'Thunder' sounds most like a bomb

In the mid-50s, science fiction writer Ray Bradbury penned an intriguing little story about theoretical time travel. It was called "A Sound of Thunder," and it asked: if human visitors from the future were to alter the ancient past, what repercussions might that have on their present? That sounds like an interesting idea for a story, doesn't it?\nI haven't read the story, but I've got five bucks that says it's a helluva lot better than the film released by the same name. Opening last week, "A Sound of Thunder" stars Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley's wig and some really bad CGI.\nThe movie is based around the above premise. A venture capitalist (Kingsley) somehow obtains the patents for a newly invented time machine and uses it to send people to a real life Jurassic Park where they finish off a half-dead allosaur. The same scene is played out repeatedly, with scout Travis Ryer (Burns) leading wealthy customers through the motions. \nAnyway, on one of these million dollar carnival rides, some jerk steps on a bug and causes plant and animal life to change substantially and violently back home. \nUnintentional hilarity ensues. \nGiant baboon/komodo dragon hybrids live in the park. There's a big ol' eel in the flooded subway. Ben Kingsley's soul patch starts getting more screen time. The future isn't certain if you change the past. This could be the end of human life as we know it, so it's up to Edward Burns to save the day. \nThere's your story. But the problem is in the execution: \n• The cast, collectively, is barely paying attention. I imagine it was a joyless set. And there can be no other reason why Kingsley got on board for this other than the paycheck.\n• It isn't very sharp. The movie puts its stock in its visual effects, and is doomed to rise and fall on their merits. One look at the ridiculous dinosaur in the opening scenes sets the tone. \n• Something that will further strike viewers is how unbelievable an unbelievable story can be. The fact that Ryer's crack time-traveling team of secondary characters barely raise an eyebrow at the massive environmental changes taking place has got to rub some people the wrong way. I mean, come on! Somebody raise an eyebrow. There are baboon/komodo dragons, for god's sake, and it's your fault.\nIn all fairness, however, there is an outside reason this movie sucked. Apparently, the production company behind it went bankrupt during the post-production of the film, and it was left to rot on a shelf for a few years. There just wasn't any money to polish it up. \nWell, they should have left it on the shelf.