Starring
Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen, Charles Cioffi,
Kent Williams, Patti D'Arbanville, Joseph Maher. Directed by Nicholas
Meyer. (1979/112 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
Review
by Mr. Pawsđ
For
Malcolm McDowell, the shadow of A Clockwork Orange has always
loomed large (or DeLarge...yuk, yuk, yuk). On this side of the
Atlantic, anyway, that movie pretty-much cemented him as a bad guy
the same way William Shatner will always be a starship captain. That being said, there
was sort-of a poetic symmetry when McDowell was tapped to kill
Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations.
In the 70s, McDowell
was mostly known to American audiences for his uninhibited performance as
Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange and, to a lesser extent,
the horse-fisting, sister-banging titular lunatic in Caligula. So 1979's Time After Time was a bit
of a revelation. Here was McDowell, not only the hero, but meek,
refined, almost childlike in his naivety and - shock of shocks -
a completely charming leading man. It's a wonderful performance that showed he
could play a fish-out-of-water just as convincingly as a sadistic
thug.
 |
| "It's colonoscopy time, ol' chap." |
McDowell
plays a fictionalized version of H.G. Wells, who in 1893 builds a
time machine and shows it off to a few colleagues during a dinner
party. One of them, John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner),
also happens to be the notorious Jack the Ripper, who just claimed
his latest victim prior to arriving. When the police show up soon
afterwards, Stevenson avoids capture by using the machine to escape
into the future. When the machine returns, Wells uses the same
coordinates and follows him to modern day San Francisco with the hopes of
bringing Stevenson back to answer for his crimes. Stevenson, however,
feels right at home in the future, which is a more violent
world than the utopia Wells had always envisioned. He has no intent
of returning and soon continues his murderous ways.
 |
| Nothing on TV. |
Time
After Time is also noteworthy for being the directorial debut of
Nicholas Meyer, who'd later be tapped to save the Star Trek
franchise from itself...twice. Here, he directs his own script with
workmanlike skill. There isn't a lot of flash, but it's certainly a
lot of fun. Similar to what he'd do with Star Trek II, he puts
greater emphasis on character relationships and an engaging
narrative than wowing us with visual flash. The detective story
elements, contemporary social commentary and charming romance
between Wells and Amy (Mary Steenburgen) more than make up for the
silly special effects (which were quaint even in 1979).
Afterwards,
Malcolm McDowell mostly went back to playing weirdos and bad guys
(including a lot of low budget horror films), so maybe that
remains his comfort zone. Still, it's nice to recall that he was
equally adept - however briefly - as a leading man. Time After
Time may not itself be timeless (though it recently
inspired a short-lived TV series), but remains an engaging film, largely due to a guy who once committed movie murder with a giant phallus.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - By Nicholas Meyer
and Malcolm McDowell
TRAILER
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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