Timecop

The desire to go back in time to change things -- or just to visit -- is so central to the experience of being alive and stuck in time that Timecop has a built-in power. It's a power the film, a satisfying science-fiction thriller, takes full advantage of.

Years of tireless persistence have begun to work in Mr. Van Damme's favor. It's hard not to enjoy his energy, even if his acting gifts still leave a lot to be desired. The fact is that he looks good, behaves affably and kicks with gusto, which is quite enough to satisfy the demands of Timecop.

Director Peter Hyams strives hard to maintain a light and entertaining touch, lifting Timecop slightly above its formulaic restraints. On the one hand, there's a pleasing freshness to the movie, thanks to lots of energy and a little playful wit. On the other, there's something deeply fatiguing about this picture. Maybe it's the formula, maybe it's all that time travel, but you just can't help thinking you've seen it all before. Must be deja vu. [21 Sep 1994]

Timecop is good dumb fun, but it's likely to receive the same sentence most Van Damme projects do: a few weeks in movie theaters and eternity on video store shelves and cable television.

Van Damme is compelling only when he takes his clothes off, which he doesn't do often enough here.

Timecop has its fleeting moments of fun; mostly when Van Damme finally starts ribbing himself, years after Stallone and Schwarzenegger poked a hole in their own musclebound images. But director Peter Hyams and screenwriter Mark Verheiden (who co-created the Timecop comic book character) aren't nearly as clever as they think they are. [16 Sep 1994, p.6]

Timecop's conversation piece is the scene in which Van Damme springs into the air amid hand-to-hand combat, finessing a perfect split atop his kitchen counter. Though definitely ooo-and-aaah stuff, it falls short of landing Timecop the 3-star review earned here by Van Damme's Hard Target. [16 Sep 1994, p.5D]

Timecop is a must watch for Jean Claude Van Damme fans and is one of Van Damme's best films (in my opinion at least). Timecop is an enjoyable and entertaining action sci fi (or sci fi action) film from the 90s that most action fans of 80s & 90s action flicks will like. Most action scenes & effects are good. The last action scene can be dissapointing due to it taking place at night making it hard to see what's going on.

A decent enough Sci-Fi time travel movie with enough quality butt-kicking action to make it a fun watch. Hell the plot and development even make sense for a JCVD movie. Crazy.

It's all a bit ridiculous but Timecop never takes itself too seriously and Jean Claude Van Damme's energy ensures it is still a pretty fun watch.

Peter Hyams who brought us Sudden Death which was stupid but fairly decent brings us TIMECOP which is a 1994 fantasy/ sci fi action with probably bits of humour in it... I remember most if not all of the movie and Ron Silver playing some senator guy who sees his other self due to time travel.. This film is the equivalent of Back to the Future but with violence and going back in time and preventing things from happening. The whole concept is about time travel but the violence is there just as an added spark to make the movie seem more entertaining and fun. Some of the villains are fairly decent and some utterly laughable in a bad way especially Ron Silver and also we get to see Mia Sara aswell in the movie. The scene where some character is falling off a building or out of a window and dissapears suddenly before he hits the ground and faces trial or sentencing in another time period before being found guilty then returned to his original time period and continues to fall from the building and eventually is splattered on the pavement and dies is pretty hilarious and decently done. Some of the action is decent including Van Damme's fight scenes so this is watchable at best but not that great.

As you may deduct by yourself this movie is about time-travelling. But it totally misses its point. From its beginning the movie sets a lot of dumb and weird rules about time-travelling, so-called secret files and deontology. You don't have to wait long to realize these rules are a big bag of crap. Scenario is generic and really predictable. I however have to admit that the way events happen surprised me and were less predictable than the scenario in overall. All the constant time-travelling dimension makes it really hard to understand realtions between characters since some don't act and think the same way in the very past, the past and the present times. Van Damme's acting is great and it almost goes the same way for the rest of the cast. Really honorable mention to Mia Sara whose acting and presence bring an authentic human touch to the movie. 'Timecop' is once again one of those movies highlighting Van Damme's abilities and especially his flexibility (just as 'Kickboxer' did five years before its release). So don't even question scenes in which he will fight almost naked and will do gymnastics splits for nothing. Visual effects are decent (even if you watch it in 2021 like me) excepting this ugly scene at the end. If you watched the movie you surely know which scene I'm talking about. The lighting is terrible. I stopped counting the number of scenes that are so dark that you can't see what's going on. Soundtrack and audio atmosphere are dull and almost non-existent. Fights and violent scenes are terribly presented. You simply can't feel the stakes of conflicts. Almost all the characters' deaths don't evoke any emotion to me and are poorly shot. Ending (no spoil) is awful. It is full of fake and useless suspense, it is inconsistent and feels like it is lasting a whole hour. Villains don't stop to appear and wake up from total coma just to make action scenes be a bit longer. Seeing credits never made me so happy.