One of JCVD's Best Films Gets a Pathetic 4K
Summary
Timecop is classic JCVD and deserved a better release than this waste of money; there isn’t a single special feature and even the picture and sound are not the greatest. I was really looking forward to finally getting this on 4K but sadly Shout! Factory dropped the ball. Hopefully it gets a proper release from another company in a few months.
Plot: The future could be history in the powerful sci-fi adventure Timecop, as a dangerous, time-traveling politico (Ron Silver) sets out to change the past so he can pave his career path to the White House. But Time Enforcement Commission cop Jean-Claude Van Damme is on his trail. Where he goes, searing action and soaring thrills follow.
Review: Timecop is one of JCVD’s best movies and to this day remains one of his biggest box office successes. I was thrilled when it was finally announced that the film was coming to 4K as Kino Lorber did a fantastic job with Hard Target and Sudden Death. Sadly, they did not do this 4K release as it was done by Shout! Factory and to say it’s disappointing is an understatement. First of all, let’s talk about the movie.
Timecop came out in 1994 and tells the story of Max Walker, a cop from the far distant future of 2004 who travels through time (thus the name) to stop unauthorized people from changing history. One such person is the slimy Senator Aaron McComb (played with smug glee by the late, great Ron Silver). McComb wants to buy the Presidency and he’ll do it if Max isn’t able to stop him. He is also responsible for the death of Max’s wife, Melissa (Mia Sara) so while trying to prevent McComb stealing the Presidency, Max decides he’s going to try and save Melissa.
Sliver is such a perfectly hateful villain with no redeeming features; he’s essentially a cartoon bad guy, but that’s why it works so well. Him slamming his aide’s face into the side of the car is the one moment where you’re in do doubt he is a bullying asshole and he deserves a terrible demise.
Van Damme gives one of his best acting performances as the tortured Max even if his hairstyle is a little distracting. I love Bruce McGill as Max’s friend and box Cmdr. Eugene Matuzak; he has some of the best lines and provides a few laughs.
On the action front there are fight scenes every few minutes and I especially enjoy JCVD’s knife fight with James Lew; we also get some shoot-outs and the house exploding looks awesome too. It’s perfectly paced clocking in at just over 90 minutes and there isn’t a single scene I would trim.
As this is several decades old some of the visual effects don’t hold up so well, but they were good for the time period; the 4K does show up some of the imperfections but nowhere near as bad as some have said. The picture is decent but not spectacular with the colour looking a little off at times. I’ve heard that the sound mix was terrible, but it sounded fine on my system and at least there were subtitles.
The real crime here is the total lack of any special features; there isn’t even a trailer! Thankfully, I got this using a gift card so I didn’t waste any money, but there really is no reason to buy this if you already own the Blu-ray. The picture is a little better on the 4K, but not worth justifying the $50 price tag. I’m pretty sure in several months some other company will do a proper release with more features, but for now I’d save your money unless you just care about owning the movie.
Overall, Timecop is still one of Van Damme’s best movies with plenty of action and a great villain in Ron Silver; this 4K is let down by a total lack of any special features making me wonder why they even bothered releasing it. For die hard JCVD fans only.
