After watching Thomas Ian Griffith kick and flail his way through Jon Hess' Excessive Force a few weeks ago, I came to the startling realization that I haven't seen any of the man's post-1998 efforts. I know he continues to work steadily, but his recent output always seems to allude me, as if on purpose. Is there something in these films that Griffith's spiritual bodyguard doesn't want me to see? Could some sort of cosmic power greater than anything known to mankind be steering me away from the martial arts expert's more recent cinematic endeavors? My astrologist doesn't seem to think so, but she could very easily be a part of this most peculiar deception.
Maury Povich has agreed to administer the lie detector test, so we should know something within the next three months or so.
The planets must have aligned themselves in my favor this week, as I have suddenly come into possession of Steve Boyum's 2003 opus Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision, a film which finds Mr. Griffith cocky, blonde and ready to deal some damage to co-star Jason Scott Lee. While it's not as coherent as the original Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle, the film somehow manages to deliver a few snazzy thrills as it stumbles and falls all over its convoluted time travel premise. Doc Brown would be very ashamed of everyone, I'm sure.
I apologize in advance if this synopsis confuses you to the point of disorientation, but unless you've actually seen the movie all the way through, most of the so-called "logic" simply will not make sense. Jason Scott Lee stars as Ryan Chan, a man who has devoted his entire life to making sure others don't mess around with significant historical events. If you doubt the man's dedication to his craft, watch in absolute amazement as he guns down a friend's wife before she can put a bullet into a pudgy Adolph Hitler. It's a decision that will haunt our hero for the rest of his life, hence the subtitle "The Berlin Decision." How incredibly deep is that?
The girl Chan popped a cap in was married to fellow timecop Brandon Miller (Griffith), a slightly unstable chap who winds up spending a large chunk of his life behind bars for mindlessly fiddling with the past. After a bizarre series of events frees him from a high-tech underground prison, Miller begins using time travel as a way to eliminate his enemies. Soon Chan is the only man left to correct this baffling mess before he too is wiped from the history books. Can our hero stop this spin-kicking madman before time runs out?
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