Past Perfect

(1996) Past Perfect SCIENCE-FICTION ACTION/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Despite it's low budget, this movie still resonates with me much more than the much well received "Looper" which is a combination of many time-traveling movies particularly from "The Terminator" movies, and "Minority Report" made 5 years later, which you execute the person before the crime is committed...that sort of thing. Stars Eric Roberts as Dylan Cooper, who's a Dirty Harry type of homicide cop who's tired letting teens that continue to practice serious criminal behavior and then are able to walk away free, because they're underage. He's then intervenes with three adults from the future who's intentions was to execute repeatable juvenile delinquents which they had already succeeded in eliminating three victims. The special effects are cheezy and the acting may be second rate, but the action sequences don't look fake which also regards actual stunt men. I also like the fact that in this film, viewers should be able to identify with it's characters as opposed to "Looper" which theirs no one really to root for.

I first rented Past Perfect because I had heard of Mark Hildreth before. After seeing it for the first time I couldn't get enough of it. I thought that the plot was great. I really loved the combination of a sci-fi/action movie. It's a movie I enjoy watching over and over again.

'Past Perfect' was one of the many dtv titles I saw back in the day and I thought it made for a decent rental at that time. I wasn't looking for much beyond action and there's some okay pieces here. However don't expect too much from this Nu-Image flick shot in Vancouver with it's b-movie plot, cast. It's 'Minority Report' done on a dime before that film existed. Less about morality and more about some cheesy goodness.

Dylan (Eric Roberts) is a cop not beyond taking the law into his own hands when he sees justice go unserved. A trio from the future justice system headed up by Stone (Nick Mancuso) have come back to do just that. Take out the guilty before they can commit their worst crimes. As both cop, punishers go about tracking down a trio of misfit teens the question becomes is it moral / right to convict people for crimes not yet committed and can people ever change.

Roberts is decent as the head cop and Mancuso no stranger to playing the bad guy does the villain (of sorts) with justice. You might recognize Yee Jee Tso, Tygh Runyan (Anti-Trust) as two of the teens and Laurie Holden (X Files) plays Roberts cop partner. The future issue is only surface level and pretty silly by the end where it starts losing steam. There's some decent stunt work, but 'Past Perfect' upon second viewing never felt much more than merely average. Though it is the first flick I've seen a hero escape a fireball explosion sans pants.

Curious as a precursor to 'Minority Report', this action thriller focuses on a maverick cop who discovers the existence of policemen from the future who have been sent back in time to make the "past perfect" by eliminating future criminals during their teen years. It is an intriguing premise, and the film does well at only gradually divulging its sci-fi ideas. In fact, the first twenty or so minutes play out as a standard police detective action film before the time travelers emerge. And they are a creepy bunch at that, wearing synthetic skin and robotic arms; the first execution for future crimes is particularly eerie as we only hear it with glowing red light visible from a distance. The film trips up though when it tries to explain all its pseudoscience in greater detail with plot holes and inconsistencies in terms of the butterfly effects of altering the past and what happens when their bodies get exposed to air. There are also some crazy stereotype Neo-Nazi characters whose soul purpose in the narrative seems to be to provide an over-the-top chase scene through a restaurant kitchen (where else?). That said, the film does have some very novel chase sequences, including an extended one in which the protagonist has to work out whether he is driving through real dangers or merely holograms set by the future cops. It is generally an exciting movie too, filmed at an appropriately frantic pace.

I viewed this movie late at night on a "premium" cable channel. The movie was horrible, not only was every scene poorly acted it was incredibly predictable. When I say poorly acted I mean to say the worst. The teen actors were unbelievable and delivered their lines horribly and could not have been anymore sterotypical in their manurisms and actions. The bad guys were unbelievable, what squabbling losers would produce crack or some other hard drug in North America far away from the raw supplies. Why would they have boxes full of guns, loaded no less, lying around for no use. If they have this hyper explosive crack lab setup one would think that security would be a little tighter. My suggestion: If you want to keep the Tipper Gore "save our youth" theme lose the action and melodramatics. If you want to make a late night action movie lose the crusade theme and add more of the following: sex, drugs, and action scenes. It'll be bad but at least not horrible. In a word it was chessy. It sent cold chills up my back.