For many people with the scientific background, concept of time travel seems more suitable to fantasy than to science fiction genre. It seems that Hollywood filmmakers share that opinion, because almost always the films dealing with time travel usually don't bother with such boring problems like time travellers killing their own parents before their own conception etc. Sometimes those films touch such problems, but the time travel is more often than not just a background for standard adventure or mindless action. TIMECOP, 1994 action film directed by Peter Hyams, falls within that second category.
Based on the Dark Horse comic books, screenplay by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden demands that the viewer suspends a lot of disbelief. In 1994, time travel is discovered and U.S. government sets up TEC - elite secret unit of superagents, whose only job is to prevent the people from abusing the technology and changing past for their own purposes. After his loving wife Melissa (Mia Sara) dies, Washington D.C. policeman Max Walker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) would join that force. Ten years later, Max Walker discovers that powerful and greedy Senator McComb (Ron Silver) already sends his henchmen into the past to steal money in order to bring funds for his presidential campaign. Walker goes back to 1994 in order not only to prevent the conspiracy, but also to save his own wife.
Apart from big plot holes involving time paradox, scientific gaffs (carbon dating of gold) or huge implausibilities, TIMECOP is a rather entertaining film. Peter Hyams, who directed it, can make his way through SF material (starting with his 1980 space opera OUTLAND), knows the limitation of material and does standard action routines, indulging himself with few experiments with photography. Jean-Claude Van Damme as protagonist is quite tolerable, although his acting talent is always comes second to his martial arts abilities. The real winner in that contest is Ron Silver as corrupt senator, in role very similar to the one he had played in LIVE WIRE. This time it is real fun watching him, especially in the scene when he meets younger version of himself. However, although TIMECOP has required amount action scenes, few rather impressive shots, couple of well-choreographed fights and relatively good looks, it is still mediocre piece of Hollywood cinema. Those who aren't easily insulted with cliches and disregard for scientific facts might still enjoy it, though.
By : Dragan Antulov
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 3
A muscular action hero with a thick accent stars in a science fiction film about traveling into the past to change the future. No, I'm not talking about THE TERMINATOR, although I suspect the similarity is more than coincidental. Jean-Claude Van Damme has labored through several virtually indistinguishable testosterone fests without discovering his breakout hit, so TIMECOP must have seemed like the perfect opportunity. And it will probably do what it was intended to do, expanding Van Damme's audience the way THE TERMINATOR expanded Arnold Schwarzenegger's. It's an energetic film that doesn't skimp on the action, but it suffers from an over-convoluted storyline that pushes the logic meter *way* into the red zone.
Van Damme plays Max Walker, a Washington D.C. cop who is assigned to a unique detail--the Time Enforcement Commission, instituted to prevent abuses of the newly realized technology of time travel. In 2004, Walker learns that a series of time travel "thefts" is connected to the presidential campaign of Aaron McComb (Ron Silver), the U.S. senator whose committee oversees the T.E.C. As Walker follows McComb through time, he finds himself presented with a time-altering temptation of his own--preventing the death of his wife Melissa (Mia Sara) in 1994.
Volumes could be written about the slapdash and ultimately self-contradictory treatment screenwriter Mark Verheiden (who also co-created the comic book on which the film is based) gives to time travel; sometimes it simply seems that he's making things up as he goes along. However, those are not the issues which hamper TIMECOP most. There is more fundamental foolishness, like what exactly the T.E.C. has been doing for ten years when it soon becomes clear that there is only one other time machine in existence besides that which they use themselves. Either there has been an inordinate number of rogue Timecops, or there was a spectacular level of stupidity involved in not destroying the other machine. Of course, this is a government agency we are dealing with. One also wonders why assassins from the future can't be slightly less obtrusive than extras from THE ROAD WARRIOR.
TIMECOP also stumbles with the inclusion of a female partner for Walker, an internal affairs officer named Fielding (Gloria Reuben). She is treated almost as an afterthought, an obligatory woman to occupy the space between Mia Sara's scenes. While Reuben is good working with sketchy material, the character appears too late and disappears too soon to leave any kind of impact on the story. Everything about the Fielding character feels contrived, sloppy and, worst of all, completely unnecessary.
The good news is that TIMECOP tends to work when everyone shuts up and starts fighting. Director Peter Hyams went a little nuts in the editing room, making some of Van Damme's fight scenes look like they were lit with a strobe, but they are mostly creative and well- choreographed; only the final showdown drags on a bit. The special effects are sharp, and the computer-generated snap-back look to the characters' movements through time is inventive and well-handled. The production values are generally impressive, and action fans will not be too disappointed.
The real pleasant surprise of TIMECOP turns out to be the acting of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Yes, that's right, I said acting. Though still sometimes difficult to understand through his Belgian accent, Van Damme is an appealing performer who looks comfortable on screen, something Steven Seagal has yet to accomplish. TIMECOP isn't exactly a demanding film for an actor, but Van Damme shows that he can provide texture, something a bit more substantive than roundhouse kicks. He also gets to work off a suitably nasty villain in Ron Silver, who is perfectly cast, and has a nice chemistry with the too-little-seen Mia Sara. It's too bad TIMECOP often feels bloated and preposterous, because there's a bit of heart lurking beneath the hardware. It's just a bit too uneven to take advantage of its strengths.
