I thought this was a notch above the normal no-brainer kick-boxer action flicks which star men like Jean-Claude VanDamme, Steven Segal, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, etc. because of the interesting and somewhat complex tale with time travel as the main theme. The story also has some good twists and humor.
THE GOOD - Kudos to the four s's in here: Silver, suspense, special-effects and sound - all of them are very good. There is something about Ron Silver's looks that spell "sleazy and rotten" before he even opens his mouth! When he speaks, his accent and profanity quickly verifies those suspicions. The special- effects - at least when this came out in the mid '90s - were very cool when the time travelers reached their destinations and appear out of this wall of near- transparent plastic. The story can be a bit confusing at times but is fun at most times, especially near the end when doubles of all the characters are on the screen at once
THE BAD - The bad part of the film is the credibility, especially with Silver who plays a politician. No politician, no matter what party or where, would be this much of low-life. In fact, the story is full of unlikable and untrustworthy characters, too many of them. There also is too much Rambo-mentality and the final action goes on way too long. The time travel ange of the story may be intelligent but the dialog in this movie is just plain dumb and too juvenile.
Overall, this is one of the best of a small group of well-done Van Damme movies.
