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Plot – In the year 1994 the fantasy that is time travel becomes a reality. Almost immediately however the problem of individuals misusing it arises, necessitating the creation of the TEC (Time Enforcement Commission). Police officer Max Walker (Van Damme) accepts a position as a TEC agent, but on the same night he does so his home his invaded. Walker is saved by his bulletproof vest but his wife Melissa (Sara) is killed. Ten years later and Walker, still grieving for his wife, is still working as a TEC agent when he stumbles upon a plot by Senator McComb (Silver) to manipulate the past for his own financial gain in an attempt to fund a Presidential campaign. McComb is not about to be stopped however and sets out to have the threat eliminated. Now Walker must travel back and forth in time in his attempts to stop him.
All you Jean Claude Van Damme cynics out there, feast your eyes on this. This film contains a couple of surprises for you. The first surprise is the fact that this is actually a good film. While there may be a couple of Van Damme films I personally like more than this, I'm aware that a cheesy and cultish nature is to thank in those efforts. This however is just a really good film, with more than its fair share of brains about it. And the second surprise is that Van Damme can act! It's perhaps not so much of a surprise anymore with JCVD out there, but in terms of traditional roles I'd say this is without a doubt the best Van Damme gets. The man even manages to negotiate a few potentially tricky emotional scenes. There's one moment in particular that I really liked. Still grieving over the loss of his wife, Van Damme sits in his house watching home movies of himself and his wife. As he watches he mouths her words along with her; he's clearly watched it so many times to relive these happy memories that he now knows it be heart. Yes it's a scene that's been done a few times but Van Damme is able to make it into a touching little sequence.
As I mentioned near the start the film does display more intelligence than your standard Van Damme beat-em-up. I particularly enjoy its use of the time travel element. Though I'll admit there are some huge plot holes at times but with a time travel movie I'm more prepared to cut a film a break. Now if I was told I was about to watch a film starring Jean Claude Van Damme that included time travel my expectations would not match this finished product. I would have imagined they'd go down a fairly simple and obvious route; Van Damme goes way back in history and beats up some Genghis Khan-like guy and his armies for loads of action or goes into the future with robots armies to beat up, or goes back in time to fight himself (after all Van Damme playing more than one character is a surprisingly common occurrence in his films). Instead it takes a more intelligent and measured path, setting out an interesting story and dealing with the possible repercussions of time travel.
In doing so the film actually achieves a degree of social commentary and satire. Though with it being a Van Damme film I wondered whether it was actually deliberate or just something they stumbled across!
It's not usually something I picture as being on the checklist for one of his films when the producers, writers and director meet - “Ok we've got some kick-ass fight scenes, lots of explosions, Van Damme showing his naked ass, some sex and breath-taking stunts. I think we're good...Oh s**t” We forgot the social commentary!!!” Ok it's not the most subtle or searing commentary you'll ever see but it certainly works. The big bad in the film is an ambitious politician who uses time travel to manipulate the past and make himself rich. His reasoning is that what gets a President elected is not their politics or the positions they take, it's the amount of money they spend and the amount of TV exposure they receive. So be wants to buy a TV network. It's a point that has arguably never been more relevant when you consider that Mitt Romney reportedly just spent $1 billion to lose an election! And then you take into account the politicising of the media through the likes of Fox News, Jon Stewart, Rush Limbaugh etc and it seems quite a prescient point.
When it comes to this kind of genre film, and pretty much every Van Damme feature, there are generally two types of villains you will find. You can have the vicious killing machine who will go mano a mano with Jean Claude; see The Sandman in Death Warrant or Lundgren's psycho in Universal Soldier. And then you've got the other villain template – the snivelling weasel in a business suit. And it's the latter that we have here, brought vividly to life by the sadly late Ron Silver. He delivers a great performance as Senator McComb, creating a character we truly love to hate. It's really fun to see him play two versions of himself; the sinister future McComb and the more bumbling McComb in the past. He also gets a great scene where he is able to insult and swear at the younger version of himself. He seems truly disgusted with what he used to be.
Action hounds who follow Van Damme purely for the screen carnage that usually unfolds in his presence may well be a little disappointed. It's certainly not as action packed as the large majority of his films, devoting more time to the story and the character of Max Walker. What action there is however is able to deliver. There's an entertaining fight when his home is invaded by two goons, concluding when Van Damme breaks out a spontaneous jumping splits move to avoid electrocution which zaps his opponent. And the concluding drama which occurs in the past at the moment of his wife's death is really quite thrilling and edgy stuff.
Up until a few months back if you had mentioned the name Peter Hyams to me, I would not have been able to tell you he was a director. Now however I have realised he was the director of two of my three favourite Van Damme films (this film and Sudden Death), and also seen the great 70s conspiracy thriller he directed, Capricorn One. He may not be a master craftsman of a director but the man knows how to make an entertaining, fun-filled romp. He brings a great energy and pace to the proceedings on screen, and handles the scenes of action very adeptly. I'll need to track down some more of his work; in fact I already have some blind-buys that are his – Outland and Running Scared.
Conclusion – Leaving JCVD out of the equation, this is arguably the 'best' of the traditional Van Damme films. It's got an interesting and surprising story, some actual acting from Van Damme, a strong villainous turn from Ron Silver, some nice effects and even a bit of emotion to get your teeth into. Great fun. Although it's depiction of futuristic cars has to be the worst I've ever seen!
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Year of release
1994
1994
Directed by
Peter Hyams
Peter Hyams
Written by
Mark Verheiden
Mark Richardson
Mark Verheiden
Mark Richardson
Starring
Jean Claude Van Damme
Ron Silver
Mia Sara
Bruce McGill
Jean Claude Van Damme
Ron Silver
Mia Sara
Bruce McGill
Timecop
+
Plot – In the year 1994 the fantasy that is time travel becomes a reality. Almost immediately however the problem of individuals misusing it arises, necessitating the creation of the TEC (Time Enforcement Commission). Police officer Max Walker (Van Damme) accepts a position as a TEC agent, but on the same night he does so his home his invaded. Walker is saved by his bulletproof vest but his wife Melissa (Sara) is killed. Ten years later and Walker, still grieving for his wife, is still working as a TEC agent when he stumbles upon a plot by Senator McComb (Silver) to manipulate the past for his own financial gain in an attempt to fund a Presidential campaign. McComb is not about to be stopped however and sets out to have the threat eliminated. Now Walker must travel back and forth in time in his attempts to stop him.
All you Jean Claude Van Damme cynics out there, feast your eyes on this. This film contains a couple of surprises for you. The first surprise is the fact that this is actually a good film. While there may be a couple of Van Damme films I personally like more than this, I'm aware that a cheesy and cultish nature is to thank in those efforts. This however is just a really good film, with more than its fair share of brains about it. And the second surprise is that Van Damme can act! It's perhaps not so much of a surprise anymore with JCVD out there, but in terms of traditional roles I'd say this is without a doubt the best Van Damme gets. The man even manages to negotiate a few potentially tricky emotional scenes. There's one moment in particular that I really liked. Still grieving over the loss of his wife, Van Damme sits in his house watching home movies of himself and his wife. As he watches he mouths her words along with her; he's clearly watched it so many times to relive these happy memories that he now knows it be heart. Yes it's a scene that's been done a few times but Van Damme is able to make it into a touching little sequence.
As I mentioned near the start the film does display more intelligence than your standard Van Damme beat-em-up. I particularly enjoy its use of the time travel element. Though I'll admit there are some huge plot holes at times but with a time travel movie I'm more prepared to cut a film a break. Now if I was told I was about to watch a film starring Jean Claude Van Damme that included time travel my expectations would not match this finished product. I would have imagined they'd go down a fairly simple and obvious route; Van Damme goes way back in history and beats up some Genghis Khan-like guy and his armies for loads of action or goes into the future with robots armies to beat up, or goes back in time to fight himself (after all Van Damme playing more than one character is a surprisingly common occurrence in his films). Instead it takes a more intelligent and measured path, setting out an interesting story and dealing with the possible repercussions of time travel.
In doing so the film actually achieves a degree of social commentary and satire. Though with it being a Van Damme film I wondered whether it was actually deliberate or just something they stumbled across!
It's not usually something I picture as being on the checklist for one of his films when the producers, writers and director meet - “Ok we've got some kick-ass fight scenes, lots of explosions, Van Damme showing his naked ass, some sex and breath-taking stunts. I think we're good...Oh s**t” We forgot the social commentary!!!” Ok it's not the most subtle or searing commentary you'll ever see but it certainly works. The big bad in the film is an ambitious politician who uses time travel to manipulate the past and make himself rich. His reasoning is that what gets a President elected is not their politics or the positions they take, it's the amount of money they spend and the amount of TV exposure they receive. So be wants to buy a TV network. It's a point that has arguably never been more relevant when you consider that Mitt Romney reportedly just spent $1 billion to lose an election! And then you take into account the politicising of the media through the likes of Fox News, Jon Stewart, Rush Limbaugh etc and it seems quite a prescient point.When it comes to this kind of genre film, and pretty much every Van Damme feature, there are generally two types of villains you will find. You can have the vicious killing machine who will go mano a mano with Jean Claude; see The Sandman in Death Warrant or Lundgren's psycho in Universal Soldier. And then you've got the other villain template – the snivelling weasel in a business suit. And it's the latter that we have here, brought vividly to life by the sadly late Ron Silver. He delivers a great performance as Senator McComb, creating a character we truly love to hate. It's really fun to see him play two versions of himself; the sinister future McComb and the more bumbling McComb in the past. He also gets a great scene where he is able to insult and swear at the younger version of himself. He seems truly disgusted with what he used to be.
Action hounds who follow Van Damme purely for the screen carnage that usually unfolds in his presence may well be a little disappointed. It's certainly not as action packed as the large majority of his films, devoting more time to the story and the character of Max Walker. What action there is however is able to deliver. There's an entertaining fight when his home is invaded by two goons, concluding when Van Damme breaks out a spontaneous jumping splits move to avoid electrocution which zaps his opponent. And the concluding drama which occurs in the past at the moment of his wife's death is really quite thrilling and edgy stuff.
Up until a few months back if you had mentioned the name Peter Hyams to me, I would not have been able to tell you he was a director. Now however I have realised he was the director of two of my three favourite Van Damme films (this film and Sudden Death), and also seen the great 70s conspiracy thriller he directed, Capricorn One. He may not be a master craftsman of a director but the man knows how to make an entertaining, fun-filled romp. He brings a great energy and pace to the proceedings on screen, and handles the scenes of action very adeptly. I'll need to track down some more of his work; in fact I already have some blind-buys that are his – Outland and Running Scared.
Conclusion – Leaving JCVD out of the equation, this is arguably the 'best' of the traditional Van Damme films. It's got an interesting and surprising story, some actual acting from Van Damme, a strong villainous turn from Ron Silver, some nice effects and even a bit of emotion to get your teeth into. Great fun. Although it's depiction of futuristic cars has to be the worst I've ever seen!