Timecop
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Movie Reviews of Timecop
Movie Review: Time enough for love
Summary: 4 Stars
Once again I find myself swimming against the tide of critical opinion. Can I help it if I like action films? Should I be ashamed? These are rhetorical questions so don't trouble your frontal lobe. I'm sick of hearing films being trashed simply because they happen to star an actor more known for muscle mass than theatrical prowess. If the later was the only measure of quality, Laurence Olivier's movies would have all been financial blockbusters.And who could better epitomize action heroes than the man dubbed "The Muscles from Brussels"? Yes, I'm referring to Jean-Claude Van Damme. He manages to get the lion's share of the screen in "Timecop". In some cases we're doubly Dammed when he goes back in time and meets himself. After all, this is a science fiction film. Time travel is the central plot device and it is used very well throughout the story.
I suppose the SCI-FI die-hards among us will cringe at yet another use of that hoary old question, "What would happen if you went back in time and killed your grandfather?" Luckily the screenwriters were a little more grounded in reality. Why trouble our grandparents when we could make a quick buck. Isn't that the first thing most folks would turn their time traveling adventure into; a chance to score some serious coin?
Which is were the main villain comes in. Senator Aaron McComb wants to be the president but his less than charming personality would, under normal circumstances, preclude any chance of election. But all he really needs is enormous piles of cash in order to buy sufficient air-time to sway the mindless masses. Luckily, he is on the oversight committee that monitors the Temporal Enforcement Agency, or Timecops as they are known to themselves.
The evil Senator's plans for world domination seem to be going very smoothly until headstrong Max Walker, (Van Damme), brings one of the politician's henchmen to justice. From that point on, good and evil fight a running skirmish through time. The trick is to change the past in such a way as to prevent a counter-strike by the other side. And it is this convoluted logic which makes the film so engrossing.
The effects and set designs are very good but with enough scientific flubs to keep the purist grinding his teeth. Personally, I had a ball. This movie doesn't have the tension of a Terminator flick, or the depth of a Kubrik brain fest. What is does have is action, high kicking action that only pauses long enough to squeeze in a little lost love pathos. So if you like your SCI-FI hard and fast, give Jean-Claude another chance and watch Timecop.
Movie Review: Buyers Beware! Not Widescreen!
Summary: 4 Stars
Like "Tombstone" this film is not improved over the now-extinct laserdisc format, Laserdisc never got media attention like DVD has gotten, but why films like this are not improved on DVD is a mystery to me, to start with "Timecop" is not in widescreen on DVD as it was on Laserdisc (Go figure?)now on to the movie, This has got to be one of Van Damme's best movies, it has a very different & neat concept,time-travel is a reality that is discovered by government officials in the year 1994, to protect time, they create a time-enforcement commission to arrest & capture anyone tampering with time, like most time-travel movies you have to carefully follow what is going on, Van Damme is a potential recruitement member for this commission in 1994, but before he can begin his new job, he is attacked & his wife is viciously murdered, the film then takes the viewer to 2004 where he is now a time-cop carrying out missions to bring those tampering with time back for trial, he discoveres along the way that a presidential candidate(Senator McComb, played convincinly by Ron Silver)may be sending people back to extort money for his campaign, the more Van Damme digs the more he begins to realize that the Senator is also minipulating the government to close down the time-enforcement commission,Van Damme is soon sent on an assignment to the year 1994,the day before his wife's death, & discovers a younger McComb being munipulated by his 2004-self, he tells him that his computer-chip company will be worth millions in 10 years, somthing his younger self wants out of, all hell breaks loose as Van Damme messes up his plan, & then returns to 2004 to discover that the commission is being shut down, Van Damme luckily goes back to 1994 to make things right, this is where the emotion of the movie comes into play, he soon discovers that his wife was pregnant & never got a chance to tell him, he then begins to flirt with the idea of changing her fate, it is a moral question that ask the viewer, if you could change somthing, would you??, as he watches his 1994 self with his wife, we see the emotion in his eyes & automtically know he is going to change the events that took place,the ending is a bit out there,which is where this movie loses its appeal, although Van Damme sets things right(won't spoil it for those who have not seen it), everything he has done, he could not have done in all reality, but it is an entertaining concept, I guess the real disappointment is that we did not get to visit other time periods which would have been cool & probably costly.Movie Review: second chances at life . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
Peter Hyams futuristic adventure Timecop (1994), is all about time travel and the bending reality. Based on a comic book, the film combines that interesting premise, with special effects, and decent action sequences, producing an entertaining storyline that holds together pretty well, if you are not overly critical.
In a career that has had its ups and downs, this is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's highlights, starring as Max Walker an agent of the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC). Jean-Claude is in top form physically, and there's plenty of action, and in close fighting featuring his trademark fancy footwork. Ron Silver is Senator Aaron McComb, who is using time travel to raise funds for his presidential bid. While that premise is a bit lame, the time travel aspect allows for some interesting and unexpected twists, turns, and returns. Silver makes a pretty good villain, and Bruce McGill injects humor as Matuzak, the harried head of TEC.
Walker's life is destroyed, when his wife Melissa, played by Mia Sara, is killed in an explosion. Fortunately through the vehicle of time travel, Sara returns for more screen time, and some physically challenging action scenes. Gloria Ruben (ER) plays Walker's new partner, who makes a bad decision, but again because of time travel, also gets a second chance at life. The presence of both ladies, adds much to the enjoyment of the film.
Big things don't make sense, like travelling back to the past in a winged vehicle, arriving there without it, and then somehow returning in the same vehicle. The plot is cartoonish, but still fun. The special effects while somewhat dated, still hold up rather well, and with your brain in neutral, Timecop can be a cool fantasy adventure. Van Damme's acting is often maligned, but his performance here is quite good. What is disappointing is that this release is fullscreen, with no substantial extras besides a trailer. Hopefully a proper widescreen release will come soon.
Movie Review: Van Damme's Best performance
Summary: 4 Stars
If you were a Van Damme buff like me when you were younger, then you swear by and worship films such as Bloodsport, Kickboxer, and Lionheart. Timeless late 80's early 90's films that were immensely popular at the time and quite enjoyable as action movies during that era. However, Van Damme's reputation quickly faded because he was type-cast as the brute karate guy who was hell-bent on just kicking you in the face at an 120 degree angle.
Timecop is Van Damme's glory film in his acting career. A wonderful and entirely believable futuristic story of time travel that with a little better directing and production could have been a darn good action flick. Van Damme plays a futuristic cop who witnesses his wife's murder and is determined to do something about it. Coincidentally, he's the top time travel cop for the time travel program that the government currently has implemented for national security reasons. Of course he's going to use that to his advantage. What ensues is a mixture of other time travel movies all brought into one but with that Van Damme flair. While the overlying message is that the past is a terrible thing to alter, Van Damme's life has never been the same since the loss of his wife. The only way to survive his mundane existence and to save the country in the process is to go back in time, alter it, and kill a few bad guys in the process. Van Damme is not over the top here, however. He plays a darker character who displays believable emotion as a result of his surroundings. If you're a fan of time travel movies ala Back to the Future, The Butterfly Effect, The Time Machine, then Timecop should be right up your alley.
Time travel will always be an interesting topic of conversation or subject of a major motion picture.
Movie Review: Better than average Van Dmme movie
Summary: 4 Stars
"Clever and original, Timecop is a thinking man's movie' is how People Magazine described this movie. That is pretty insulting really when you think a long time, say 5 seconds, about it.As an action movie, Van damme has the moves here. The film moves along at a reasonable pace and the story is plausible if you do not think about it too much. Tragically there is the repetitive theme common to most of the star's movies of the family man who cares. This tends to be the major flaw in his work.
One of the things that really gets me irritated is the tendency to postulate futures where the differences betwenn the near future and now are presented in such a stark fashion that they are incredible to contemplate. here particularly I refer to the vehicles and to some of the coostumes. Look back over the last fifty years and you will see gradual change but essentially the basic styles have remained the same. I understand that for dramatic effect these are useful devices but then they are undermined by the sloppy tendency to use music from olde eras which clearly has not changed.
The holes in the plot are there for all to see although they are disguised by the clever circularity which the film makers use. The action sequences are impressive although they look very dated today, certainly in comparison with Jet Li for instance. Then there is the scene for the ladies where Jean-Claude does the splits. Alas his star has faded in recent years as his current movies tend not to have this feature.
Worthwhile watching on rainy days where there is nothing on the tv. Alas there are too few of the former and too many of the latter.