Time Lapse (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	84:49
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Worth
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	William McNamara Roy Scheider Dina Meyer Henry Rollins
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$36.95	Music	Deddy Tzur

    Time Lapse is a very forgettable made-for-video movie, on a very average DVD.

    The cheap production values make this movie more resemble an episode of a cheap US television program, rather than a feature film. I can only assume that Roy Scheider was doing someone a favour by appearing in this stinker. The rest of the cast's acting ranges from cringe-inducing to adequate at best.

    The absurd and tedious plot is very obviously arranged to provide a series of very dull, staged stunt scenes and lame action sequences. Clay (William McNamara) is an undercover agent for a US Anti-Terrorist Unit of the NSA. After a mission goes wrong, Clay's cover is blown. Clay goes on the run. He believes that he's been drugged and is losing his memory. Soon he is accused of killing a number of people. Meanwhile, evil cardboard cut-out Iraqis are after the all-American hero, and some nuclear bombs as well.

    Perhaps worst of all, the direction by David Worth is offensively patronising. For example, fearing that the audience has already forgotten an important plot point, the movie contains lengthy flashbacks, or in other words, will repeat sections of the movie to remind the audience what has happened already. These scenes are in black and white so the audience can tell they're a flashback! Duh! Also, in case the audience misses something, there will be extended slow-motion scenes. Just to make doubly sure, the camera will zoom in on what the audience is supposed to see! Duh!

    The best thing I can say about this movie is that thankfully it's pretty short . . . *Yawn*

Video

    The transfer is adequate, and it is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, Pan & Scan.

    The sharpness is acceptable, as is the black level. The shadow detail however, is a little less than acceptable. For example, the scene in the darkened room at 11:33 exhibits an almost complete lack of shadow detail.

    The colour is fairly well saturated and the flesh-tones are accurate.

    MPEG artefacts were never a great problem, but there was some mild macro-blocking in the background at times, such as on the door at 19:24. In regard to film-to-video artefacts, aliasing appears throughout. Anything that can shimmer does, such as the blinds at 4:39 or the car grille at 37:08. Film artefacts appear throughout, and examples can be seen at 7:53 and 8:19. A huge one appears at 24:49.

    There are no subtitles on this DVD.

    This is a single-layered disc, which is acceptable considering the length of the content, and lack of extras.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The cover claims that it is surround encoded, but the surround flag is not set in the bitstream.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are mostly acceptable, but some passages appeared dubbed, such as at 58:22.

    The musical score is credited to Deddy Tzur and it mainly consists of subtle melodramatic swells between scenes.

    If one enables surround decoding, then the score and some ambience is piped to the rear speakers.

    The bass content of this movie really surprised me by being quite decent, and my subwoofer got to 'play' a few times, such as during the explosion at 1:47.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The extras are slim.

Menu

    A very simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is static and silent.

Theatrical Trailer (1:16)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

    Time Lapse has been released on video in Region 1, but not on DVD.

    Time Lapse is dull and lifeless, and the excitement that should be in an 'action' movie such as this is sorely missing. Furthermore, the plot is childish and insulting to the audience. As a whole, this DVD is very forgettable, and best avoided.

    The video quality is adequate.

    The audio quality is also adequate.

    The extras are really not worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall