THE TIME MACHINE (PG)

Simon Wells, the great-grandson of HG Wells, and Gore Verbinski co-directed this latest incarnation of the 19th-century literary masterpiece.

Guy Pearce leads the cast as scientist Alexander Hartdegen, who is so convinced he can prove the theory of time travel that he builds his own time machine.

Thrown forward some 800,000 years, Hartdegen sees the dawning of a brutal new age in which human survivors have been split into two sub-species - the peace-loving Eloi and the vicious, cannibalistic Morlocks.

The scientist also runs into beautiful slave Mara (Samantha Mumba), and resolves to free her from the Morlocks and their despicable leader Uber-Morlock (Jeremy Irons), while returning to the present.

I suspect Simon Wells would quite like a time machine of his own, so he could travel back in time to remedy the film's numerous faults, beginning with the casting.

Pearce is a talented and versatile actor, as demonstrated in his previous features LA Confidential and Memento.

But here he forgets to give any sort of performance, affecting a permanent look of surprise as his scientist encounters the brave new world of the Eloi and Morlocks.

A cardboard cut-out of Pearce would have been considerably cheaper and equally convincing.

By stark contrast, Irons gives a hammy performance as the film's pantomime villain and overacts whenever the camera happens to stray in his direction.

Mumba is better than expected - although she shouldn't give up her singing day job - but Mark Addy is completely squandered as Hartdegen's loyal sidekick, Dr Philby.

Screenwriter John Logan has little time or patience for scientific explanation and launches Hartdegen, and the viewer, on a series of perilous adventures almost immediately.

At least special effects are impressive throughout, especially the two time travel sequences in which cities rise and fall at high speed as Hartdegen flies through hundreds of centuries of human 'development'.