London, 1893. H. G. Wells is terrified when he finds out that Jack the Ripper has taken his time machine and disappeared with it. However, the programmed time machine returns back to Wells' basement, and thus he uses it to travel to its last destination: San Francisco in 1979. Confused by the changes in the future, Wells nonetheless manages to make friends with a bank clerk, Amy, who falls in love with him and shows him the town. When they travel a few days into the future, they find out that Amy was suppose to be killed by Jack by 7:00 pm. They return back in time, but Wells is arrested and brought to questioning at the police station. When he returns, Jack forces him to give the key of the time machine in exchange for Amy's life. Jack tries to escape in the time machine, but Wells pulls the plug and disintegrates the criminal. Wells then returns back to his time, with Amy.
Nicholas Meyer's feature length debut film is an untypical time travelling crime extravaganza that has just enough charm and flair for the viewers to gloss over some of its flaws. The highly unusual, upside-down re-structuring of H. G. Wells' "Time Machine" trips predictably over several inconsistencies stemming from the time travel concept—for instance, after he found out that Jack the Ripper used his time machine to travel to 1979, wouldn't it have been far more plausible for Wells to use the time machine to simply travel five minutes before Ripper's arrival to catch him? Or the scene where Wells and Amy travel three days into the future and find a newspaper which says that Amy was killed by Ripper—if she was in Wells time machine that whole time, in what timeline could she have been killed when she was absent? Other contrived moments are bothersome, as well, such as the convoluted ploy that Wells is questioned at the police station, warning everyone about the murder about to happen, but nobody has the common sense to at least send a police officer to guard the apartment. However, the story seizes attention thanks to several refreshing moments, especially humorous ones, which give it spark. The whole set-up, where Wells arrives in 1979, only to find his whole apartment has been turned into a museum, is amusing, whereas his interactions with modern times also offer a few neat examples of culture clashes (at McDonalds, when a customer orders a Big Mac with fries, Wells orders the same, with an identical American accent, but with tea. Later, when he eats the fries, he concludes: "Oh, those are pommes frites!"). Meyer, it seems, would use the same 'fish-out-of-water' concept in the similar future film "Star trek IV". Lastly, the actors give it life: Malcolm McDowell is refreshing as the sensitive protagonist, but the excellent Mary Steenburgen steals the show: the scene where she takes Wells' arm and puts it over her own shoulder, encouraging him during a walk, displays that cinema already had a new star in the making right there.
Grade:++
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