The performances by most of the cast are neither outstanding nor bad, save for Thomas Ian Griffith, who makes an incredibly good villain in this film. Once you've done that, you'll enjoy the film a lot more. Above all, pretend some of the more horrible special effects don't look as bad as they do. Pretend that a Chinese man dressed in a business suit in the 1800s wouldn't arouse a lot of suspicion. Pretend that you're looking at the German countryside, not some foothills in the LA area shot through a Sepia filter. The key to enjoying this film is to suspend disbelief. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by the rest of the film. Which is why I didn't immediately turn it off once I spotted the incredibly horrible visual effects at the beginning which just smacked of god-awful Direct-to-Video cinema. After a good meal, sitting in a relaxing chair, you're liable to watch just about anything. I caught this film on SciFi Channel at midnight one evening. I rate this perhaps a little higher due to 1 - Jamie Scott Lee's great performance, and 2 - The fact films like these tend to be a whole world worse than the original! The moral aspects of time travel were touched on nicely enough to make you think, but not too much to tease you and leave you feeling unresolved in much of the theorising unlike Matrix Reloaded. maybe I'm a dumbass, or maybe the pace was too quick considering the subject! Overall I found this film well paced and I liked the idea of the Society for Historical Authenticity being competition to the TEC. But these scenes moved a bit too fast for me to catch up, so had to watch a few times. I found it confusing at one point as to what exactly what Miller (the antagonist) had been doing as Anderson burst back and forth through time trying to track him down, with each return highlighting the consequences of his actions. The music grounds well with the film, especially at the climax of the last fight scene. Support performances were also above the standard you might expect and while the fight scenes are not spectacular, but they are certainly more than competent. Jamie Scott Lee's performance is great as usual, portraying Anderson as someone trying his best to hold himself together. I thought this film was pretty good, considering a sequel to a movie like Timecop tends to be destined as a flop. It's far better than it has any right to be. I guess Jason Scott Lee has still been practicing since he did Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story all of those years ago. In terms of action, the film is exceptional at demonstrating fast, brutal Jeet Kune Do moves. It isn't horrible, but it's not very cinematic either. Whereas the first film had fantastically moody photography, the sequel looks like an above average television film. The only way Timecop 2 suffers in comparison to the first is in the cinematography. Basically, the film is stuffed with great ideas, good acting, and decent action scenes. It's thought-provoking and even a little emotional. But amazingly, at the same time, the filmmakers manage to acknowledge all of the great moral or ethical dilemmas that a time altering premise provides. On the one hand, the hero played by Jason Scott Lee is constantly jumping from time period to time period, so there's always some action or intrigue going on. Until Timecop 2, I don't think I had ever seen a cheap, direct-to-video sequel that was actually good and possibly even better than its theatrical predecessor! And it's not just because of the action either - the best thing about the film is its story.
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