Film Review: The Time Traveller's Wife

Friday 21st August 2009

I'd been thinking of going to see this film as soon as I saw it advertised. I just saw the title, along with Rachel McAdams, and thought – I need to see this film. I'm a bit of a 'time travel film' fan so I jump at these types of films even if I'm told it could be a letdown...

I started my day going to the gym with my niece, who when I told her I wanted to see this film, told me the usual, that a friend of a friend said that it wasn't as good as they thought it'd be. This didn't deter me though as I wanted to give it the chance that I'd given previous time travel-esque films. So when I got home and checked the show times, I realised that I only had about thirty minutes to spare before it started so I hurried along to my local cinema to catch it.

My interest started back with stuff like Flight of the Navigator through to Back to the Future and then more recently The Butterfly Effect and, on TV, with Journeyman (which I'm still bitter they cancelled!!). I love the idea of these films and the 'trouble' it causes by accidently changing things in the past. I also still think that it's really cool - even after 20 years - the thought and magic of being able to travel through time. More recently with Journeyman, I became interested in the stress and strain that time travel has on marriages and relationships. This is one of the main themes of The Time Traveller's Wife.

The Time Traveller's Wife sees Henry, a 30-something guy, who inexplicably time travels without warning. This has been happening to him the majority of his life. The main focus is, obviously, with his wife, Clare who has to deal with the disappearance of her husband at random times. It also touches on other relationships that are strained through his 'condition' as he refers to it. It also show the great love and heartache that this situation causes the characters.

When I went to see this film, I only had one worry – Eric Bana – maybe I hadn't given him the amount of attention he deserves, but for me The Incredible Hulk did him no favours and I haven't bothered with him since! But I'm willing to give him some credit now as he does put in a good and believable performance – something I still think is hard to come by when trying to emit emotions to going through time! Because of the length of time he has been travelling, he seems to be at ease with it and it doesn't cause him too much stress. Added to this, Rachel McAdams seems used to it too – patience of a saint to be honest with you. As the cracks appear in their relationship, it's really different and refreshing to see the pain it causes them, as this is rarely shown in other films I've seen. My experiences of Rachel McAdams really only come from Wedding Crashers and Red Eye, but when you get past her beauty (and huge smile) this is a great performance – really portraying the naivety to the situation well.

As I've touched on before – this film really does have the feel of a combination of The Butterfly Effect and of Journeyman. For me most notably Journeyman (which was cut off in its prime!). So if you want to reignite the spark that was put out there then this is a must see, whether you catch it on the big screen or have to wait until the DVD comes out.

Jimmo's rating: 4 (out of 5)