Time Guardian - Wächter der Zukunft

Anyone who watches Time Guardian expecting it to be like Star Wars because of Carrie Fisher's presence will be disappointed. Not a totally awful film, but the plot is hard to follow and is full of holes, and some of the costumes seem ridiculous. Burlinson and Fisher travel back in time to make sure the City (which can travel through time and space) can land in the late 20th century in the outback of Australia. There, they battle both the Jen Diki (their enemies from the future) and some corrupt outback cops. The movie isn't completely bad, as there are some good battle segments, great footage of the Australian Outback, and fans of Carrie Fisher get to see her in a few good scenes. Overall, however, this is one of those films that spent too much on special effects and not enough on developing the story. It's not a hopeless film, but you quickly forget it after it's over.

Sci-fi junkies may derive some entertainment out of the silly time killer "The Time Guardian". It's often incoherent, and is of no real substance, but it's amusing often enough, and just clunky enough, to make it adequately diverting for those with a fondness for cheese. Those intrigued by the presence of Carrie Fisher ("Star Wars" episodes IV to VI) and Dean Stockwell ('Quantum Leap') may be rather disappointed with the overall results, but if one isn't too demanding, it may put a smile on their faces. The special effects, sets, music, acting, and action sequences are mostly passable.

It takes place in the Earth of the 41st century when humans are overwhelmed by a new adversary: half organic, half machine villains called Jendiki. Fortunately, some of the humans inhabit an entire city that has the ability to travel through time. The city transports itself back to the Australia of the 1980s in an attempt to change the future, with troopers Ballard (a tough, snarling Tom Burlinson ("Flesh + Blood")) and Petra (Fisher) sent ahead as scouts to ensure that the spot chosen for landing will be safe. Of course, the Jendiki are hot on their trail, and Ballard and Petra have to deal with them as well as with crooked local cops. One good thing for Ballard is that he meets perky young Annie, played by the insanely gorgeous Nikki Coghill of the Aussie TV series 'Neighbours'.

As directed by "Mad Max 2" co-writer Brian Hannant, "The Time Guardian" can't boast any truly memorable set pieces, but it's an easy enough to take bit of fluff. Fisher does what she can with a spunky role, but Stockwell is utterly wasted in his part, the "boss" of the city. Burlinson would have fared better had he played his part with a little more humour. But Coghill is quite charming, and goes topless for a sexy swimming scene. Peter Merrill chews up the scenery as head bad guy Zuryk.

This movie may be a trifle in the end, but it does wrap itself up fairly quickly, clocking in at a brief 88 minutes. Overall it's a fair bit of fun.

Six out of 10.

It has been said that there is a world of difference between a bad movie and a boring movie. The bad movie be enjoyed for what it is, and the further it misses it's intended mark, the more likely it is to become a cult hit. The boring movie is destined for the rubbish bin of film history, to not rate a second thought from the collective conscience.

This movie is not boring, but it is very very bad. And that is gold for the lovers of the kitch, seekers of the worst, those who appreciate the fun to had from the truly bad. This movie is FUN.

You'll continually ask yourself, "What were Carrie Fisher and Dean Stockwell thinking!!", "What overacting school did Tom Burlingson go to, and why is he always angry?", "Where can I buy those costumes?", "What exactly the hell did they spend their $8 million dollar budget on?" Every Australian lover of "unique" film needs to buy a copy of this movie. They then need to show it to at least 10 friends. This NEEDS to be a cult Aussie movie.

In the end this movie is a steamer. But I'll probably watch it many more times than my "Citizen Kane", "Apocolypse Now" or "Casablanca" DVDs.

Tom Burlinson kind of went a bit beyond the quality of this film's script and budget to turn in a fairly kick butt performance for the character of Ballard. He seemed like he came out of a much higher quality film, in fact, the character felt like he was plucked right out of the first Terminator film.

Burlinson was definitely in the moment during the first battle sequence where they attempted to secure the city's pillar. I also like that he maintained a fairly hard edge throughout.

It's funny how he completely reproached Fisher's character early on and never really backed down or entirely eased up. A character like that can't exist in today's cinema, else he be classified as "toxic".

But it's just a stark reminder that the quality of media today is so awful that I had to give this film a 5 out of 10 only because it was more entertaining than a lot of the schlock released today.

To the film's credit, some of the scenes are structured pretty cool. In the night time lighting and with the right camera angles, the enemies actually sometimes look imposing, but they never get the proper screen time to be as menacing as they should be.

A few things that could have seriously helped this film is a re-edit and some serious tightening up of the entire middle section.

Having the evil cyborgs attack the town during the middle of the film in a horror-esque sequence would have gone a long ways to make the film a lot more enjoyable.

Also, a proper, dark-synth soundtrack would have added tons to the movie's atmosphere as opposed to the cheap made-for-TV soundtrack it was saddled with. It was like the film was its own biggest enemy when so much could have been done with what they already had.

Even still, Carrie Fisher and Nikki Coghill are both extremely easy-on-the-eyes, and despite not having much material to work with, they both do what they can with the material. I'm kind of shocked that Fisher didn't entirely sleep walk through her performance, but she came awfully close.

If you want a decent 80s sci-fi action flick, this certainly isn't the best of them, but Burlinson is a legit action hero in this film, and carries it on his shoulders somewhat proudly. It's not the worst way to spend an hour and half on a weekend or so.

Considering the fact that Carrie Fisher did this six years after Star Wars, I was expecting a lot more from her in this horrible movie. Her dialogue was flat and should be ranked right up there with the Star Wars Christmas special.