Timecop Reboot on the Way?
Universal will reportedly produce a Timecop reboot.
Timecop, a 1994 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme in a duel role as a 1994 police officer and a 2004 federal time agent, was an adaptation of a 1992 story published by Dark Horse Comics. The film spawned a lackluster direct-to-video sequel starring Jason Scott Lee and a short-lived television series; now, it will apparently be getting the reboot treatment.
It is being reported by THR that Marc Shmuger of Global Produce will produce the reboot; there are not writers currently attached-Founder and President of Dark Horse Comics Mike Richardson co-wrote the original film, but he’s pretty busy as a producer with Dark Horse Entertainment now, so someone else will likely take care of the writing this time around. Also, it looks like Jean-Claude Van Damme will not be doing the splits this time around.
In case you aren’t aware of Timecop‘s story, the film saw JCVD as a federal time agent in 2004 (ten years into the future); his job was to go back in time to take care of crime shit. In the course of this job, he ran into a corrupt politician (Ron Silver), who was using time travel to further his career. Time travel, paradox-inducing, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey type stuff ensued, and credits. As an unapologetic fan of JCVD, I have always enjoyed the hell out of his movies, but Timecop is that one which-while not being great, by any means-stands out as clearly his best “film” (a fact which was reflected in the movie’s box office receipts). That’s mainly because of the plot and the premise of “timecops” existing, but it’s also due in large part to the film’s director Peter Hyams’ ability to not make the “future” of 2004 look too wild and crazy futuristic; the future felt very lived-in and attainable. That’s something that really goes a long way when making a near-future film. Look at Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger; very good job. Total Recall with Colin Farrell? Not so much. Some recent films that have achieved this look and feel? Looper and Robot and Frank. Really, it may be all about budget constraints; when you don’t have much of a budget, your “future” isn’t going to look expensive, but that feeling is one thing I definitely hope the Timecop reboot is able to recapture.
