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'A Sound of Thunder' makes a weak whimper

By TOM HALLMAN
Cox News Service

Evolution goes awry in the sci/fi adventure "A Sound of Thunder."

But the real adventure is trying to determine how this picture, with a premise that held such promise, devolved into such an muddled mess.

"A Sound of Thunder" doesn't rumble; it merely mumbles. But it could've said so much more.

Warner Brothers Pictures

'A Sound of Thunder'

The verdict: Uninspired depiction of evolution gone amok, better peformed in a "Simpsons" episode than on the big screen.

Director: Peter Hyams
Starring: Edward Burns, Catherine McCormack, Ben Kingsley, Jemima Rooper, David Oyelowo
Run time: 103 minutes
Release date: September 2, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence, partial nudity and language.
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Consider the movie's pedigree:

• The original story is the work of Ray Bradbury, the sci/fi master who earned his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a half-century legacy that includes classics like "Fahrenheit 451" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes." No one doubts his sci/fi credentials; there's even an asteroid named in Bradbury's honor, for goodness sake.

• With more than 30 years behind the camera, director Peter Hyams is no neophyte, either. His sci/fi credits include "2010," in which Roy Scheider completes Arthur C. Clarke's space odyssey, as well as cult classics "Outland" and "Capricorn One."

• The Oscar-winning Gandhi himself, Sir Ben Kingsley, rounds out the cast as the greedy CEO whose corner-cutting jeopardizes life on Earth as we know it.

That's not a bad family tree. Sadly, this progeny turns out to be a bastard third cousin. Twice removed.

The year is 2054. Scientists have developed a time-travel device that enables researchers to study animals — lions, for instance — that are now extinct.

Private enterprise being what it is, Kingley's corporation sees profit potential. It arranges big-game hunts for the wealthy. And by big game, they mean really big game: dinosaurs. For a fee, the well-heeled can plug a Tyrannosaurus Rex just before it would've died anyway in a mud pit or an exploding volcano.

Give it a break; it's science fiction.

As long as the hunters stay on a pre-arranged path, altering nothing in the past, everything's fine. But a single misstep — say, one crushed bug — can alter the future. Think "The Butterfly Effect" on a planetary scale.

The federal Department of Temporal Regulation is, of course, not a part of the solution.

Leading the prehistoric hunting expeditions is a reluctant scientist played by Edward Burns. Catherine McCormack and Jemima Rooper join him in the ultimate quest to right the wrongs they've caused by piddling with the past.

Burns' wooden performance alone might've been enough to sink the movie, but there's plenty of blame to be passed around, including Sir Ben himself. And if the acting isn't Neanderthal enough, there's absolutely nothing special about the special effects, either, which is especially disappointing since the filmmakers literally had an entire world of possibilities open to them. But Hyams delivers us a future we truly don't want to see — not necessarily because of the monsters, but because of their silliness.

The first half-hour of the movie drags painfully. When things go wrong with time, the movie starts to go right. But it can't sustain the pace. Homer carried off this theme far better in a half-hour "Simpsons" episode.

There is some action in this movie. An occasional scare. An attempt to make a point. In short, there's some of what you expect in a sci/fi adventure.

But "A Sound of Thunder" is just a weak whisper of what this story could've, should've been.