Timeline

Archaeology students, led by their professor, travel through a mysterious device to reach a distant excavation site. Their goal is to retrieve their missing mentor, but a miscalculation hurls the group back to 14th century France during a volatile period of war and factional strife. The travel is disorienting, and the modern scholars must improvise in a world without phones or modern conveniences. Language barriers, unfamiliar customs, and the threat of violence loom as they search for their professor while blending into a landscape of besieged towns, brutal weather, and political intrigue. As hunger, disease, and suspicion rise, the survivors rely on quick thinking, discipline, and trust to stay alive until a rescue can be organized.

Directed by Richard Donner, Timeline adapts Michael Crichton's novel with screenwriters Jeff Maguire and George Nolfi. The 2003 film marries a budget look with a brisk action driven plot anchored by Paul Walker and Frances O'Connor, supported by Gerard Butler.

The film attracted Crichton fans but left a modest cultural footprint. Its blend of archaeology insight and medieval conflict, brought to life with contemporary effects, slipped into the era's catalog of time travel adaptations without spawning sequels or a lasting fanbase. Its release date placed it among Crichton era projects.

Critics described the setup as ambitious yet uneven in execution, praising the premise while noting pacing issues and performance gaps. The film wrestles with the tension between scientific curiosity and historical consequences, the fragility of trust under pressure, the moral cost of interfering with the past, and the strain of leadership when time is running out.