Forward into the past! from bookish, a weblog by George Girton

Forward into the past! . . . . . dec 13 2003 — bookish101.dat

After several failed attempts to read the book, finally the movie came to town. I had enjoyed some of Michael Crichton's earlier books and movies, including the Andromeda Strain and Sphere. My son read Crichton's recent Prey (about nanorobots) and enjoyed it, but try as I might I just couldn't get going with Timeline, where archeologists travel in time and space, back to 14th-century France and then of course must be rescued.

Maybe the premise of time travel for archeologists just seemed too silly. What seemed too silly in the book seems "twice as too silly" in the movie. Still, there are plenty of sword stabbings, explosions, volleys of arrows and gruesome moments of death to keep any fan of the middle ages interested. And those are just the lighter moments. There are also two full-blown romances, one in the present, one in the past. Should I give away how they turn out? Sure, why not? They both turn out great.

If you're repelled by movie violence, you can always grab the book version of Timeline [buy at amazon] . by Michael Crichton. The movie is doing rather well at the box office; the French win the battle, and that's always fun.

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