Customer Reviews

Time Quest [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Have you wondered why manned space missions just petered out after we got to the moon? Do you suspect things might have been different if JFK hadn't died in 1963?

Well, according to this extremely thoughtful direct-to-video SF movie, you're right. See, a guy comes back from the future and prevents JFK's assassination, and the result is . . . well, that's the movie, so I'd better not spoil anything for you.

As has been noted, the film does jump around. But it's not confusing at all; in fact it's extraordinarily well handled. The jumping around is part of the process of exposition, and that's where most of the drama in the film lies. At any rate you won't have any trouble knowing which scenes are happening when.

The alternate history of the Kennedys is also quite well handled. JFK is respected but not worshipped or whitewashed -- and in general, far from lionizing the Kennedy clan, the film takes a fairly gritty and politically realistic view of them. This is a future that could actually have happened, if only . . .

Parts of it are laugh-out-loud funny, too. I won't spoil any of _that_ stuff either, but you'll enjoy all the little references to what-would-have-become-of-so-and-so-in-this-alternate-history.

If you enjoy time-travel and/or alternate-history stories, you'll like this movie. (And as others have noted, it doesn't make any difference whether or not you're a 'Democrat'. For whatever it's worth, I'm politically small-l libertarian myself.)

Until I saw Timequest, I thought that Terminator 2 was the one of the best movies ever made, and by far the best time travel movie ever made, distantly followed by the "Back to the Future" series.

I couldn't believe it, but Timequest edged out T2! And I almost didn't rent it, even after reading the synopsis. I really like SF, but time travel is difficult to do well, and that goes double for films. I was worried that this would be a turkey. Boy was I pleasantly surprised!

Looking at the other reviews, you will either love or hate Timequest. So... how can you tell beforehand?

First, if November 22, 1963 is etched on your mind like 9/11, then this movie will hit you like a ton of bricks. (I was just a little kid, but I still remember walking home from school that afternoon).

Second, if you need lots of eye candy (explosions and such), then you'll hate it - the movie moves rather slowly, though there are many parts with unbearable tension.

Third, if you liked the funny references to historical people --as was done in Forrest Gump, you'll like that part of it.

Forth, if you hated Forrest Gump and loved T2 for the same reasons I did, then you will like Timequest. Forrest Gump was the philosophical opposite of T2. hint: the floating feather vs. "no fate". If you understand that, and if you want your movies to make you think and feel deeply, then you'll love Timequest.

I bought this movie used because (a) I love time travel movies and (b) it was cheap. What I didn't expect was it being so damn good! Love the way it was cut especially the different looks (i.e. the news broadcasts of 1963 and 2001). I thought the asides were cool too. Dan Rather still an obsure local newsman, John Lennon and The Beatles virtually forgotten, RKF and MLK the future president and vice president respectively, and Bill Clinton a racy book author. Would love to see other movies of this type with the altered timelines themes. Reminiscent of the original Star Trek episode of time travel/altered timelines, "City on the Edge of Forever".

Timequest shows what the world would have possibly been like had President John F.Kennedy had not been assassinated. There is a time-traveler who warns President Kennedy that he will be killed in Dallas within a few hours which changes the course of history.This amazing political fiction is based on speculation & facts. Due to lack of a largely known cast,this film was overlooked yet surpasses many high-budget science fiction thrillers. This is a great movie. Most Republicans wouldn't like it as it confirms their worst nightmares of what may have happened had President Kennedy & his brother Robert Kennedy continued in office. Vietnam ended before it could begin,etc.
The actor who played the father on "The Waltons" as the time traveler. This is terrific science fiction. This movie is for anyone who enjoys the an excellent portrayal of "what if JFK had not been assassinated ?". The time travel & paradoxes that time travel & the changes in one thing that causes many changes is an amazing display of creativity by the writer.This is a must-see.

Great film not produced by any of the major film production studios. With Bruce Campbell, Ralph Waite, and Larry Drake as FBI chief J Edgar Hoover.

How many times have you ever thought What if...? This film portrays what may have occured if President Kennedy was not assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Hints at how this nation's history may have changed from sending a man to the moon and the Vietnam war. Mixes real facts with a portrayal of what could have occurred.

I came away from this film thinking that if only events had occured as was portrayed, perhaps we would be better off than we are now with the threat of nuclear war, clandestine operations of goverment organizations, and a program which remains stagnant due to political involvement and constant budget cuts.

This film gave a real vision of what this country could have become - and still can without the antics of our current political climate.

I'm sorry to burst another reviewer's bubble, but as a Conservative/Libertarian I enjoyed this movie immensely.

The Democratic Party of today bares little to no resemblence to the party of the time of JFK.

I enjoyed this movie, and liked the idea that had JFK lived we would have colonized the Moon and beyond.

Also, how could avoiding Viet-Nam be a bad thing?

And Martin Luther King as Vice President of the U.S.A. is a bold move and welcome outcome of preventing the assasination of the President.

For those who are fans of Time Travel, and What-ifs. I highly recommend this movie. It's fun, it's not complicated, it tells a compelling story.

Picked this one up on a whim due to the presence of low-budget film favorite Bruce Campbell (appearing here in a brief bit just to signal to genre buffs that this little film is worth checking out), and moreover because I was impressed that a filmmaker would actually believe that this often-thought-of concept was a concept that he or she could do better than anyone else.

And as it turns out, this little low budget film manages to tell a solid story that will appeal to anyone who enjoys the old or new "Outer Limits" series.

Low budget or no budget films are rarely perfect and this is no exception. Yet so much of this film is perfect, from a highly effective recreation of the look of the early 1960s, to a range of excellent main and supporting cast members (fans of Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks will recognize some faces here in the supporting roles), and -- not least important when making a film about Texas and the Kennedys -- excellent voice work. The bizarro Kennedy family accent sounds entirely natural - something that even high-budget epics about the Kennedys have not managed to achieve.

Beyond the realistic 1960s environement, the generally good cast -- including the lead actress who reminds me of Linda Fiorentino -- this is a sweet story whose feature length running time manages to give what short "Outer Limits" episodes often do not -- time to revel in the alternate world that it so effectively creates.

TimeQuest is the kind of indie low budget film that, like a college level theatrical production, can either be an unexpected pleasure, or a complete waste of time. This is firmly in the former category, no question. My rating of five stars acknowledges that this is not a high budget feature film; it is a five star indie film in the sense that it transcends its budget and my expectations, much to my delight.

Look, if you're not a Boomer --if you don't remember where you
were when the news came in from Dallas on November 22, 1963,
this won't make much sense to you.

If you remember that time, when a generation saw a hero cut
down in his prime, then this film will reach you.

We now know that JFK was a hero with feet of clay, but in this
Alternate History, he got the chance to move on to real greatness.

This film gives us a view of a world in which 57,000+ Americans
(plus God knows how many Vietnamese) didn't have to die. It
gives us a view of a world in which JFK didn't end up as some
contemptous horndog-womanizer. It gives us a view of a world
in which Robert F. Kennedy wasn't gunned down in LA and Martin
Luther King Jr. became a Vice President of the USA.

If you can remember where you were when Walter Cronkite told
the world that the hope of a generation had been snuffed out,
this is a film filled with healing images.

No, it isn't perfect. The exposition of the plot is more
convoluted than it needs to be, but it gives us a glimps of
a world in which the landing of a man on the moon (yeah, it's
still a man and not a woman) is a moment when all of humanity
celebrates.

What can I say? I was in a school classroom on November 22nd,
1963. The man who gave us the Peace Corps and the challenge
of landing on the moon died that day. This film prevents
his assassination and the character assassination that followed
a few years later.

We live in an age brimming with anti-heroes. This film is
an allegory in which JFK DOESN'T become one of them.

Temporal paradoxes alone do not a great movie make. I'm a zealot for time-travel stories myself, but this one seemed thin and makeshift. And the hoked-up baloney "spark" between the time traveler and Jackie Kennedy was ludicrous, and ludicrously played.... I wanted the movie to succeed, I was really rooting for it. At times it looked like it was going somewhere. (The "jumping around" stuff does not bother me. One can follow the plot.)

It would have been okay as a half-hour "Twilight Zone" episode, I think, with 99% of the gooey sentimentality deleted.

What if JFK had not been assassinated in Dallas on 11/22/63? What would have happened? TIME QUEST, reminiscent of an OUTER LIMITS or TWILIGHT ZONE episode, is a daring and evocative look at the powerful Kennedy family and what might have happened had JFK lived. A time traveler from some future (played harmlessly by Ralph Waite) appears in the Presidential suite in Dallas on 11/22/63, and informs Jacqueline Kennedy about her husband's fate. Kennedy himself is then brought in, along with younger brother Bobby, and in spite of the absurdity of this time traveler's claims, they believe him, thus sending the US into a time of peace, world harmony and "Camelot."
Victor Slezak doesn't look like JFK, but he does remind you of him, and his performance is passionate and controlled; Caprice Bennedetti as Jackie comes across more like a porno queen but she still has a dignity and charm; Victor Grant is an impassioned and feisty Bobby Kennedy; Barry Corbin a blustery and inept Lyndon Johnson; Larry Drake has a brilliant brief appearance as crossdressing J. Edgar Hoover; Rick Gianisi is the third Kennedy child, James; and good old Bruce Campbell makes a brief appearance as an Oliver Stone like director who plans on making a movie exposing the conspiracy of 11/22/63.
The film jumps around from different times, sometimes in black and white, and overall, for a low budget film, it's quite well made, and it can't help but be intriguing.