"Timecop" is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's better films and is well worth seeing. Unlike the average Van Damme pic, this one is science fiction and also requires less kicking and punching...and I like the difference.

In the near future, a secret government agency is created to combat unauthorized folks from going to the past and changing the future. And, to police this, the TEC is set up to enforce and punish these unauthorized excursions. One of their agents is Walker (Van Damme) and he takes his job very seriously. However, he learns on one of his cases that the Senator who oversees the agency is actually breaking the rules at will...all to make himself rich and the leading candidate for the presidency. So, Walker must travel back and forth in time to prove the Senator's guilt and stop his massive ego.

As I mentioned above, there is less of the usual Van Damme-age inflicted by this master martial artist. Now this does NOT mean he doesn't kick the crap outta folks...but this is all to further the plot and is less gratuitous than is usual violence. Well worth seeing, intelligently written and quite enjoyable to watch.

And here we have yet another Van Damme film from his height of Hollywood fame. After the global success of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER in 1992 (not a bad little flick, but avoid the sequel like the plague),the Muscles from Brussels decided to make another science fiction film. And, like his previous experiment in futuristic themes, TIMECOP is flawed. After all, it's a film dealing with time travel, and, as the writers of any time travel film or programme soon find out, its a head scratching theme from the start, and paradoxes soon turn up by the dozen. To help take our mind off the flimsy, and sometimes contrived, plot, there are a number of fight sequences (as to be expected from every Van Damme film ever made) which keep the attention as always, and one gob-smacking bit of CGI work.

The most impressive computer effect here is where a man's arm is frozen and then kicked off by Van Damme, shattering into a million pieces. Other than that there are the usual assorted bruisings, beatings, whippings, and beltings with Van Damme kicking people in the face as his preferred tactic (whereas Seagal likes to break people's arms, and Schwarzenegger just shoots them). Mia Sara has the thankless role of Van Damme's murdered wife and finds yet more reasons to take her top off as often as possible, while the ever-reliable Ron Silver puts in a thoroughly slimy and totally villainous performance as a corrupt senator, who meets his end when his two selves (present and future) touch, turning him literally into a glob of goo - sadly, it has to be said, this effect isn't what it could have been.

What I disliked about TIMECOP is how cheesy it is. While cheesiness is sometimes an easing factor when watching bad '80s horror films, here it just seems embarrassing. In order to travel back to the past, Van Damme and co. must climb inside a BACK TO THE FUTURE-inspired pod car which then races off down a chute. Unfortunately, this "pod" as it appears to be, looks like it's made of cheap plastic and has a tiny little gas flame popping out of the back to simulate the powerful drive of the vehicle - except it looks just like a silly little gas flame. On top of this, the various baddies all have ridiculous '80s costumes on, seemingly left from a previous Van Damme flick entitled CYBORG.

To add to the mainstream appeal, there's a heck of a lot of nudity and explicit sexual content too, much more than the brief instances in most Van Damme films. And what's up with Van Damme's permed hairdo, which makes him look like a sissy? Along with this and the fact that he has to do the splits as much as humanly possible, it just makes him look like a poseur. On the lighting side the ending is far too dark and we don't get much of a chance to see Van Damme taking out the bad chaps. There are the expected bad wisecracks, good characters who turn bad, an inventive death or two (two soldiers are suddenly ignited in the flames of a pod car) and plenty more reasons to keep watching. And If you can get over the silly contraptions, contrived set-ups and ridiculous appearances of the villains, then you might just find yourself enjoying this slick piece of nonsense. After all, time travel is invariably interesting in whatever form it takes.

Time travel is invented. Going forward is impossible but going back can be catastrophic. The government creates the Time Enforcement Commission to police time travel. Someone has already got back to steal gold from the Confederacy in 1863. Senator McComb (Ron Silver) volunteers to be the oversight. Policeman Max Walker (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is attacked at home and his wife Melissa (Mia Sara) is caught when their house explodes. Ten years later, he travels back to 1929 to apprehend his ex-partner Lyle Atwood trying to cash in on the market. Atwood tells him that McComb is the organizer trying to get money for his run for the Presidency. Matuzak (Bruce McGill) is his supervisor. Sarah Fielding (Gloria Reuben) from internal affairs is assigned his new partner.

There is something wrong with the plot but my head hurts trying to figure it out. It is more ambitious writing than Van Damme's other movies. It is not quite sharp enough. The things that we love Van Damme for is the fights. There are plenty of his splits and his kicks. At times, I would rather have a simpler movie and concentrate on Van Damme's strengths.

I think the problem starts with Matuzak saying that Max's word isn't enough and yet somehow with Sarah, that's enough to put McComb in prison. And why would Sarah flip on McComb? Wouldn't it be easier to kill Max when he was born? I'm sure McComb could find Max's birth certificate. It's not the logic of time travel that bugs me but the logic of characters' actions that are more problematic.