuum?
When something is changed in the past, the time waves affect the life in the present days and Travis and his crew, with the support of the inventor of the computer, Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack), try to find a way to fix the problem caused in the past.When I saw the User rating of 3.9 and the bad reviews in IMDb, I questioned myself if it would be a worth movie to see.
this movie is boorring!!!.i could not get through the whole thing.the whole movie is miscast.no one is convincing.the story is lame.i think it was based on a story by ray bradbury.his estate sold the right to the story.i hope they got a lot of money for it,or else i'm sure they regret it.ben kingsley is a very talented actor,bit his talents are wasted on this bomb.he just looks ridiculous,along with the rest of the cast.from what i watched,they all just phoned there performances in.the special effects were a yawn and poorly executed.this movie is like the colour beige i.e bland.don't waste your time.if you want to see ben kingsley in a movie worthy of his immense talent,check out "house of sand and fog".as for this movie...peeeyeeww.
Directed by End of Days and Relic Helmer Peter Hyams Sound of Thunder is quite an exciting movie minus the special effects.
If you like Time Travel Movies, do see it on a big screen soon (before it disappears)..
And I really did enjoy it.If you like Time Travel movies, this is a good one.
Plus it was a great way to make a really scary movie out of Ray Bradbury's original short story.
The stories he adapts are always interesting, and A Sound of Thunder is no exception but next to films like '2010', 'Outlander', and 'The Relic', it is a bit of a disappointment.The story plays with the classic sci-fi concept of time travel, and how changing one thing in the past can alter the future in ways unknown.
The time-travel/butterfly effect film had so many bad graphics, the loudest chuckles from me was whenever they showed the dinosaur (God, I loved seeing that dino and them actually being scared of it  it was hilarious!) or just simply, Ben Kingsley.
"Sound of Thunder" is a big-budget film about time-travel and evolution that features giant creatures and elaborate special effects.