Timequest (2000)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.


I had such high hopes for this movie. I like time-travel movies and I also have a passing interest in alternate history. I can’t say I mind the occasional gratuitous nudity. Timequest looked like a good idea at the time. I have to say that I was sorely disappointed.

The story goes that a man, presumably from a time close to our own, goes back to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy hours before his fateful trip in Dallas. While there, he also takes the liberty of warning Robert Kennedy about his assassination as well. The rest of the movie is about the history that results.

Time-travel movies fall into two categories. With some, the resulting history is very similar. With others, the resulting history is as close to the opposite as possible. This movie was basically a series of historical in-jokes. For instance, the Beatles never went anywhere after appearing on the Ed Sullivan show. Dan Rather is shown as being noting more than a local correspondent. Those that don’t know much about history will probably be lost throughout the movie.

Even at 92 minutes, these jokes were used as a lot of filler. What’s left is Robert Kennedy trying to figure out who the time traveler is. You see, he deliberately didn’t give his name because he knew that the person that his alternate self would grow up to be might also invent time travel. What you’re left with a corny, hokey movie. Instead of a movie with a powerful ending, I was left just wondering why I just wasted an hour and a half of my life.

The movie doesn’t hold up as a time-travel movie and it especially doesn’t hold up as a movie in general. I’d recommend it only if you’re interested in JFK’s assassination and other historical stuff. The entire movie had a very amateurish look to it. The movie jumped around a lot and the graphics were somewhat low budget. Also, the actors didn’t really look like the people they were supposed to be representing. I didn’t even realize that it was supposed to be Martin Luther King, Jr. that was Robert Kennedy’s Vice President until I read the credits.

Ultimately, I have to give the movie two stars. It was a decent movie, but it wasn’t really something I would find myself recommending. When it was over, I didn’t feel like it was anything momentous. At least it wasn’t a long movie.

IMDb page

2009: Lost Memories (2002)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

I came across this movie while looking for time-travel movies. While it does have time travel, to call it a time-travel movie may be a bit misleading. The actual time travel doesn’t come in until the end of the movie.

It’s actually more of an alternate history movie. The story starts with a rundown of that alternate history. Instead of Korea gaining independence from Japan, it remains part of Japan for an additional hundred years.

The focal point is the assassination of Hirobumi Ito in 1909. From what I can tell, Korea was annexed shortly after his death, but regained independence in 1945. In the movie, someone had found a time machine that allowed them to go back and save Ito, thus keeping Korea under Japanese rule permanently. The movie begins with a rundown of all of the other things that occurred in the changed history. For instance, Japan allied with the U.S., who dropped a bomb on Berlin instead of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

The movie takes place in 2009, hence the first part of the title. Two agents with the Japanese Bureau of Investigation (one Korean and the other Japanese) are investigating a break-in at a museum. A group seeking Korean independence staged the break-in. It isn’t until later that Sakamoto (the Korean agent) realizes what they’re after. It takes him a little longer to realize why.

I really liked this movie, even though it wasn’t exactly what I expected. The dynamic between the two officers was interesting. They go from being best friends to bitter enemies. It was a little difficult for me to understand this. Maybe I was missing something, but they had been friends for many years. By the end of the movie, they were almost ready to kill each other.

Parts of the movie seemed to have a little too much violence. It’s not so much that I don’t like violence. The problem was that some of the action scenes didn’t really seem to fit in. They were also filmed strangely and may seem a little odd to some viewers.

I found that not knowing the history took a little away from the movie. Viewers (like me) that don’t know the minutiae of Asian history may be a little lost, but it doesn’t really make the movie impossible to watch. You’ll just find yourself asking a lot of questions, like who Ito was.

Still, I find myself giving the movie five stars. I really did like it. I don’t know that everyone would like it, but I have found myself recommending it to people. If you come across this movie in the video store, definitely rent it.