Alexander Hartdegen, a one of a kind physicist and inventor witnesses the murder of his fiancee and works for four long years on a time machine, so that he could travel back into the past and prevent her death. But every time he tries, his fiancee dies in a different way. So he decides to travel into the future to find out from a more advanced civilization what mistake he is making. He will witness the near-destruction of mankind and 800,000 years into the future he will find himself in a conflict between the Eloi and the Morlocks, two human races fighting each other for survival.
The time machine is a modern adaptation of H.G. Wells's novel and a remake of the 1960 version. It offers cutting edge SFX and the acting is highly convincing. Jeremy Irons, who plays the chief Morlock is particularly well cast.
Apart from that it does not offer anything new that would set itself apart from the original. The movie tries to stay true to the 1960 version, although influenced by modern story-telling. It tries to compensate its lack of originality by highly enjoyable SFX but lacks that certain blockbuster-feeling.
If you like Science-Fiction and dystopian stories you will not waste your time watching it. However, if you have seen the original beforehand, you will know what to expect.
