Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Timeline Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 14, 2024

Paramount has released the 2003 Sci-Fi/Adventure time travel film 'Timeline,' directed by Richard Donner and starring Paul Walker and Gerard Butler, to Blu-ray. The disc is featureless and includes troubled video and passable lossless audio. No extras are included. The film was also released to Blu-ray in 2021 by Australian label Imprint. A review of that disc can be found here.

Official synopsis: While working at the site of an archaeological dig, Professor Johnston (Billy Connolly) stumbles into a wormhole and plunges back in time to 14th-century France. Mad scientist Robert Doniger (David Thewlis), who accidentally created the wormhole while developing a teleportation device, sends the professor's son, Chris (Paul Walker), and protégé Kate (Frances O'Connor) back in time to retrieve him. Unfortunately, their rescue mission is sidetracked by a bloody battle between France and England.

Timeline isn't really bursting at the seams with the same sort of heart, creativity, spirit, unforgettable characters, and other characteristics that have made other time travel fare, like Back to the Future, so historically significant, culturally infused, and infinitely rewatchable. This is a more serious film with darker themes and very real life-or-death stakes. It's also more focused, yet still perhaps not quite as much genuine fun, as other "serious" time travel fare like Timecop, but where Richard Donner's film mostly succeeds is in its focus on one place and point in history rather than a sort of sprawling adventure like Timecop. The participants do not choose where they go; the time travel is to a point and only to that point, but it is a point far enough away in place, time, culture, and other particulars and peculiarities that makes it very much a march towards death for the travelers. There was some of that in Back to the Future, but with the different tone and Marty's ability to more or less fit in to the 1950s, a few idiosyncrasies aside, it was much less a shock to the system. Here, the travel takes the characters centuries into the past, onto another continent, and into the middle of a war, so the stakes are much higher.

Timeline features a couple of high-profile leading men in Paul Walker and Gerard Butler. The former doesn't quite shine as brightly as he did in previous work, like The Fast & The Furious, while Butler, more on the verge of stardom at this point of his career, still appears to be finding his way through the process. Part of the problem here is not a question of talent but rather a script that's not quite as tight as it should be, yet even with a few issues the film is in isolation quite a bit of fun and ultimately an agreeable, if not more or less forgettable, entry into the time travel genre.

For another review of the film, please click here for Dr. Atanasov's thoughts. Note that the film rating above reflects my personal score rather than his.

Timeline Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount present Timeline on Blu-ray and fans will wish that they had a time machine to use to urge Paramount to give this Blu-ray a better presentation than what is on offer here. First, the good: unlike the Australian Imprint Blu-ray, Paramount presents the film in its proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which is a significant gain for the film and the most obvious reason to choose this release over the region free Australian issue. However, it looks rather poor otherwise. While I do not have access to the Imprint release, by reading through Dr Atanasov's text and perusing the screenshots I surmise that this looks to be very similar beyond the aspect ratio correction.

Grain management is problematic. It's obviously the victim of digital processing, leaving the image with an artificially sharp appearance rather than the naturally filmic state. While the 1080p resolution muscles up enough to offer stable of decent looking textures, the overall appearance lacks vitality and authenticity, leaving viewers dreaming of a more majestic image true to the film source. Color reproduction fares only slightly better. While there is enough vividness to natural greens, English army reds, and French army blues, the tones lack nuance, presenting with boldness but not much elegance. Black levels are wayward, either pushing to crush or pushing to overly light. Meanwhile, whites are bland and skin tones never dialed in to perfection. The print does show a few pops and splotches, but such are largely unobtrusive. There are no major encode flaws to note. This one looks OK, but there is significant room for improvement.

Timeline Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Parmount ships Timeline to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This is more than likely the same track found on the Imprint release, but again I cannot confirm. As it stands on this Paramount release, the track is generally in good shape. It does lack nuance and precision, but it is certainly not absent any sense of heartiness. The track is very responsive in sounds of war, with clanking swords and armor, whooshing arrows, rumbling catapult launches, and more creating a big space with high intensity movement and solid power behind them. Musical engagement is fun, with wide front usage, quality surround balance, and solid enough clarity. World ambience is pleasing, too, especially in the woodland areas of France and the general bustle around 1357 Castlegard. Dialogue is clear, centered, and well prioritized for the duration.

Timeline Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Timeline contains no supplemental content. By contrast, the Imprint release, linked above, included a handful of featurettes. The main menu features a static image with no music and only options for "Play," "Settings," and "Scenes." No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Timeline Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Timeline is not a great film, but it is a fun film. At now more than two decades of age, it shows some warts that are a product of time, but fans of "time askew" films will find this a suitably entertaining, if note more or less forgettable, venture. This Blu-ray is not great; the film deserves better. First, the video presentation: it needs to be better. Second, the audio: it's more than adequate, even if still imperfect. Third, the extras: there are none. As for this issue versus the Imprint issue, there are pros and cons to both Paramount's US release and Australia's Imprint release. The US release is framed at the proper theatrical exhibition 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but the Imprint release includes well over an hour of featurettes. Sadly, neither really hit the mark. Fans should pick this up at about $5, which seems fair for the effort put into the release.