Timecop (TV Series)

''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, with time travel having been made possible, and later a U.S. federal agent in 2004. It also stars Ron Silver as corrupt senator Aaron McComb 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). Although met with mixed reviews, it is generally regarded by critics as one of Van Damme's best films.

Plot

In 1863, in Gainesville, Georgia, a time traveler armed with futuristic weapons slaughters five Confederate soldiers and steals their shipment of gold bullion.

In 1994, following the invention of time travel by Dr. Hans Kleindast, the U.S. Department of Justice funds the creation of the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) to prevent alterations to the past. While users cannot travel to the future, as it has not yet occurred, they can change the past, creating ripples that reshape the present. Senator Aaron McComb volunteers to oversee the TEC, while police officer Eugene Matuzak is appointed its first commissioner. Police officer Max Walker is offered a TEC position, but before he can accept, he and his wife Melissa are attacked by unknown assailants. Walker is left for dead while Melissa is killed in an explosion.

By 2004, Walker, now a veteran TEC agent, travels to 1929 to arrest his former partner Lyle Atwood, who is using future knowledge to profit from the stock market crash. Atwood confesses that he works for McComb, who has been secretly funding his failing presidential campaign through illicit time travel. Fearing McComb will erase his family from history, Atwood refuses to testify and is executed by the TEC. When McComb visits the TEC, Walker subtly implies his suspicions about him.

After surviving an ambush at his home by McComb’s henchmen, Walker is assigned a new partner, Sarah Fielding. They travel to 1994 to investigate a time disturbance and discover a younger McComb being bought out of a computer chip company by his partner Jack Parker. The 2004 McComb arrives to stop the deal, warning his younger self that the chip will soon be worth billions. He also cautions against physical contact, as the same matter cannot occupy the same space. McComb kills Parker, and Fielding betrays Walker, revealing she is working for McComb. In the ensuing shootout, McComb wounds Fielding and escapes to 2004.

Walker returns to a heavily altered 2004, where McComb is a wealthy presidential frontrunner and has shut down the TEC to eliminate interference. Walker convinces Matuzak—who is unaware of the timeline changes—that they were close friends. They deduce that McComb is using Kleindast’s original time travel prototype, and Matuzak helps Walker return to 1994 before being killed by McComb’s guards. McComb concludes that Walker must be erased from history before he ever joined the TEC.

In 1994, Walker finds a recovering Fielding at a hospital, and she agrees to testify against McComb. However, before he can secure her, she is murdered. While reviewing hospital records, Walker discovers that Melissa was pregnant when she was killed. Realizing this is the day of her murder, he tracks her down, reveals he is from the future, and convinces her to stop his younger self from leaving for work that night.

That evening, McComb's henchmen attack the younger Walker, but both Walkers and Melissa fight them off. The 2004 McComb arrives, takes Melissa hostage, and threatens Walker with a C4 explosive. Accepting that he will die in the blast, McComb is confident that without Walker's interference, his younger self will become president. However, Walker reveals that he has lured 1994 McComb to the house. He pushes the two McCombs together, causing them to merge into a writhing, screaming mass before disappearing from existence. Walker carries Melissa to safety before the house explodes, leaving her beside his unconscious younger self.

Back in 2004, Walker finds that Matuzak and Fielding are alive and that McComb disappeared in 1994, erasing his future crimes. Returning home, Walker discovers his house rebuilt and is reunited with Melissa and their young son.

Cast

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.

Richardson and Verheiden then teamed up to write the screenplay for the movie adaptation.

Music

The musical score of ''Timecop'' was composed by Mark Isham and conducted by Ken Kugler.

Soundtrack

; Track listing
# "Time Cop" – 2:20
# "Melissa" – 2:41
# "Blow Up" – 2:12
# "Lasers and Tasers" – 4:23
# "Polaroid" – 6:10
# "Rooftop" – 6:16
# "C4" – 2:37
# "Rescue and Return" – 3:22

Release

Home media

''Timecop'' was first released on VHS on February 21, 1995, LaserDisc on February 28, 1995, and later released on DVD on 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 Warner Home Video subsequently issued a Blu-ray of the film as a double feature with ''Bloodsport'' on September 14 that year. After Shout! Studios acquired distribution rights to all Largo titles, an 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition was released on April 29, 2025, featuring a new 4K remaster of the film.

Reception

Box office

''Timecop'' was released in the U.S. and Canada on September 16, 1994, where it opened at number one with a gross of $12,064,625 from 2,228 theaters, and a $5,415 average per theater gross. In its second week, it took the top spot again with $8,176,615. It finished its run with $54 million in the U.S. In other territories, it grossed about $75 million, for a total worldwide gross of $129 million. This makes it Van Damme's highest-grossing film in which he played the leading role, and his third to make over $100 million overall worldwide (after Double Impact (1991) & ''Universal Soldier'').

Critical response

Critics were mixed on ''Timecop'', citing its various plot holes and inconsistencies. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert called ''Timecop'' a low-rent ''Terminator''.

Richard Harrington of ''The Washington Post'' said, "For once, Van Damme's accent is easier to understand than the plot."

David Richards of ''The New York Times'' disparaged Van Damme's acting and previous films but called ''Timecop'' "his classiest effort to date".

The film made ''Entertainment Weeklys "Underrated Films" list in November 2010, mostly because of Van Damme's acting.

Novelization

In September 1994, a novelization of the film was written by author S.D. Perry and published by Penguin.

Sequel and franchise

The film was followed by a TV series of the same name, running for nine episodes in 1997 on ABC. It starred T.W. King as Jack Logan and Cristi Conaway as Claire Hemmings.

A direct-to-DVD sequel, '' Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision'', was released in 2003, starring Jason Scott Lee and Thomas Ian Griffith, and directed by Steve Boyum. In 2010, Universal Pictures announced a remake of the film, to be written by Mark and Brian Gunn, but it was never made.

The film, which was originally based on a comic, was adapted into a two-issue comic book series of the same name. A game based on the movie was developed by Cryo Interactive and released on the SNES in 1995. Additionally, a series of tie-in novels by author Dan Parkinson published in 1997–1999 featured the Jack Logan character from the television series.

References

External links

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{{Sam Raimi

Timecop (franchise)
1994 films
1994 science fiction action films
American science fiction action films
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Peter Hyams
Films produced by Sam Raimi
Martial arts science fiction films
1990s films about time travel
Films based on Dark Horse Comics
Live-action films based on comics
Films about widowhood
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Renaissance Pictures productions
Films shot in Vancouver
Films set in 1863
Films set in the 1920s
Films set in 1929
Films set in 1994
Films set in 2004
Films set in the future
Dark Horse Entertainment films
Largo Entertainment films
Films adapted into comics
Films adapted into television shows
Films scored by Mark Isham
1994 martial arts films
1990s American films
1994 science fiction films
English-language science fiction action films
Saturn Award–winning films