Pay no attention to the fact that Timecop is an insult to intelligent science fiction, and that it gradually succumbs to an acute case of the sillies. It is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, after all, so check your brain at the door and enjoy this action flick set in the year 2004. Van Damme plays an officer in the Time Enforcement Police, assigned to prevent criminals from traveling to the past with the intent of altering the future. Ron Silver plays the evil politician who plots to retrieve a stockpile of gold from the Civil War to finance his latest campaign. The film is clever to a point, and entertaining if you can ignore the dumb jokes and inconsistencies. Best of all, it's an above-average vehicle for Van Damme (relatively speaking), who gets to kick some villainous butt and share a few scenes with Mia Sara, who plays the Timecop's wife. As Van Damme fans can tell you, this is one of the action star's better movies. --Jeff Shannon
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: An average movie...but one of Van Damme's best. Comment: Timecop was Jean-Claude Van Damme's best grossing movie...and while the plot isn't easy to follow...the movie does flow at a steady pace. Released in 1994 and based off a comic book by Mark Verheiden...Timecop is a time-traveling romp that spans ten tumultuous years. The movie begins with one of the best opening scenes ever to start a film. Confederate Soldiers are delivering a shipment of gold to General Lee and in the midst of pouring rain an outlaw stands in the way of their progress...with the words "I'll let you pass, just give me the gold" the movie is underway. In this opening scene there are five heavily armed Confederate Soldiers escorting the general's gold...and they would sooner shot this lone outlaw than continue any sort of discussion. With a final request by the outlaw to hand over the gold...General Lee's soldiers reach for their muskets...only to be out drawn and gunned down by a man with two fully loaded automatic hand guns.
The movie then flashes to the next timecrook. TEC (Time Enforcement Commission) Agent Walker's (Jean-Claude Van Damme) partner has turned rogue and time travels back to the great depression. While stock market traders are jumping from high rise buildings, the rogue cop visits his penthouse, pulls out a USA Today, and buys highly valued stocks of modern time at 1920 prices. Agent Walker is sent back to bring his ex-partner to justice. At this point in the film the plot begins to reveal itself. A young Senator, Aaron McComb (Ron Silver) is a presidential hopeful and uses time travel as a way to illegally obtain money to finance his candidacy. Agent Walker, thus spends the rest of the movie trying to stop and prove that Senator McComb is trying to buy the election and alter the future.
The film does has some notable co-stars. Melissa Walker (Mia Sara) plays Agent Walker's wife...and is instrumental in advancing the story. Eugene Matuzak (Bruce McGill) is head of the TEC and directs the agents on which cases to pursue and when to travel...he is also Agent Walker's best friend in the film. Sarah Fielding (Gloria Reuben) is an internal affair's agent assigned to follow Agent Walker after his ex-partner went rogue. She is also instrumental in advancing the film...and while the plot is difficult to understand...this is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's best films...and his most acclaimed. Customer Rating: Summary: Good movie Comment: I got this movie because a friend broke the original DVD I had. When I watched the HD version, I expected the quality to be better, but it was only just as good as the standard DVD. Customer Rating: Summary: You just can't beat VHS Comment: I love this movie and the dvd I had of it always skipped, so I went to the trusty ol' VHS. Can't go wrong with VHS. It was in perfect condition when it arrived. Customer Rating: Summary: Best Van Damme movie! Comment: In my opinion, this is Jean Claude Van Damme's best movie that he ever made. The plot is good and his acting is actually very good and somewhat believable. He also looks really great in this movie. Customer Rating: Summary: Classic 90's action flick with a pretty decent plot. Comment: I'm not going to bore you with a plot synopsis you can get off the back of a box. If you like Van Damme you'll like this movie. It's not filled with mindless action, and the plot is strong enough to carry the the film. It comes off slightly goofy, but only because of the 1990's take on what the future would be like.
If you are looking for some decent/classic Van Damme action check it out. For under $10 how disappointed could you really be?
