Time After Time

"Time After Time" was one of those movies of which I didn't even knew it existed. It certainly is a movie that deserves more recognition for this movie truly was one of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a while.

The story its concept is already one factor why I liked this movie so much. In the late 19th century The scientist H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has build a time machine which his good friend John Leslie Stevenson aka Jack the Ripper (David Warner) uses when the police has just discovered his true identity. Ripper travels to the year 1979 and Wells, who feels responsible for his escape to the in his eyes future Utopian society of 1979, follows him to the future, in an attempt to catch him and bring him to justice and prevent him from making more victims in the future. I highly enjoyed this original story and concept and thought that it was perfectly executed by talented director Nicholas Meyer, who made his debut as a director with this movie. After this he made two more well known and widely appreciated Star Trek movies; "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" which by the fans are often regarded as the best in the series of Star Trek movies.

The movie has a fantastic and typical '70's atmosphere which I always adore in movies. It's also filled with some typical '70's tense chase sequences, which are brilliantly filmed and edited. The cinematography itself is also at times refreshingly original, especially the perfectly done opening sequence of the movie in which Jack The Ripper makes another victim.

But the movie isn't just tense and original, it also is highly entertaining and it features some good humor. Of course having an 19th century main character who for the first time takes a look in the future 1979 is already good for some laughs. Such as the time were he visits a McDonald's or comes up with the fake alias Sherlock Holmes when he gets in contact with the police. There are countless 'little' fun parts like this in the movie which makes this movie a pleasant and entertaining one to watch as well as a tense nail biting thriller.

Malcolm McDowell is extremely good and convincing as a 19th century gentleman and scientist H.G. Wells. Honestely he plays his best role since "A Clockwork Orange". David Warner is also perfectly cast as Jack The Ripper. He's a perfectly scary and mysterious gentleman. Warner is perhaps well known to everyone for playing Spicer Lovejoy in the 1997 movie "Titanic". The movie also features a at the time still very young Mary Steenburgen in one of her very first movie roles. She also was superb and the talent was already showing. One year later she even already won an Oscar for the movie "Melvin and Howard".

The movie further more features a highly good and underrated musical score by well known Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa.

This movie is terribly underrated in terms of how well known it is. This movie deserves to be seen by everybody for this movie is an entertaining one as well as a tense thriller, with some excellent performances by the cast and good directing by Nicholas Meyer.

8/10

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'Time After Time' is a good old fashioned entertaining adventure with plenty of thrills and a few chuckles. Fans of H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine' and Ripper buffs will enjoy this movie the most, which covers similar territory to many of the stories of Kim Newman ('Anno Dracula',etc.) Like Newman's work it features a playful and irreverent attitude to 19th genre fiction and history. Malcolm McDowell and David Warner are both outstanding as friends turned enemies Wells and Jack The Ripper, who end up traveling to present day (that is late Seventies) San Francisco. Both actors are roughly the same age, emerged in the 60s, became well known for appearances in two of the early Seventies most controversial movies ('A Clockwork Orange' and 'Straw Dogs' respectively), and after this movie ended up appearing in all kinds of dumb action and straight to video b-grade trash, with sadly very few exceptions. 'Time After Time' features some of their best work, and the two obviously relished working together on such an original and imaginative project. Mary Steenburgen, an actress who has made little impression on me one way or the other, is more than adequate as Wells' love interest, and the supporting cast includes character actor Charles Cioffi (of 'Shaft' and countless TV shows). 'Time After Time' is simply one of the most entertaining SF thrillers ever made, and highly recommended to anyone who wants an intelligent and witty fun ride. A great movie well worth a rental.

Having a premise of HG Wells ( Yes that one ) pursue Jack the ripper ( Ditto ) to the 20th century has all the makings of a really camp and totally crap film , but despite the outrageous idea TIME AFTER TIME is a very enjoyable fantasy .

Unlike most time travel films ( THE TERMINATOR , BACK TO THE FUTURE not to mention several DOCTOR WHO and STAR TREK stories ) TIME AFTER TIME doesn`t really concern itself with concepts like the blinovitch limitation effect ie a temporal paradox , instead it concentrates on how a radical 19th century idealist like Wells would have found 20th century " Utopia " and how he would have been sickened by it . It`s here that the film works best with Wells travelling through the time vortex listening to the history of the 20th century and the scene with Wells and Jack watching television . It`s also interesting to note that the movie`s most amusing moments ( And they are genuinely amusing )are when Wells notices the difference in sexual mores of the present day . The film is much weaker when it switches to " Hero tracks down serial killer " type thriller but that`s not really what the film is about .

Looking like a nerdy Richard Thomas, Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells in this highly imaginative sci-fi thriller, that has Wells fast forwarded from 1893 to 1979, in a quest to find Jack the Ripper. The film's screenplay, direction, cinematography, editing, and costumes are all top notch. And Mary Steenburgen gives a fine performance in a support role.

"Time After Time" has an ever so slight comic book, tongue in cheek, feel to the plot, suggestive of Batman and Robin. Yet, right behind this entertaining, if somewhat superficial, facade is a serious message that is both timely and credible: no matter how much society advances in its technology, our world will always have two things ... violence and love.

Easily one of the most charming science fiction films made in terms of subtle humour, romantic elements, and the bridging of today with yesterday, Time After Time tells the story of English author H. G. Wells coming to 1970's San Francisco in search of Jack the Ripper by way of his time machine. Sure the story has some holes, but in many ways it is extremely literate and thought-provoking. Malcolm McDowell excels in his role as the author looking for a better place in the future that ultimately finds that life has degenerated rather than progressed....at least in Wellsian terms. McDowell plays the Victorian literary giant with restraint and subtlety rather than hamminess. The rest of the cast is also very good. David Warner makes for a good Jack the Ripper. I am not sure I ever saw him give a bad performance. He seems to gravitate toward roles of an evil nature. Mary Steenburgen also does well in playing a woman who yearns to be a woman in the working world. The special effects are not so special, but the film is nicely filmed. Director Nicolas Meyer does a workman-like job with the material while also bringing forth many social issues from the script. More than anything, the film for me is a commentary on the state of our civilization. At every corner, on every channel, one can find violence and sex... in the film, H. G. Wells is disgusted with the evolution of man over the 20th century....is it with good reason? Would the real H. G. Wells be shocked at our "Utopia"? A thinking, yet entertaining film to be sure.