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 the sort of escapist fantasy that you just need to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy--and very enjoyable this film certainly is. Additionally, it's quite romantic and is a movie I strongly recommend you watch.

The film begins in London during the time of Jack the Ripper (David Warner). Coincidentally, the famous writer H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has just built a working time machine and the Ripper uses it to avoid being caught by the police. But Wells knows he cannot allow this maniac to escape and travels to 1979 in search of the murderer. There, Wells falls in love with a lady (Mary Steenburgen) and enlists her help to find the killer.

This movie works for a variety of reasons. It's certainly one of McDowell's best performances and it's nice to see him being vulnerable and more multidimensional than his other famous roles (such as in "A Clockwork Orange"). The film also looks and sounds wonderful (with a lovely score by Miklós Rózsa) and is wonderfully directed by Nicholas Meyer. Well worth seeing and a rousing adventure that both men and women will likely enjoy.

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.

H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) follows Jack the Ripper (David Warner) into 1970's San Franscisco, after Jack Aka John Stevenson steals Well's Time machine. H.G. falls in love with spunky feminist, Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), while they try to stop the Ripper from striking again. Just a fun quaint little film with great acting all around and an atmosphere of wonder. The best parts deal with Wells getting accustomed to his new surroundings. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a very young Corey Feldman in a very small part as a youngster who's the first to see Wells upon his arrival in the Seventies.

My Grade: B

DVD Extras: Commentary with Director Nicholas Meyer & Actor Malcolm McDowell; an article on time travel in movies; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "The Time Mace (1960) & "The Time Machine" (2002)

"Time After Time" is an interesting movie. It has the legendary H.G. Wells chasing Jack the Ripper through time, from London in 1893 to San Francisco in 1979. Wells is played by Malcolm McDowell, as a young idealistic visionary and scientific genius, who looks upon the future as Utopia. (How many movies can you remember where McDowell was the good guy?) Jack the Ripper is played by David Warner, who exudes something cold and frightening as the infamous killer. While the future hardly turns out to be Wells' imagined Utopia, Jack embraces the prevalent violence of the 20th century. In "From Hell," Jack the Ripper said he had invented the 20th century. "Time After Time" gives that statement a kind of significance. The movie may not offer much to the many theories surrounding the Jack the Ripper mystery, but it's still enjoyable.