Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision (Universal) (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	None
Rating	?
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	77:46
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Steve Boyum
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jason Scott Lee John Beck Jeff Wolfe Josh Hammond Kenneth Choi
Case	?
RPI	Rental	Music	Andy Gray

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired French German Czech Dutch Greek Hungarian Polish English Titling French Titling German Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"Our past has been locked in time, arbitrated by time, defined by time. If we change that, what have we got left?"

    Based on the comic book by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden and some nine years after the original Timecop (review) starring Jean Claude Van Damme was released, Director Steve Boyum decided it was time for a follow-up. Except for the TEC (Time Enforcement Commission) and the magic chair which pushes the agent into another time zone, there are unfortunately no real similarities to link the two movies together. If you are hoping for a link, then this will be your first letdown. The other disappointment was the rather limited fight scenes. I was definitely expecting more, and the first movie was much better in this regard. Otherwise, it was entertaining and quite enjoyable, but you will need to ignore a few plot holes to allow the bouncing around in time to seem more natural and workable for the story (just like the first movie).

    Time travel is easy when you think about it. It is something you have done every day of your life, only in the one direction. What if you could go backwards and forwards in time almost at your leisure, and as a job, you even got paid for it? Ever since movies, or even written literature has been around, we have been beaten into submission to think that altering the past is wrong. To my knowledge it's not something we can do as yet, but if we could or when we can, should we go about making errors in our past right? In this particular movie, this is something that we are asked to answer. On first thoughts what is quite a simple question becomes a much larger technical issue when by the mere act of adjusting a moment in the past you could inadvertently be destroying your current self. Hence, would you take on a mission where you are possibly committing suicide?

    As the movie's title Timecop 2 The Berlin Decision suggests, we are at some stage going to head back to Berlin during World War II and that is just where we go to confront our first question. Ryan Chan (Jason Scott Lee) is an officer for the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) and it is his job, along with his fellow officers, to ensure people don't head back in time to alter the past, whether this be to kill a ruthless dictator, or to jump back a few days knowing last night's winning Lotto numbers..

    The TEC has become so powerful and important that the world's leaders want, or should I say need, to ensure the verification and past history for the officers who served in the TEC. To provide you with a rough timeline, the events in this movie are set over 20 years on from the first movie in the year 2025, and over these 30 years the concern has been that the TEC police could be slightly altering past events to their own gain. A covert organisation called the "Society for Historical Authenticity" has been created with a mandate to verify and record history so that if an alteration takes place, the SAC would know about it - right?. Or would the record that they made just vanish? Ahh, I'm looking too deeply at the plot again! Anyway, one agent who works for the SAC, Miller Branson (Thomas Ian Griffith) decides on behalf of all future generations that past wrongs in history must be made right. And without giving too much away since the title already has given you a sweetener, this past wrong takes place in Berlin. Branson is imprisoned, and in the future (or is that the past), escapes from jail and starts to kill the time cops at some stage in their lineage, thereby allowing him an almost unobstructed potential to alter history yet again. Chan will need to keep track of the multiple time jumps and distortions of future time if he is to have any hope of catching Branson. How many times can you get it wrong before you are eradicated?

Video

    The video transfer of this movie is superb, and almost reference quality.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is very clear and sharp with an immense amount of detail. Shadow detail is also marvellous and the few areas where the scenes are dark appear totally intentional rather than being a transfer issue. On the whole there is an incredible amount of detail in every scene. There is no low level noise.

    The colours are just as lush as the rest of the transfer with a good level of contrast and bold colours when and where required with no bleeding. There are a few sections which contain a strong green tint but these always occur for the same scenario so I assume they are intentional and are not a transfer issue.

    There were no MPEG artefacts and aliasing is also nonexistent. Film artefacts were not visible.

    There are subtitle options for English for the Hearing Impaired, French, German, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, English Titling, French Titling and German Titling.

    This is a single sided disc and therefore is not affected by any layer changes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Like the video transfer, this disc contains an engaging soundtrack.

    There are three audio tracks on this DVD which are all Dolby Digital 5.1:  English, French and German.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    This is a great soundtrack and far better than some of the other rental offerings of late. The musical score by Andy Gray was well mixed and a fitting choice for this style of movie with both dynamics and fidelity that are wide and expansive. The surrounds are aggressive during the time travel scenes such as the one found at 33:30 or 41:29 where sound is whirling all around you. At other times, the rears are used for ambience, music and additional special effects with precise directional sound placement.

    The subwoofer was quite active during the time travel phases as well and provides a nice bottom end to all sections of the film as required.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

• The Making of Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision
• Between Takes: A Look at Life On the Timecop 2 Set (with Tava Smiley)
• Trailer
• There are also trailers which have been placed at the beginning of the disc for Battlestar Galactica, Scarface, and 2 Fast 2 Furious which cannot be skipped by advancing to the next track and must be fast-forwarded instead.

• Nothing

    Whilst this is not one of the greatest time-travel movies ever made, it is still enjoyable. Don't be put off this movie if you happened to sit through the first because there are very few similarities between the two. Still worth hiring on a rainy day.

    The video quality is of a high standard.

    The audio quality is great as well.

    The extras were sent back in time and never made it to this release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall