The Time Machine (2002)

The American film, The Time Machine (2002), is a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1895 novel and the 1960 film of the same name by David Duncan. Dr. Alexander Hartdegen, an inventor at Columbia University in New York, is driven to build a time machine after his fiancée Emma’s tragic death at the hands of a mugger. Despite his friend David’s interest in business, Alexander focuses on pure research. After successfully completing the machine in 1903, he travels back to 1899 to prevent her murder but is unable to change fate as she dies in another accident. Realizing this, he ventures into the future of 2030 to seek answers about altering the past through science. At the New York Public Library, holographic librarian Vox 114 denies the possibility of time travel to the past. Despite this, Alexander tests his luck and travels to 2037.

Once there, he witnesses the devastating effects of the Moon’s destruction on Earth’s habitability due to lunar colonists’ mistakes. While trying to restart the machine, debris knocks Alexander unconscious and propels him forward 800,000 years into a new date: 16 July 802,701. Upon waking up, he discovers that Earth has healed itself and humans have regressed to a primitive way of life. The remaining survivors, known as ‘Eloi’, reside on cliffs that were once Manhattan. Mara, one of the few Eloi who speaks English, nurses Alexander back to health. As he observes the shattered moon, he realizes that his teachings may have contributed to this disastrous future as Philby had warned him. One night, both Alexander and Mara’s younger brother Kalen dream about a frightening figure with jagged teeth calling their names.