Bullet Points: Timecop: The Berlin Decision
The first thing I saw about this movie is the User Review that was featured on its IMDB page that described it as “surprisingly not that horrible”. That already makes it better than most Channing Tatum movies but I had to see for myself. Any hardcore action fan would be at least interested in Thomas Ian Griffith as the villain and Jason Scott Lee has developed his own brand of action star after his turn in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Let’s see what happens…
Synopsis: Time Enforcement Commission officer Ryan Chan (Jason Scott Lee) blasts through time to stop illegal time jumping activity. That would include anyone trying to alter the present by changing things in the past, a move that the altruistic Brandon Miller (Thomas Ian Griffith) seems hellbent on accomplishing. Add in the personal animosity between the two men and it’ll take a miracle for Chan to stop Miller before he hops through time eliminating anyone not willing to go along with his plans.
- Welcome to the present: The film starts some years after the original Timecop, which is one of the most underrated action movies of the 90’s. The opening 20 minutes of this film is my least favorite part. It feels like it doesn’t really know where to start with the characters of Ryan Chan and Brandon Miller so it just kind of jumps into a really pivotal moment without providing any reason for us to care about the characters. In fact, if someone had never seen the original Timecop then they might not have any clue was the Time Enforcement Commission’s role is.
- What happened to your blasters?: The first bit of action gives us a look at what to expect for the majority of the film. Jason Scott Lee must not own a gun. I clearly remember Jean Claude Van Damme’s character carrying a sweet sidearm in the original and I was hoping to see JSL break it out at some time but it never happened. He mostly just kicks people in the face. I won’t complain about people getting kicked in the face, though, so consider this one a push.
- Wasted potential: It’s just minutes into the movie, while the characters are kicking around 1940’s Germany when Brandon Miller appears to be trying to kill Hitler. Kill Hitler! What could be more of a babyface move than that? What makes it even more exciting is when I saw who was protecting the genocidal asshole; none other than Sven-Ole Thorsen! What could have been an awesome bit of action, bridging the gap between the heydays of the 80’s and this film turned into an all-too brief kill.
- What kind of hero are we talking about?: Ryan Chan is definitely a company man. I understand where he’s coming from. We can’t just let people run around the past killing folks and changing the future but the first act of the film shows Chan saving Hitler and then beating the crap out of some old timey cops. Yeah, they’re racist assholes but since when does a hero save Hitler’s life???
- Gotta get you some: Chan ends up bouncing around timelines chasing the rather elusive Miller for most of the movie but he takes a little time throughout to also secure a date for himself with the lovely Mary Page Keller. Smooth, Jason. Very smooth.
- Prison Break: Chan eventually zooms to the site of a prison break that allowed Griffith’s Miller to escape his life sentence in the first place. A small issue with the teleportation device sends Chan directly into the fray and he’s fighting crazy prisoners in no time. It’s a cool scene for the chaotic action it gives us. Especially a fight between Chan and a guy that he had put there in the first place. It was probably the first fight in the movie that I really enjoyed but it wouldn’t be the last.
- Gotta get back in time: You can’t keep a good Chan down. Miller gets it in his mind to take out Ryan by killing someone in his family line years before his birth. It makes perfect sense and should have been way easier if not for Ryan learning of the plan and chasing Miller for what seems like years. Its gives us a few fun scenes where the two run around the Old West, Depression-era America, and then an 80’s dance club.
- Jason & Thomas: The finale is best defined by the sight of Jason Scott Lee ripping his shirt off in a busy university building to fight Thomas Ian Griffith. I love a good shirt ripping in an action movie and Timecop 2 didn’t disappoint. It’s the best action scene of the movie and one that surprised me, to be honest. A fitting ending to a movie that was cleverly described as “surprisingly not that horrible”.
The Verdict: Timecop: The Berlin Decision is far less about anything that happened in Berlin but more about the repercussions of the two main character’s philosophies on time travel. The decision made in Berlin simply shed a light on the differences of what the two men deeply believed in. That isn’t to say that it’s not important, but I don’t care for overly long titles unless they’re absolutely necessary. I enjoyed this movie more than I expected. I loved the original Timecop and the first twenty minutes of this one had me worried. It picks up somewhere after the first third and the character of Ryan Chan develops into a likeable guy who can also kick some ass. I liked it and it’s worth a buy in your local Walmart’s bargain bin.
