Was The Leader Of The Morlocks In The Time Machine Evil?

I was just watching the 2002 version of The Time Machine on YouTube. I think the movie from 1960 was even better, but the remake is visually stunning. I think it's a bit rushed, but it's a pretty good movie nonetheless. This article will contain spoilers. If you haven't seen The Time Machine from 2002, go to YouTube and check it out. It is currently free. It was directed by the great grandson of HG Wells (Simon Wells), who authored the book that this movie is based on. 

In the story, our lead character Dr Alexander Hartdegen, played by Guy Pearce, travels 800,000 years into the future to get the answer to his question. Why can't he save his true love's life? I've always found time travel stories to be fascinating. Part of it is the way it's being used in the story being told, but there's that longing to know what would happen if I could change something I did in my past. I think that's relatable for many people.

Dr Hartdegen travels into the future and meets a race of people called the Eloi. They are reimagined from the 1960 version of the movie and given more of a Native American look. I think it was a good creative choice. They are young and innocent. The doctor quickly learns that amidst the beauty of the scenery and the stunning architecture of the cliff-side village in which they live is a horrible truth. They exist to be the prey of the predator class of creatures that live underground known as the Morlocks.

The doctor is found unconscious and is taken back to the village. He wakes up in a bed and meets Mara, played by Samantha Mumba, and her younger brother. When the Morlocks emerge above ground and hunt the Eloi, Mira is captured. The doctor learns that the people who are taken are never seen again. Most of the Eloi accept their fate, so nobody is organizing a party to go rescue anybody. The doctor gets Mira's younger brother to tell him where the Morlocks are so that he can save Mara.

The story in the newer version of the movie seems a bit rushed, but the visuals help make up for that. The doctor makes his way underground and ends up being captured by the Morlocks. As luck would have it, he is thrown in with the Morlock leader, played by Jeremy Irons. I find this to be a very interesting scene, and the question posed in the title of this article is based on the 2002 movie. I ask if the Morlock leader was a bad guy? Was he evil?

I would submit to you that he wasn't evil. He was somebody bread to be in the position he was in. The Morlock leader speaks of the order of things. Civilization, such as it was in the future, had to adapt to the disaster caused by men's foolishness in mining the moon. When the moon exploded, life on earth as we knew it ended. The underground creatures evolved into predators, and they functioned almost like a hive. The people who could survive on land became docile. They co-existed with nature, but they had no big ambition to evolve. They were easily made the prey of the Morlocks. By taking the older Eloi and leaving the young behind, they kept them ignorant and docile. The Eloi never fought back against them.

The Morlock leader explains to the doctor that his people became the hunters, but they needed order. Every colony of Morlocks evolved in a similar way. They all have a leader similar to him. He's the one who keeps the order in his colony. He has evolved to have a sort of psychic ability that can manipulate people's thoughts. This is why the Morlocks haunt the dreams of the Eloi at night. This is why the Morlocks don't just go above ground and wipe out the whole village of Eloi and feast. The Morlock leader's function is to keep the order so that his people can continue to live.

He explains to the doctor that he is a victim of his circumstances. He can no more change his situation than the doctor can change his. He's basically telling the doctor that he can't save his true love because that's just the way it is. At that point, the Morlock leader tells the doctor that he has given him his answer and he may go back to his time. He reveals that he has his time machine. This is a gesture that should prove that the Morlock leader was not evil. He was just keeping the order and had no issue with the visitor. He knew that was a time machine that could have even helped make him more powerful, but he had no interest in stealing it and killing the doctor.

The doctor, of course, has to make a snap decision. He did get his answer. It may not have been what he wanted to hear, but it was an answer. It was probably the only answer he was going to get. He looks over at the cage where Mara is being kept. The Morlock leader explains that she is going to be breeding stock for the Morlock race. The doctor has to make the decision. Is he okay with leaving the Eloi and Mara in the situation they are in, or does he want to do something to help them all? Of course, we know the answer to that question.

What's interesting is that this interpretation of the HG Wells classic could have been turned into a franchise. The holographic character from the library, played by Orlando Jones, somehow miraculously lasted underground for 800,000 years. What I find interesting is when the doctor first encountered the hologram in 2037 and mentioned time travel, the hologram suggested the HG Wells book The Time Machine. In the movie universe, you could even surmise that at some point, the doctor did go back in time and tell his story. However, there's another thing to consider.

The Morlock leader suggested that there were other colonies on the planet that existed in a similar way. The other Morlock colonies under ground were similar, as were the Eloi villages above ground. This Morlock colony had been destroyed, but others still existed. It's pretty much suggested that the Morlock leader has mental and telepathic abilities, so one could surmise that the Morlock leaders were in communication with each other as needed. Maybe it was constant communication, and maybe it only happened from time to time.

The doctor went about educating the Eloi children. This is where the hologram came in as he had a wealth of knowledge. The doctor himself was going to teach the older people of the village and presumably come up with other inventions that would help them. He might even develop a new time machine, but that is speculation. However, in this time machine universe, one could surmise that at some point there would be a return of the Morlocks to attack the Eloi of this village. This time, they would be better prepared. The doctor himself might even realize that there were other Eloi in need of leadership, and that opens things up for more stories to be told.

I don't believe HG Wells meant to continue telling this story. However, the ending in this movie leaves things open for a new story or two. Unfortunately, the movie made about $123 million on an $80 million budget, meaning there wasn't enough profit to entice them continue telling this story. I don't think they were ever considering any sequels, and maybe that's just as well. 

After watching the remake again today, I started thinking about the question of whether the Morlock leader was truly evil, and I just don't think he was. Allowing the doctor to return to his time was not an evil act. Unfortunately, the Morlock leader didn't realize that allowing the doctor to leave with the time machine would lead to the destruction of his colony. That would lead to the question, why didn't he see that coming? I'll leave that one for another time.

I Enjoyed The Coming To America Sequel For What It Was

When I heard that Eddie Murphy was doing a sequel to Coming To America called Coming 2 America, I was thrilled. I loved most of Eddie's movies from the 1980s. I'm not sure what I would consider my favorite, but Coming To America ranks high among them. Having finally seen the sequel, I can honestly say it didn't disappoint me. I am at a little bit of a loss as to why it's receiving so much hate from people on the internet.

When you talk sequels to comedies, let's be honest about it. People enjoy the rhythm and the humor of a particular movie, and it's sequel doesn't usually change it up too much in many cases. If we go back to the 1980s, I would point out a movie like Fletch and the sequel Fletch Lives. Both movies did well at the box office. All they did with Fletch Lives is take Chevy Chase's character from one location and put him in another location. Beyond that, it's Chevy doing what he does best. There's also the Police Academy movies. I think they all did pretty decent at the box office and the fans enjoyed them, but if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

People debate whether a movie should have a sequel decades after the last installment. It's been over 30 years since the first Coming To America. This puts people in a different frame of mind, or I think that might be what Eddie was thinking when he decided to go back to the franchise. The reason he was inspired to do that was he noted that of all of the movies he has done, this is the one that rose to a sort of cult status. For instance, there is the case of the burger restaurant in Southern California that is decorated like McDowell's for Halloween.

One thing I will say about this sequel is it didn't really take the idea in a dramatic new direction. It followed the established formula. It introduced a few new characters with most of the the old favorites and didn't stray too far from the spirit of what the first movie was about. I feel like the message it conveyed was ultimately the same. 

One of the things that made the original movie iconic was the fact that Eddie and Arsenio Hall created some entertaining characters. In fact, I think it's safe to say that they felt obligated to return to those characters. It's almost like if they didn't do that, what's the point?

This meant that we got to see the characters from the barber shop, Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate and Reverend Brown, among others. In fact, this movie even gave a nod to one of Eddie's other popular 1980s movies, Trading Places. We saw the great grandson and great grand nephew of the Duke brothers, and he actually fit in well with what they used him for in this movie. Some people are saying at times this movie acted like a "greatest hits" revisited from the first movie, and I don't disagree with that. I think that was one of the points in making the movie. It plays on people's love of nostalgia.

My biggest concern was whether the movie would go down the woke path that other franchises have, most notably Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and The Terminator. Given the fact that Eddie's a Akeem character had three daughters and no son, the stage was set for it. However, I don't think that's what happened in this case. I could say more, but that would require me giving away the plot of the movie. They brought back several of the actors from the old movie, and the new actors did a good job in their respective rules.

I can't find too much to complain about here. I pretty much knew what I was getting into when I chose to watch this movie. In fact, I was counting on it. I don't know what people were expecting. I think there are those people that are going to complain about anything for the sake of complaining, and others may have had higher standards than they should have given the material being presented here. Coming 2 America is good for what it is, and I say you should enjoy it for what it is. It's a nostalgic trip down memory lane starring one of the funniest actors and comedians from the 1980s.

America Doesn't Need Trump As President Again

I'm not a Donald Trump hater. I'm not an empty headed Trump follower either. Trump Derangement Syndrome goes both ways as far as I'm concerned. I'm not one of those "orange man bad" people, but I believe that when it comes to politics, Trump needs to go away. He had his shot. I think it may be that what he says about the election is true, but he failed to make his case and has done more damage than good. People wanting him to run for the presidency again need to think about one thing.

Look at his many failures as the president of the United States. I don't think there's an insignificant number of people who watched the election go down and had legitimate questions about the authenticity of the results. I know people looked at the censorship growing on the internet and looked to the president to do something about that. These are two big examples. The excuse the Trump followers make for his failures is that he was surrounded by the swamp. That is to say, he had too many people going against him. 

To that I say, If he couldn't manage to break through all of that and form a coalition to get some very important things done throughout his presidency, what makes you think he'll get it done next time? People who believe in some important issues that aren't being fought for in Washington need somebody who really will fight for them, not somebody who will make it purely about themselves.

There's a report that says Trump is looking to start his own social media platform. He suddenly cares about free speech and thinks he can do something about that via a platform that he owns. In my opinion, if he does this, he's making it about himself. We've already seen two alternatives to Twitter that have been censored and have had serious attempts to shut them down. They've fought through that. These options are Parlor and Gab. If Trump really cared about free speech and not just his own ego, he'd join one or both sites and support two options that are already fighting for free speech.

I've been thinking quite a bit about Trump after what went down last November and what happened on January 6th. It has certainly been a circus. What we haven't seen from Trump is legitimate leadership. We've seen a polarizing figure who has failed to fight for the beliefs his supporters thought he stood for. I've watched Trump use the truth movement and those who don't officially buy the official narratives in a way that has damaged that whole movement. It is not a bad thing to question the things we are being told by the government and media, but in the face of Trump, people who ask questions are now being labeled as fringe and dangerous.

Having watched the last five years play out where Trump got the support of key alternative media voice Alex Jones, I've been a bit concerned. I've watched that alternative media voice lead people who were suspicious of both major political parties back to the Republicans via Trump. I watched Trump do things that have ultimately damaged that whole movement, and it makes me wonder. Was his goal to make it a bad thing to ask legitimate questions about narratives our government and the media pushes? If it wasn't, it sure looks like it was.

I'm not against having somebody stand up and fight against censorship, fight to restore our country's jobs, restore our pride in our country or other things that he has spoken of. I am all for it. I just believe that Trump had plenty of time to do something and ultimately failed. He never seemed to make a strong enough case to break through the TDS of the left and get some people on that side to agree with him on anything. 

Good leaders would succeed in some regard in that area, but he was an utter failure. The fact that Trump would rather start his own social media effort than support something that's already there proves it's not about the truth or freedom in his eyes. It's about Donald Trump. We need to move on from him not because orange man bad, but because he had his chance and failed. A Trump run in 2024 will only push sayings further to the left.