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FROM PRINT TO SCREEN

September 1, 2005

By Matt Savelloni

“FIRST YOU JUMP OFF THE CLIFF AND YOU BUILD WINGS ON THE WAY DOWN.” – Ray Bradbury

Finally, I get to write a column about a bona fide inspiration. Ray Bradbury is hardly a contemporary; he was crafting award-winning shorts, novels and plays twenty years before I was a glean in Daddy’s eye. But thanks to said Daddy and way-cool older brothers, I found Bradbury sifted around the old homestead in my early years. At first, I just stared at the bizarre cover for THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, thinking it would scare the bejesus out of me, followed by actually cracking the pages of THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and discovering Bradbury’s overwhelming minimalism. Over the years, I’ve tackled a lot of Bradbury but his short story A SOUND OF THUNDER escaped me until just recently. But that’s what’s great about Bradbury: he’s timeless in every sense; ready to talk when you’re ready to listen.

Much has been made of chaos theory thanks in large part to Michael Crichton and JURASSIC PARK. The novel covered the conjecture in depth while the movie offered its own Cliff’s Notes version. However you first encountered the idea of chaos, of how the slightest molecular meddling can produce earth-rattling changes, it’s important to note that Bradbury wrote about it some fifty years prior to anybody getting the idea of amber-preserved dino-DNA. That’s right, almost a half century prior to Crichton’s landmark novel, Bradbury fashioned a short on modern man squaring off with the most notable predator to ever walk the earth: Tyrannosaurus Rex.

“IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU'RE DOING, THEN DON'T DO IT.” – Ray Bradbury

Bradbury brought about the encounter through a different method: shuttling man to beast rather than reanimating the ancient killer in modern times. In A SOUND OF THUNDER, the central conceit is one of time travel and a company, Time Safari, Inc., selling the use of a machine that can send customers on prehistoric expeditions. There are very strict rules of course because the slightest change can produce cataclysmic fallout through the ages. As Bradbury puts it, “With a stamp of your foot, you annihilate first one, then a dozen, then a thousand, a million, a billion possible mice!” He then goes on to extrapolate the effects of those billion mice leading to the starvation of certain species, the loss of which affects any number of events thus irrevocably changing the course of history. Like all time travel stories, the very theory is flawed, rife with potential paradoxes. But Bradbury nimbly—if not negligibly—discounts such problems by proclaiming that “When such occasions threaten, Time steps aside.” In other words, there is some physical, perhaps metaphysical, perhaps even supernatural, oversight that excludes the possibility of time paradoxes. It’s a cheat but one that works within the story because while contradictions might be preventable, the irreversible damage caused via even a nominal intrusion is very feasible.

It’s amazing to consider the level of prescience Bradbury and writers of his generation such as Clarke, Asimov and Heinlein possessed. A SOUND OF THUNDER is a terse ten-page short story and yet we see multiple similarities to later writers such as Dick, Herbert and Crichton. However, Bradbury steps outside of such esteemed company by infusing his works with ethical questions rather than scientific whiz-bang. He’s a moralist, too often categorized as a science-fiction writer. You can find an influential Bradbury work in every genre: horror, mystery, drama, romance, thriller, literature as well as sci-fi. Anybody who has read DANDELION WINE knows of what I speak: Ray Bradbury is a magician in all literary walks of life.

A SOUND OF THUNDER, for all its awe and hard-hitting action, ends as a cautionary tale and considering its publishing date—1953; THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN collection—the title turns double entendre, indicating a brutal punishment for the harbinger of deadly change wrought upon the world. The thunder is our alarm, an omen that even at our best, our most advanced, we are our own worst enemies. Unforeseen consequences will almost always serve as our undoing. Ray Bradbury once said, “I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.” Somewhere on time’s horizon, a storm is gathering, a tempest maybe just for an individual or perhaps one that will test greater multitudes of mankind. A SOUND OF THUNDER will be our only warning to its inevitable arrival.

“THERE ARE WORSE CRIMES THAN BURNING BOOKS. ONE OF THEM IS NOT READING THEM.” – Ray Bradbury

Peter Hyams is a fascinating individual. He’s barely 60 but seems like he’s been around forever. That’s because he is something of a prodigy. His biography tells us he was, of all things, a news anchorman before turning to painting and music, drumming for jazz giants like Bill Evans. This is not a surprise for a director whose films are always brilliant to look at and listen to, with meticulous construction and soft coloring complimented by master editing techniques that allow our eyes and ears to drink it all in. Unfortunately, the same accolades cannot be bestowed upon his narrative flair. He has crafted some good but never great cinema, beginning with the way-ahead-of-its-time buddy cop movie BUSTING to CAPRICORN ONE, HANOVER STREET, OUTLAND, THE STAR CHAMBER, 2010, RUNNING SCARED, THE PRESIDIO and NARROW MARGIN. Hell, even his Van Damme pictures were decent: TIMECOP and SUDDEN DEATH. And his monster movie entry, THE RELIC, seemed to struggle against a schizophrenic script, succeeding once again in visuals and mood as the story careened like a runaway train. Recent efforts like END OF DAYS and THE MUSKETEER had their moments but mostly exhibited even less of the appeal of his early works. The fact that A SOUND OF THUNDER has been delayed for over two years and is now being dumped in early September does not suggest a Hyams renaissance. Still, I am hoping for the best because even at its worst, a Peter Hyams picture promises ravishing cinema, directorial constraint and bravura camera work without the nauseating tendency towards MTV editing and shaky-cam hysterics.

I am a big Catherine McCormack fan and wished she did more films. I also wish she did better films because she is one of those naturally beautiful actresses with intellect and restraint. And what can you say about Ben Kingsley besides “legend”? Unfortunately, there are three screenwriters listed on A SOUND OF THUNDER, which means more like ten probably worked on the project, a definite sign of wayward storytelling a la THE RELIC. I’m curious as to why Hyams has given up writing. In fact, two of his greatest achievements are as Stirling Silliphant’s partner on Don Siegel’s TELEFON and writing and directing the sequel to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a totally unlikely success. But Hyams hasn’t received a screenwriting credit since 1990’s A NARROW MARGIN. Nevertheless, if Hollywood ever elected a King Of Better Than Expected, the crown would go to Peter Hyams. Despite all of the dire premonitions on A SOUND OF THUNDER, I am holding out hope that King Hyams will do well by Ray Bradbury, America’s King of Fables.

“If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.” – Ray Bradbury

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