Timescape (1992)

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film came up on my IMDb recommendations and i decided to check it out not expecting much. Wow, was I surprised. The film begins with the pace and feel of an afternoon TV movie, albeit one a bit more dark in tone and mysterious. Ben is a hotel manager and widower, his wife died in a car accident years ago and he is bringing up their daughter as a single dad. His wife's father blames him for his daughter's death, for running away from the wreck. That's a pretty deep jumping off point and from there some mysterious visitors arrive at Ben's hotel and turn his world upside down. I don't like to spoil plots of films too much but from there on in, the film becomes intriguing and gripping right until the end. The cinematography actually really stood out at times too - particularly the scenes after the meteorite hits and the way the story was put together especially the ending is a great example of using cinema as an art form, with minimal exposition and a beautiful, incongruous ending. Highly recommended.

Timescape is a charming, fairly overlooked early 90's bit of escapism. It's directed by David Twohy (his first feature) a guy known for super fun, out there sci fi stuff, like Below, The Arrival, A Perfect Getaway and the Riddick franchise. Here he reigns it in a bit in a family cemeteries story of time travel and intrigue, but loses none of the invigorating nature of storytelling found in his work. Jeff Daniels, an actor who grew on me immensely in the last few years and who I now consider one of my favourites, is excellent as Ben Wilson, a blue collar single father fixing up an old inn with his young daughter Allison (Ariana Richards of Jurassic Park!). They get strange visitors who appear out of nowhere and seem to be in their town for a very specific, ominous reason. They are odd, spacey weirdos led by a flamboyant old bird (Marilyn Lightstone) and soon Ben suspects not only are they not from the region, but not even from the same time as them. Daniels plays the Everyman so well and carries the film with his skills. Ben has a tragic past involving the passing of his wife, and is forced to deal with a tyrannical father in law who blames him, wants to take custody of Allison, and also just happens to be a judge. Richards, younger here than in Jurassic Park, is super talented and intuitive beyond her years and lights up every frame, especially with the wonderful chemistry her and Daniels have. Vague disaster looms over their town and Ben is forced to uncover the secrets that the mysterious 'tourists' hold, and use the powers of time to navigate himself, Allison and the entire town to safety. The dimension bending third act is given down to earth, thought out reverence that treats its audience with respect, challenging them and aiming to please at the same time. "There is purpose to Time, you know... Keeps everything from happening all at once", one of the travelling strangers imparts to Ben. Indeed. It's a thoroughly fun piece, and should have a little more recognition than it does these days.

Because it seems that only the viewers who were positive about this film have reacted thus far, I feel compelled to hand over my own, once again grouchy contribution. First of all, the way time traveling is portrayed here is laughably besides any possible reality. Of course, most time travel movies suffer in this regard, but in Timescape they take it far too seriously. Some reviewers talk about a witty, intelligent story that will make you think. Well, no, it rather makes me sleep. Jeff Daniels is very middle of the road and the disaster groupies, though coming from the future, do not make a smart and well-prepared impression, to say the least.

This is a good science fiction film for all the people whojust don't want to see great special effects. Jeff Daniels is superb in his part. The script works very well and there are a lot of exciting ideas. Really an enjoyable tv-film.****/*****