Timecop (1994)
Timecop is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on Timecop, a story created by Richardson, written by Verheiden, and drawn by Ron Randall, which appeared in the anthology comic Dark Horse Comics, published by Dark Horse Comics. It is the first installment in the Timecop franchise. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Max Walker, a police officer in 1994 and later a U.S. federal agent in 2004, when time travel has been made possible. It also stars Ron Silver as a corrupt politician and Mia Sara as Melissa Walker, the agent’s wife. The story follows Walker’s life as he fights time-travel crime and investigates the politician’s plans. Timecop remains Van Damme’s highest-grossing film as a lead actor (his second to break the $100 million barrier worldwide), having become a cult classic with fans. Although met with mixed reviews, it is generally regarded by critics as one of Van Damme’s best films.
Plot.
In 1863 Gainesville, Georgia a time traveler with modern laserdot-equipped machine-pistols slaughters Confederate States Army soldiers and steals their shipment of gold. In 1994, the Justice Department sends George Spota to the Senate Appropriations Committee for approval on a secret project: the establishment of the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) to police the new threat of time travel. Spota convinces them that changes to history are already manifesting, evidenced by arms trafficking shipments paid for in stolen Confederate bullion. Senator Aaron McComb volunteers to chair the oversight committee and Eugene Matuzak is nominated as the TEC’s first commissioner. DC Metro Police officer Max Walker considers accepting a position with the TEC. Leaving home, he and his wife Melissa are attacked by unknown assailants. Walker is left for dead as the house explodes, killing Melissa. Ten years later, Walker is a veteran TEC agent, and is sent back to October 1929 to prevent his former partner Lyle Atwood profiting from the stock market crash.
Atwood admits to working for Senator McComb, who is abusing his oversight of time travel technology to raise funds for his upcoming presidential campaign. Fearing McComb will erase him from history, Atwood jumps to his death, but Walker catches him mid-leap and returns them to 2004. Refusing to testify, Atwood is sentenced to death and returned to 1929 to complete his fatal fall. Walker and Matuzak agree McComb is a criminal, but need solid evidence.
Surviving an ambush by McComb’s henchmen, Walker is assigned a new partner, TEC rookie Sarah Fielding. They are sent back to 1994 to investigate McComb, and witness a disagreement with his business partner Jack Parker over manufacturing a new computer chip. They are interrupted by McComb from 2004, who advises his younger self that the chip will become highly profitable. The older McComb warns his younger self that they must not touch because the same matter cannot occupy the same space, then kills Parker. Fielding turns on Walker, revealing she works for McComb. After a shootout with McComb’s henchmen, Fielding is wounded and Walker escapes back to 2004.
Production.
Mike Richardson wrote a three-part story titled “Time Cop: A Man Out of Time” that was included in the launch of the Dark Horse Comics anthology series in 1992. Richardson developed the story, while the comic was written by Mark Verheiden and drawn by Ron Randall. The comic told a story of Max Walker, a Time Enforcement Commission agent whose wife is implied to be dead (though the circumstances of this are unknown). Max pursues an illegal time traveler robbing a South African diamond mine in the 1930s. After capturing the robber and returning to present time, Walker realizes the timeline has been damaged because the criminal’s robotic bodyguard remained in the past and was still active. Walker returns to the 1930s and defeats the robot with the help of a local whom he rewards with a diamond. Returning home, the timeline is largely restored but readers see the local became a political leader who helped end Apartheid.
Home media.
Timecop was first released on VHS on February 21,1995, LaserDisc on February 28, 1995,[6] and later released on DVD January 20, 1998. The DVD extras include production notes, a theatrical trailer and notes on the cast and crew. By 2010, the rights to the film had reverted to Largo successor InterMedia, and distribution shifted to Warner Home Video. A Blu-ray of the film was released as a double feature for both this and Bloodsport from Warner Home Video on September 14, 2010, which has the full uncut 98-minute version in 2.35:1 widescreen, but no extra features.RELATED:
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