One of these days, I hope to release my novel, Bob the Time Traveler.  For purely proprietary reasons, I will not reveal its plot at the moment.  The title should be self-explanatory.  While it has little to do with policing time itself, I will admit to being somewhat inspired by today’s film, Timecop (1994).  Then again, it is hard to do a time travel story without borrowing in some way from others of the same ilk.  Until I release my book, you will have to do with this description of the movie, in all its glory.

We begin this mad tale not with our Timecop, but with a different person from the future.  He is in Georgia in 1863, armed with automatic weapons, and about to hijack a shipment of Confederate gold meant for General Robert E. Lee’s army.  The success of this operation ripples all the way to 1994, when a private govern committee learns of the existence of time travel.  Most of the people there are incredulous, including the man who is to be tabbed to head the police force destined to monitor this activity, Commander Eugene Matuzak (Bruce McGill).  The only one present who does not react with surprise when it is revealed that Confederate gold had been used to purchase arms in the twentieth century is Senator Aaron McComb (Ron Silver).  Meanwhile, in another part of our nation’s capital, Melissa Walker (Mia Sara) is waiting at a shopping center for her husband, Max Walker (Jean-Claude Van Damme).  She has something important to tell him, but she keeps putting it off until he gets a call late at night.  He is a Washington, D.C., police officer, and he has been tabbed to replace another cop who has called in sick.  Before he can leave, though, they are attacked by thugs he had spotted in the mall.  They shoot him in the chest a few times, though he survives because of his bullet proof vest.  He regains consciousness enough to look up and see someone in his bedroom window with his wife before his house is completely annihilated in an explosion.  The next year we jump to is 1929, and Lyle Atwood (Jason Schombing) is on his way up to his Wall Street office.  He is not from this period in history, but instead has come back from 2004 in order to buy stocks to fund Senator McComb’s presidential bid.  Before he can get far, Max, now working for the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC), appears in front of his desk.  Proceeding from Van Damme-style kicking and punching, Agent Walker brings his former partner, er, back to the future.  Agent Walker is expecting Lyle to testify to Senator McComb’s nefarious activities, but such is the politician’s power that he refuses to speak.  Thus, he is sentenced for violation of the time code (or whatever), and his sentence of death is carried out immediately.  Agent Walker then tries to get his old friend, Director Matuzak, to listen to what his best operative has to say about Senator McComb.  As luck would have it, the Congressman that day has arranged for a tour of the TEC’s facility.  Citing the astronomical costs of their efforts, Senator McComb wants to shut down the TEC.  Agent Walker knows this would give Senator McComb unfettered access to history.  Further, Agent Walker is to be investigated by their organization’s version of Internal Affairs (IA), which means he is to be shadowed by the rookie Agent Sarah Fielding (Gloria Reuben).  They meet after she comes to his apartment in the wake of a few more of Senator McComb’s goons trying to kill him.  Upon getting to the office, this erstwhile duo is sent to look into a detected disturbance in 1994, also in Washington, D.C.  This turns out to be a microchip processing factory that the 1994 Senator McComb is in the process of buying out from a disgruntled partner.  At this moment, the 2004 Senator McComb shows up and forces the company’s owner to reconsider.  Though Agents Fielding and Walker are there to stop this from happening, Agent Fielding turns out to be working for the 2004 Senator McComb.  The betrayal is able to get Senator McComb what he wants, but she is shot several times for her efforts.  Agent Walker, too, is able to make it back to 2004.  When he does, he finds a TEC about to be dismantled and a Director Matuzak who does not seem to remember any of what Agent Walker had previously said about Senator McComb.  The Congressman had also essentially erased Agent Fielding’s existence, the only person who could testify against him.  Despite the confusion, Agent Walker is able to convince Director Matuzak to return him to 1994.  Once there, he is able to find Agent Fielding in the hospital.  He goes to get her blood sample as proof of her existence, but in the process spots one from his wife indicating a pregnancy test.  He then finds Agent Fielding dead.  Nonetheless, he goes to the same mall as before in order to talk to Melissa.  He also knows that Senator McComb’s men will be there to follow his old self.  He next goes to their old house in order to prevent her death, but with the idea that Senator McComb will be there as well.  He also likes his odds of triumphing this time since there are two of him, though he makes no contact with his old self.  Anyway, it comes down to the inevitable showdown with Senator McComb.  The politician believes he has won, with Melissa hostage and the explosive about to destroy everything.  However, Agent Walker has called the 1994 Senator McComb to the house.  Now, the movie has a rule that the same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  That is also the most times I have ever written the word “same” in one sentence.  Whatever it is this means, it is the vehicle by which Senator McComb is killed when Agent Walker pushes the two Senator McCombs together.  Agent Walker then returns to a normal 2004 with a wife and son, him meeting his child for the “first time” being the last scene.

While Timecop may be silly in a lot of ways, it is no different from any other time travel story in one key way.  The reason why these tales appeal to people is because of the potential these kinds of stories hold.  For now, thankfully, it is just the imagination as such trips are not scientifically possible.  If you want to revisit the past, God give you a mind capable of recalling those events whenever you feel the need.  Yet, there is a danger of holding onto some memories.  Every day, I pray a Catholic prayer known as the Litany of Trust.  It is a prayer of deliverance developed by an order of nuns called the Sisters of Life.  As the word “litany” might imply, it contains a list of things to offer up to God, all of which are applicable to the spiritual life.  Half of them end with “Deliver me, Jesus,” and the other half with, “Jesus, I trust in You.”  The one that is applicable to this situation is, “From resentment or excessive preoccupation with the past/ Deliver me, Jesus.”  In the film, the villains are looking for historical opportunities to financially aggrandize themselves.  This is not the best analogy, but in a sense it speaks to a disordered resentment towards being without something you think you need, in this case money for political gain.  Agent Walker, though, fits better with the “excessive preoccupation with the past” portion of the prayer.  Upon getting home from work following his trip to 1929, he puts on a video of him and Melissa together assembling a bird house.  As he drinks straight from a bottle of liquor, he passes out quoting lines he says in the clip.  Everyone grieves differently, and the length of that morning period does not look the same for everyone.  Spiritually speaking, he does not appear willing to receive the joy that God calls us into daily.  This is why we need prayers like the “Litany of Trust,” in order to remind us that God is in control.  Luckily for Agent Walker, he is blessed with the opportunity to have another chance with his wife.  For those of us without access to time travel, we have God.

If you have seen other Van Damme movies, you will note similarities between Timecop and his other work.  The guy seemed to be into his own butt, and there are other nude scenes that, along with the violence, make me unable to recommend this one.  Besides, time travel stories can get confusing, though I hope mine is less so when you read it.