Timecop (1994)

It is 2004 (the future) and time travel technology has been secretly developed by the US government who – concerned about potential misuse – have outlawed time travel and formed a special organisation to enforce the ban.

The Time Enforcement Commission has been created to prevent people from travelling back in time and monkeying around with events that might change the course of history.

This martial arts version of HG Wells casts Jean-Claude Van Damme in his most intelligent role to date but still fails to make an actor of him.

The film, written by Mark Verheiden from a comic book he created with Mike Richardson, takes place mostly in 1994 when Van Damme’s Max Walker is a new recruit, and in 2004 when he has become a bitter but incorruptible veteran of the time patrol.

Unlike Wells’ The Time Machine, which propelled its hero into the future, the time travel vehicle in Timecop can carry its passengers only into the past and much of the fascination of the film derives from flights back to the American Civil War and the 1929 Wall Street crash.

The plot centres on US Senator Aaron McComb (Ron Silver), who abuses his position of oversight on the Time Enforcement Commission to rip off Confederate bullion in 1863 and play with the stock market after the crash in 1929. McComb’s goal, of course, is to raise enough capital to buy himself the 2004 presidential election and thus control of the world.

Walker is introduced in 1994 when McComb has just agreed to head the Congressional watchdog committee aimed at controlling time travel, Almost immediately the new timecop’s beloved wife, Melissa (Mia Sara) is murdered by a nasty band of vaguely futuristic thugs who have come back in time from 2004.

Walker would be dead too, except for his state-of-the-art bulletproof vest (why is it that killers never know enough to shoot a hero in the head?).

Most of the remainder of Timecop follows Walker as he duels with McComb in 2004, and, finally, in the past.

Much of this adds up to lively SciFi stuff, enhanced by director Peter Hyams’ pictorial style. Unhappily though, Timecop becomes muddled at the climax – in large part because of Hyams’ handling of a neat but difficult plot device that ties together the adversaries in two different time zones.

At one point the dialogue takes a ridiculous turn when a wife fails to recognise her husband – even though he is only 10 years older and looks almost the same as he did at a younger age.

Hardcore Van Dammers will probably not care very much about this little problem, however, and action fantasy fans will find the muscles from Brussels much more intense and focused than in his earlier adventures.

Hyams succeeds in getting a strong and even fairly romantic performance from Van Damme and a strong supporting cast, including Bruce McGill as the tough, ambiguous timecop chief, and Gloria Reubens as a bright but unwanted partner who accompanies Walker on a trip back to 1994 also flesh out the film.

A TV series version of Timecop starring Ted King aired briefly in 1997. ABC dumped the show after only nine episodes.

Max Walker
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Melissa Walker
Mia Sara
Aaron McComb
Ron Silver
Matuzak
Bruce McGill
Fielding
Gloria Reuben
Ricky
Scott Bellis
Atwood
Jason Schombing
Spota
Scott Lawrence
Utley
Kenneth Welsh
Shotgun
Brent Woolsey
Reyes
Brad Loree
Rollerblades
Shane Kelly
Cole
Richard Faraci
Lansing
Steven Lambert
Parker
Kevin McNulty
Palmer
Jacob Rupp
Aide Lawrence
Sean O’Byrne
Judge Marshall
Gabrielle Rose
Nelson
Malcolm Stewart
Pete
Theodore Thomas
Handlebar
Lon Katzman
Tweed
Tony Morelli

Director
Peter Hyams