Timecop (1994) Universal/Sci-Fi-Action RT: 99 minutes Rated R (violence, sexuality, language) Director: Peter Hyams Screenplay: Mark Verheiden Music: Mark Isham and Robert Lamm Cinematography: Peter Hyams Release date: September 16, 1994 (US) Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ron Silver, Mia Sara, Bruce McGill, Gloria Reuben, Scott Bellis, Jason Schombing, Scot Lawrence, Kenneth Welsh, Brent Woolsey, Brad Loree, Shane Kelly, Richard Faraci, Steve Lambert, Kevin McNulty. Box Office: $44.8M (US)/$101.6M (World)
Rating: ***
The best way to enjoy the JCVD sci-fi actioner Timecop is to NOT question its logic. You are bound to find plot holes in any movie dealing with time travel. This one is riddled with them. If you try to make sense of it, it’s likely to drive you insane. It’s best just to sit back, let the story unfold and take it on its own terms. It’s kind of fun if you do.
In present-day 1994, somebody has finally unlocked the secrets to time travel. This, of course, comes with its own set of problems like those who would use it for illicit purposes. For example, somebody could travel back to the past and alter it in a way that changes the present. This could have dire consequences. Because of this, the US government establishes the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC for short), a special agency that polices time travel. Here’s one of those questions I told you not to ask. Why doesn’t the CIA intervene and take it away from the police department? Time travel seems like the kind of thing they’d want to keep a lid on.
ANYWAY, Washington DC police officer Max Walker (Van Damme) is offered a position as a Timecop, a job he’s reluctant to accept. He wants to run it by his wife Melissa (Sara, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) first. She has news of her own (she’s pregnant), but before she can tell him later that night in bed, work calls and asks Max to work an extra shift. He’s attacked by a gang of thugs as he leaves his house. He then watches helplessly as the house explodes with Melissa inside it.
Ten years later, Max is a dedicated agent of the TEC. He’s sent to 1929 where his ex-partner is cashing in on the stock market crash. He’s using information from 2004 to benefit financially. When Max goes to arrest him, the ex-partner admits that he’s trying to raise funds for the Presidential campaign of Senator McCord (Silver, Blue Steel), the overseer of TEC operations. Naturally, he refuses to testify against McCord and is summarily executed for his time crimes.
At this point, I could continue to describe the plot of Timecop or I could just say that Max’s subsequent investigation of McCord leads to all sorts of complications. I’ll go with the latter because it’s simply too convoluted to explain here. I’ll just tell you that Max going back to ’94 gives him a second chance to save his wife and unborn child from the thugs who were sent back through time by McCord to kill him. Hey, what about the law against tampering with the past? Yes, it’s an ethical dilemma.
Directed by Peter Hyams (Outland), Timecop is simultaneously silly and smart. Maybe I should qualify the last part. It’s smarter than most JCVD actioners. It actually has a plot that involves more than the Muscles from Brussels beating up bad guys in pursuit of justice or revenge. Oh, he does plenty of it in Timecop, but it’s not the movie’s sole purpose. That being said, he gives the best performance he possibly can as Max. It looks like he might be having fun with the goofy material, but it’s hard to get a read on this guy. JCVD, as you know, doesn’t have a whole lot of emotional range. Silver fares better as the villain of the piece. He’s an ideal choice to play a slimy, conceited politician with malevolent intentions. Sara is pretty good as Melissa.
The convoluted narrative is something I expected. A lot of the time, movies involving time travel are all over the map. Timecop is no exception. In addition to all else, the writer throws in a subplot about Max getting a new partner (Reuben, Nick of Time) who’s actually an Internal Affairs officer investigating him for his supposed role in his ex-partner’s illegal doings. Her story doesn’t really go anywhere. Perhaps I should say it doesn’t go where you think it will. Or maybe it does? I don’t know. I do know that Timecop is easy enough to follow while you’re watching it, but one would be hard-pressed to explain the plot to a friend afterwards.
The rules of time travel are complex to say the least. For instance, it’s stated that one can travel to the past, but not to the future because the future hasn’t happened yet. Okay, fine. Explain this then. How is it somebody can travel to the past and return to the present which is the future in the past they wish to leave? Are you with me so far? Since the future hasn’t happened yet, does that mean the present the traveler came from is erased? Like I said, a guy could go crazy trying to put it all together. I’ll refrain from discussing the many other plot holes in Timecop. Why spoil your enjoyment of an otherwise entertaining sci-fi-actioner? While I could have done without yet another climax taking place on a rainy night, I had fun with this movie and its inherent silliness. Try not to overthink it and you will too.
