Timequest

Every generation has its "I remember exactly where I was" experience. For the living the list of these events runs from the sinking of the Titanic to the destruction of the World Trade Center. For my generation it is a cascade of events that begins with JFK's assassination. Nov 22, 1963 we were in school, heard the news and rushed home to watch events unfold on television.

In this time travel story JFK doesn't die, he learns that his philandering will ruin his image and stops, he turns the Cold War driven space race into an international project and stops the escalation of US involvement in Viet Nam --thus saving 57,000 lives.

I'd have to agree with others that the story telling here needs work. The order in which we see events doesn't convey the story arc all that well. Production values are low, there's gratuitous use of course language which, while all too common now, was alien then. As for the nudity: well, it was something to see Marilyn Monroe reproduce one of her most famous poses for JFK. I won't quibble about that.

My generation has the images of that weekend burned into our consciousness. In this story the Zapruder film, taken on the "Grassy Knoll," doesn't show the top of JFK's head being blown off. In this story Walter Cronkite's first announcement of something going in the President's motorcade doesn't end with him saying that JFK is dead. (Note: those of us in school didn't see it live, but we've lived with the taped images ever since.) And, finally, the event that takes place in Parkland Hospital (just outside Dallas) is joyous. It's not the end of a Presidency that had begun to capture the enthusiasm of a generation with it's New Frontier and Peace Corps, but a celebration of something new.

For it's many flaws this film shows some beautiful healing images.

I have know about this movie since it was in production several years ago, thanks to IMDB, and eagerly awaited it's release. Then I hear it was premiered near where it was filmed, then that it was going directly to video. I finally found a copy at Hollywood video and got to see it.

It is a really good story. A dreamers version of what might have been. I remember the day Kennedy was killed, saw Oswald killed live on TV that Sunday morning. I have visited the Sixth Floor and the grassy knoll and wonder that such a history turning event could have taken place in so small a place. This movie will strike a cord with those who think the world would be far better if JFK had survived. This movie should have had more $ and bigger stars but for what it had it did a REALLY good job of telling the story. I will not buy it, but I am going to watch it again before I take it back and dream of what might have been. It is a combination of the truth, the myth, and this story that will make you like this movie. Ralph Waite was so right for the part. So much more story could have been told, and should have been. Better than 13Days.

As a fan of television shows and movies that deal with the "What if?"/Alternate Universe type storylines, I found this movie very entertaining. The general story is that a man from the short term future (who was born on Nov. 22, 1963) invents a time machine to stop the Kennedy assassinations. The interesting thing about this movie, as compared to the hundred other similar stories about stopping the assassination is, they let the time traveler succeed. This story is truly a speculation of what may have happened it the Kennedy's were still alive.

While, granted, this film does present a somewhat idealistic view of what might have been, I was just thrilled that half the movie wasn't spent trying to "repair the change in the timeline". Overall, I must say that I really enjoyed this film. It really reminded me of the videogame "Re-Elect JFK" The only real downfall to me was that it was just too short -- I would have liked further speculation. Also, the timeline in this story jumped around a bit, but that was just the style of the writer, and, by the end of the movie, everything made perfect sense.

"Timequest" is a film for Sci-Fi fans, Conspiracy Buffs, Bruce Campbell fans, and anyone who wants to enjoy an all around intellectually stimulating and entertaining film.

Robert Dyke's (who also made Moontrap) "Timequest" is both imaginative, intellectual, and advanced in it's formal composition.

It investigates the question: "What would our world have become if JFK had survived that day in Dallas?" The story begins in the Presidential Suite of Fort Worth, Texas where JFK and his wife Jacquie are being housed- the day before JFK would be shot in Dallas. The plot centers around a man who has discovered time travel, and- motivated by his obsession for Jacquie after seeing her mourn her husbands death- he decides to go back and warn the President of the impending attack, and subsequent effect it would have on history and, in turn, the reality of the future (which he didn't think was too sh*t hot).

Appearing from nowhere, having infiltrated the Presidential suite with the President inside unbeknownst to the Secret Service, sh*t starts to hit the fan. But the mystery man succeeds in settling everyone down by showing them a holographic video of JFK and his brother RFK's assassination. The President- considering the circumstances- heeds the threat seriously, and has his brother flown in to witness it all for himself. Robert is skeptical of the whole situation, but when he sees himself lying dead only 5 months later, he opens an ear.

They ask the man why he is doing all of this. He tells them how he was born on the day that JFK died; and how, growing up, he fell in love with Jacquie as she stood strong in wake of her husbands violent death. He also mentions that he hated the state of the world in his time, and thus sought to change it, even if it meant his demise (well....his demise in THAT (his future) form, as he would possibly not be born, if he is successful).

The Time Traveler warns the two men, not only about their future assassinations, but also of the second assassination attempt that would follow- the attempted assassination of JFK's character (in Clinton-esque fashion). Taking the warnings to heart the group waits for the exact moment of JFK's original assassination to occur- the moment history will change- denoted by the Traveler ceasing to exist.

As they wait for this moment to pass, the traveller asks only one thing- to dance with Jacquie. This moves her and she becomes obsessed with the man, as he disappears from their lives...in one sense anyways.

With history changed, the attempted assassins are caught (on the grassy knoll); JFK leads a long and fulfilling life; the CIA is dismantled; RFK continues his fight against organized crime; JFK forms and alliance with the Soviets to travel to the moon together; we see where people like J. Edgar Hoover, George Bush, Bill Clinton and Arthur Zapruder end up; John and Jacquie have another child; and Jacquie takes up art, painting the man- the traveller- whom she longs to meet (the her time version of, at least).

The Kennedy's always pay back those who help them. Considering this, John and Robert make all efforts to find the man in his younger form. All they have to go on is a fingerprint the man left on a glass.

Robert is a little more paranoid, though. He feels it may be necessary to find and kill the child, as he may go on to invent time travel, which would-be assassins could use to go back in time and kill JFK- again (kinda).

They look at all baby's born Nov 22, 1963, but then realize that his labour could have been brought on by the trauma of JFK's death and thus widen the range of their search. Eventually they do track him down. He's a petty criminal and artist.

JFK's son (who was born only as a result of his future self's intervention) takes him under their wing and provides him with a place, and the supplies he needs to thrive as an artist. The young man get's to meet the people his non-existent future self saved, and sees the wonderful portrait Jacquie painted of the man.

There is also a tangent(and I believe this element of the story is thrown in SOLELY to include BRUCE CAMPBELL- because it seemed relatively irrelevant to the whole story) in which Bruce Campbell plays an Oliver Stone-esque conspiracy theorist/ filmmaker who catches a whiff of what happened that November 21st at Fort Worth- but draws the most ridiculous conclusions from it, and ends up making a film that is more erotica than it is a conspiracy film.

I suppose this was meant to act as the character assassination attempt prophesized by the Traveler before he disappeared. But it doesn't really work effectively like that. It doesn't really hinder the flow of the story either, though. In fact, it is really quite funny in it's reflexivity- and Campbell is always golden.

The structure of this film is really quite complex. It plays with time and space in a way that is by no means subtle. They are constantly interweaving different spaces and times together. The "based on a true story" past with the imagined past, flashbacks and flashforwards. Different realities- real and imagined- are all knotted together into a complex puzzle (compositionally speaking). It does take a little bit of labour to understand, and for this reason I think it has been overlooked by many viewers and thus relegated to the realm of sci-fi obscurity.

It really is an incredible film- both story and plot-wise. I urge you all to check it out, it deserves to be watched.

Remember... "The futures last hope is the past." 8 out of 10.

I will watch just about any movie that has some element of time travel in it. However, when I saw the cover art work for the Time Quest video I was pretty sure this was not going to be a very good pic. Cheeeeezy. That was maybe a year ago, and this evening was the 3rd or 4th time I have watched Time Quest. So, first thought I have is don't judge this film by its cover.

Time Quest leaves me with a feeling of melancholy for the opportunities lost. This is the film's finest quality. History is changed not only by the fact that the Kennedy's are not assassinated but by John and Bobby's knowledge of future events and their desire to use that knowledge to make a difference. No Vietnam and a space race that actually results in something.

The movie has several other qualities I should mention. It has a sense of humor; it is sensitive; it moves back and forth over time so that the watcher is kept guessing; and most of the acting seems reasonable. I particularly liked the detail given to the time traveler's suit and to the screen he projects his images on, and there is a gripping slow-mo shot of LH Oswald not being assassinated.

In a market where so few good sci-fi, let alone time travel, movies are made it seems a shame that more people aren't seeing this one.