There are many genres in cinema, some great, some not so great. They range from Westerns all the way up to Comedy and I think Denim, but A Sound of Thunder is none of those. It falls somewhere in the range of completely terrible and utterly garbage. Ray Bradbury's story is hung drawn and quartered on screen and it brings tears to my otherwise dry science fiction loving eyes. What makes the film so bitter to digest is the strength of the short story the film was based on. Filled with a fantastic set of ideas straight from the creative sardine tin that is Ray Bradbury's mind, it should have been a brilliant, intelligent piece of cinema. But what we have is a poorly produced excuse for a film which I am positive Ray would be spinning in his grave over...That's if indeed he had one.

The short story A Sound of Thunder was fascinatingly whimsical. The film...Nowhere close. Focusing purely on the short story, the 'plot' follows a prehistoric safari. And if the words prehistoric safari hasn't got you intrigued then I don't know what will. Regardless, in the year 2055 a hunter named Eckels (first name sadly not Christopher) embarks on what he believes will be an enthralling experience. Without giving too much away, the trip is eventful as Eckels believes, but not at all for the 'right' reasons. The film takes this basic synopsis and does what Hollywood does best to many a bold story...What's the word I am looking for here? Ruin? Disgrace? Soil? All three are perfectly acceptable words to use in this situation.

I love a good analogy; even if they are religious, and as I result I racked my brain or is it wracked my brain for a lovely analogy for this movie. And the end result of that is nothing. So to pass that creative blimp off as a simple idea stutter and to mask it in a cloak of secrecy, the line - This film does not deserve one, will come to my rescue...This film does not deserve an analogy and to be honest it really doesn't..

But why is A Sound of Thunder so bad? Well for one thing the acting, along with the special effects are atrocious. This is bordering on cliché now, but the effects look as though they have been both drafted and drawn in Paint or the equivalent to the drawing application Mac users have. Now don't get me wrong, you can make some lovely things in Paint. Some beautiful, quirky and dare I say it cutesy little pieces of art can be produced in Paint but this film is just drab and lifeless. One scene the immediately springs to mind involves two of the 'actors' in this film walking down the street in 2055. Now anyone with an imagination could picture a vision of the future. There may be a flying car here, a few bits of silver here and a re-imagining of a mullet everyone now sports. There is certainly something of interest to catch your eye. With A Sound of Thunder you wish to remove those very eyes.

This movie is reportedly to have cost 80 million dollars which is substantially more than the glorious visual piece that is Blade Runner. What irks me even more is that Blade Runner was made in 1982. A Sound of Thunder was made in 2005. In the 23 years between the two films, technology has advanced. Filming techniques have progressed to such a level that things deemed impossible before are now almost effortlessly achievable. Films now-a-days should not look this bad, or cheap with such a budget. Student films that have little to no budget look absolutely fantastic in comparison to this. The acting however between the two may be on par. A cat during its experimentation phase in feline recreational enjoyment has more spark and panache than a number of individuals in this film.

Do yourself a massive favour and use these two sites available to you - find-dvd.co.uk and find-book.co.uk to help you get the best alternative. Films like Blade Runner and Brazil are cheaper than the junk that is A Sound of Thunder. And to fully get the brilliance of the short story without having to subject yourself to over an hour and a half of what can only be described as torture, use the book site to help track down Ray Bradbury's short story. And you will then be able to pretend to yourself that the film did not exist, a privilege that has since evaded me...

In summary, A Sound of Thunder truly is awful. So why even give it a star I hear you ask. Well the answer to that is quite simple really - Gandhi.