Customer Reviews

Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision [VHS]

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

 

 

Although I believe this was a straight to video release, it really doesn't look it. The special effects are good, and the film quality is also top notch. It's been quite a few years since I saw the original timecop, but I'm sure that this one is exponentially better. Jason Scott Lee is great as the hero of the film, combining humor, drama, and martial arts.

Basically, there are those who believe that if it were possible to travel back in time, and change things for the better, then it should be done, regardless of what changes may occur in the present. If you could go back in time and kill hitler before the world war, would you? That is the premise in this film. It's easy to say that you shouldn't change history, unless it affects you personally.

Jason Scott Lee kills the wife of the bad guy, and so the bad guy decides to travel back in time and wipe out the existance of the entire time cop agency. And so, he must be stopped. But in the end, it's surprising how exactly the bad guy is stopped. I'll leave it at that. Check it out. A good renter.

It's left wide open for additional time cop films, which would be interesting to see. However, nothing is left unanswered or unfinished.

Okay, I decided on this movie after a bit of apprehension. I mean, the only reasons I even considered watching it was because: 1. Jason Scott Lee is from Hawaii (like me) 2. We both went to the same high school (really!) 3. I always try to support Asian American actors, even if they don't usually get good roles.

So, with that in mind, I really wasn't expecting much. In fact, I thought it would be worse than the Van Damme original, which, although one of his better movies, was still a waste of a couple of hours of my life. I mean, straight to DVD sequel could never match a big-budget Hollywood movie, right? Well, I'm glad to say I was wrong. This is actually a pretty darned decent movie--better than the original, that's for sure.

Thomas Ian Griffith and Jason Scott Lee are both great. Their roles are complex, as there is a lot of grey area in terms of their being good and evil, but I thought they handled it well. Unfortunately, I still had some trouble seeing JSL as anything other than Bruce Lee in "Dragon," which wasn't helped by his fight scenes, where he still looks like the Dragon.

Special effects were your typical Sci-Fi Channel stuff, nothing to write home about. Costumes and sets seemed a bit forced in period scenes, so it didn't come across as very natural, but, hey, like I said, Sci-Fi Channel stuff. In general, the acting was very good, all things considered, with only a few actors coming up lame (see Tava Smiley who is hot, but couldn't act her way out of a paper bag).

The action sequences were kind of forced into the script (some of it didn't seem terribly necessary), but when it happens, JSL and TIG are great. And while JSL is great in his fight scenes, it was kind of sad to think that he'll be relegated to these kinds of roles because of his ethnicity. And while he does need some range to pull off this role, not much acting is required, and he is a better actor than this movie allows him to be. TIG, of course, is a wonderful villain...now if you could only get his role from "The Karate Kid" out of your head...

I actually enjoyed the story, as I like time travel movies, and while it can be bewildering figuring out what's going on as the characters jump back and forth in time, the main idea of the movie--If we could go back in time, should we be/are we morally obligated to right the wrongs of the past?--comes through.

If you're going to watch this expecting a Hollywood summer blockbuster movie, you will be sorely disappointed. If you love the Sci-Fi Channel, like I do, and want to watch a grade "A" b-movie, this is it! The cast is great, the story interesting and the action entertaining. Adjusted for the kind of movie it is (straight to DVD), I give it a solid four stars. A pleasant surprise and one of the best direct to video movies I've ever seen.

I am going to have to disagree with most of the other reviews on here, by saying that it was awesome. But to do so I must use evidence, so if you haven't seen the movie I am going to tell my favorite parts, which may ruin it for you.
I rented it looking for martial arts, which was good, but `I think' ruined by the directing and editing. If you are looking for martial arts and Jason Scott Lee "The Dragon" blows it away!

Reasons to like Time Cop 2: The Berlin Decision

Yes it has a bad script, editing and directing, but some of the ideas presented are very cool and have never been presented in a movie before (to my knowledge.)

-When the Bad Guy from the future comes back to kill the good guy of the past so that he can stop him from killing his wife in the future, the good guy takes the bad guy from the past hostage and threatens to kill him-which would kill the bad guy of the future and stop him from killing the good guy of the past. Something I thought was very cool.

-When the good and bad guy from the future disappear at the end, it was because the fight they had in front of their former selves had such a profound impact that their former selves chose a different line of work. Which means that the fight never happened but did. Weird but cool!

-And even though its been done before they have the good and bad guys both fighting for a cause that the viewer can relate to. Its very "gray" as they say, and I'm still not sure who I would of sided with. They ask some questions like

-if you could have killed Hitler before he started the holocaust, would you? If you did maybe someone else would step up and done even a more horrible thing, inspired by his death?
Or if you could have stopped the 9/11 bombers, would you? If you did would Airport security not be stepped up, and an even worse thing happened?

This is one of those movies that kind of snowballs into a really great movie. It starts off okay and you think it's just a sequel to get the old fans back, but becomes a great movie in and of itself.

Director Steve Boyum took the first TIMECOP off the shelf to bring us a non-sequel, TIMECOP2. The original starred Jean Claude Van Damme in a straight time travel adventure story that was long on action and thankfully short on paradoxes. In the latter, Jason Scott Lee is the newest timecop whose duty it is to preserve the timeline. Thomas Ian Griffith is a rogue timecop who seeks to alter the past to change his present in a manner more to his liking. Any film that deals with time travel usually leads eventually to paradoxes. The various STAR TREK incarnations had many episodes on that theme. Here, Lee has to confront a plastic past that gets more slippery with each change. Lee, in 1940 in Berlin, kills the wife of rogue Griffith to prevent her from killing Adolph Hitler. It is ironic that the argument that Griffith gives for killing the Fuhrer--millions of lives need not be lost--seems more logical than maintaining the integrity of the timeline. The film boils down to two elements: a chase between Lee to stop Griffith and an ongoing debate between the two as to whose logic is more convincing. TIMECOP2 is to be commended for not allowing the puzzling aspect of time travel paradoxes to get lost in a maze of special effects, which this film surely has. But what TIMECOP2 presents is a gaudy action fx film that has just enough of a philosophical underpinning to make you think of what you just saw even as you hit the 'off' button. Only the better science fiction films do this.

I'll admit it - I'm not a big fan of the original Timecop: too much conspiring and not enough action, as far as I'm concerned. While the direct-to-video sequel of Jean-Claude Van Damme's most successful film lacks the big-budget clout, it comes through by way of fully utilizing the resources it has, by not trying to confuse the audience about its subject matter, and by providing a better balance between plot, philosophy, and action...not to mention by simply being Jason Scott Lee's first real martial arts film since Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Die-hard fans of the original movie will most likely be disappointed that the film doesn't even mention Max Walker or the events of the first movie, but non-devotees of Van Damme (or, potentially, the comic) and general action/sci-fi fans ought to find plenty to enjoy about this one.

The story: in the year 2025, the Time Enforcement Commission continues its tracking down of those who illegally travel through time, with top operative Ryan Chan (Lee) leading the charge. When the wife of fellow agent Brandon Miller (Thomas Ian Griffith, The Karate Kid Part III) is killed during his attempt to stop World War II from happening, he takes his vengeance by altering or eradicating the timelines of the TEC community, and only Ryan has a chance of going back through history to stop him.

Before you start worrying, let me assure you that the production values of the film are top-notch for a DTV production: the occasional CGI may be subpar by some peoples' standards, but director Steve Boyum (Supercross) did a fine job of bringing seven different time periods to life without unwanted technical snafus or anachronisms - everything is in place, well-shot, and legitimately fun to look at. What's more, the acting is good enough to have caught me by surprise: I had no doubts of being impressed by Jason Scott Lee, but Thomas Ian Griffith went beyond my expectations by proving that he still had what it takes to portray a good multi-layered villain. The rest of the cast consists mainly of the TEC crew: John Beck (Sleeper) as the chief, TV veteran Mary Page Keller ("Baby Talk", "Ryan's Hope") as the nagging doc, and Tava Smiley ("General Hospital") as Ryan's partner/flirt all go beyond the anticipations of DTV drama, as does Kenneth Choi ("Samurai Girl") as Ryan's late father.

Though there are fewer martial arts scenes in the film than I usually prefer, what's there is pretty good. Sure, early on, Lee and Griffith engage in an unpromising Steven Seagal-esque `pattycake fight', but beyond that, it's cool sailing: it doesn't look as though Lee had let up on his jeet kune do training since the Bruce Lee movie, as he appears in fine form throughout the remaining four battles, which include a neat, unexpected 19th century stickfight with a trio of nasty policemen. The climatic Ryan vs. Brandon encounter is surprising good as tit-for-tat fights go: as an unsung star of kicks and punches, Thomas Griffith proves himself capable of going toe-to-toe with Lee in a finely-staged battle devoid of stunt doubles and featuring an awesome flying kick at the end. Other than that, this movie marks the final on-screen fight (albeit a very short one) of "WMAC Masters" alumnus Mer-Mer Chen; if you're gonna go, you might as well leave by kicking the lead villain in the puss.

The film's commentary is a bit more philosophical about the responsibilities involved with having history at your fingertips than its prequel was, but tastefully so. As far as I'm concerned, this sequel is in every way the equal and superior of its source movie, and that's a rarity considering their vast differences in production and presentation. Again, Van Damme fans will probably want to divert their attention someplace else, but fans of Lee and the time-travelling/kung fu combo ought to definitely check this one out for an enjoyable evening.

I read the reviews on this site and thought that I'd go rent the video. This one is definitely more "Sci-Fi" than TimeCop 1. This movie needed a little more background on the changes that occured, like "the war" which was not really explained until the ending text which said that it was a "US/China war"....

Anyway, it shows that even if you went back in time to change major events in history that things don't necessarily become better. (for an example, see Butterfly Effect)...

I thought that it was a very good movie, but the ending seemed like it had to be rushed. All of the information they give us about what will happen to all the characters just ruined it for me. If they took this screenplay and exchanged it for the one written for TimeCop 1, they would've had a much better TimeCop 1 movie. The screenplay was very interesting, but the direction was far from being as good.

There were a few things that were done that didn't seem to have an impact on anything until the ending text at the end of the movie. They should've incorporated some of that into the movie and made it about 100 minutes instead of 80. The movie could've used that extra bit of time.

To summarize, this movie explored things that I wished they did in TimeCop 1 (like if a TimeCop ran into the "same-matter-same-space" problem and had his existance erased including all his arrests, the following another person into the time wake, etc.) Very cool stuff, but this movie should've been directed by someone like Adam Nimoy who could've given it the direction it deserved.

Best:

1) It gives you a lot more to think about on the subject of timelines and paradoxes (if only to correct the film's apparent mistakes).
2) It has a "Stargate: SG1" sensibility, with the central (time) control center concept.
3) The special effects (and lighting) teams whipped up some cool visuals.
4) There's a couple of behind-the-scenes documentaries.

Worst:

1) Martial arts and time travel is an unusual blend that doesn't always work. Fight scenes were inserted at times for no good reason.
2) The movie is very hard to understand if you follow every detail (but it can be fun to try).
3) The actor's didn't always seem to be trying hard to be convincing in their roles.

Recommendation:

As a time travel movie, this one is above average. As a sci-fi and/or action movie, it's just average. There are enough new twists on old ideas to make it interesting for casual viewing. Get this one cheaper than retail whenever possible.

Not as entertaining as Time Cop I with Van Dammn ,but it still stands on it`s own as a good action Sci-Fi movie.Jason Scoot Lee does a great job as the time cop.

I got my copy from Amazon seller "I Feel So Used Books" who went above and beyond the call of duty when I had trouble with the first DVD I ordered.

Since I'm reviewing JCVD films even though he's not in it I'm going to review Timecop 2 The Berlin Decision made in 2003 went direct to DVD directed by Steve Boyum he mostly done stunt work he knew what he was doing when it came to the fights cause this movie has a lot of good martial arts Boyum has done a lot of TV work he directed Motocrossed I don't know how a Disney TV movie qualified him him to direct but whatever. I know a lot of people hate Timecop 2 but I think it's a decent sequel. It's not like they killed JCVD off like another sequel JCVD wasn't involved in. But I won't go there. It's not even the worst direct to DVD sequel I've seen. It stars Jason Scott Lee as Ryan Chan Thomas Ian Griffith as Brandon Miller. Story is it's 2025 The TEC is still around as well there is a check & balence called The Historical Society to make sure TEC agents don't go & change the past but Historical Society member Brandon Miller & his wife do they try to kill Adolf Hitler. Even if Ryan Chan doesn't like it he he must do his job which results in Miller's wife being killed. Brandon Miller finds a way out of prison later on & he's wiping out other TEC agents like bloodlines like they never existed & Ryan Chan tries to go back when Miller escaped we also get a good fight with this big prisoner. I thought the battles through time were cool. The scene where he sees his mother in her 20's is funny "Do I know you?" Ryan " Yeah you will." Ryan finds out Brandon Miller killed his father back in 2002. Jason Scott Lee & Thomas Ian Griffith have a good fight but the ending just feels like a TV movie. Although not as skilled as Peter Hymes as a director for a direct to DVD movie Steve Boyum made it look like it had decent budget. Jason Scott Lee was good. Thomas Ian Griffith was no Ron Silver but he was decent villain. He had his moments. This was definitely a popcorn movie a ok time passer. The remake of Timecop is BS they should just do what this movie did set it further in the future. I'm not looking forward to it there remaking it cause it's out dated which everything is out dated in 5 years. Timecop 2 is a passable sequel.

the first movie was based on a corrupt politician trying to change the past so he can become president. this movie is based on what would happen if a person goes back in time to change improtant historical events. it's moral vs. logic. jason scott lee's jeet kune do action sequences are up to par. meaning, jeet kune do is more on the lines of street fighting. you're not going to see any flipping or flying this movie. thank goodness. the rest of the cast could be changed with better actors. yea, this movie was dvd release only but is a pretty good movie to watch. if you're a hardcore van damme fan, then don't get it but if you don't give a hoot and want to watch a time traveling martial arts movie with second grade acting but with an interesting story bethind it, then get it. i would.