Timecop has acquired a reputation as the pinnacle of Peter Hyams’s oeuvre, which is a little like saying Bobby Hebert was the best quarterback in the history of the USFL. I’m not sure that analogy holds, but, in any event, both claims are spectacularly wrong: Jim Kelly was the best QB to lace ’em up in the USFL, while either Running Scared or 2010 represents Hyams’s top work, such as it is (was?). Timecop might not even be in my Hyams Top Five.
Honestly, I don’t understand the affection for Timecop. Aside from a briefly nude Mia Sara and Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits on a kitchen counter, the film is a blur for me – a gallant, yet failed, attempt to smarten up the Muscles from Brussels’ image. It certainly wasn’t, as IESB‘s Robert Sanchez claims, "One of the coolest films of the 90’s and easily one of the best time travel films ever*."
I will, however, concede that the concept is eminently exploitable, so perhaps there’s reason to be upbeat about Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson announcing that Universal is ready to reboot the franchise (which also included an apparently television series and a surely wonderful direct-to-DVD sequel). As one of the creators of Timecop, Richardson is understandably excited to give the title another shot. And he’s apparently got a big name action star circling the property. This is very good news for people who care about Timecop. Truth be told, I’d rather get a Sudden Death SE DVD (with a commemorative hockey puck signed by Powers Boothe).
This is all in the earliest of development stages, so don’t expect to see the Time Enforcement Agency returning anytime too soon.
*Listing the coolest films of the 90s would keep me here all day, but, off the top of my head, here are ten far superior time travel movies: 12 Monkeys/La Jetee, the Back to the Future trilogy, Time After Time, Primer, Time Bandits, Somewhere in Time, The Terminator and Planet of the Apes (’68).