Takes itself way too seriously

People are voting emotionally.

good back-story, and good acting

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I remember seeing this movie a couple times in 1979. Thought it was pretty cool. But I was living in San Francisco at the time (hopefully that's not a spoiler...), and quite honestly, re-watching it lately, the San Francisco of 1979 is really what shines in the movie to me. In one sense that's probably an unanticipated but real time travel element in this movie, at least for me. The streets, the people, the clubs all look slightly familiar, though I don't remember that many pretty blonde girls working at Mickey-D's.Nevertheless, that's really not why I decided I needed to review this movie. Mainly, re-watching the movie brought a terrible question to mind, and asking that question also may be something of a spoiler... Mainly, the question is, if you have a time machine, why in the world would you need to be in a hurry? I mean if you were going to be late for an appointment, and I mean late, like that appointment was supposed to have taken place a week ago, or maybe last year, couldn't you just hop in your time machine whenever you want, whenever you're ready for the appointment, and arrive on time? I mean the only hindrance would be death, in which case the appointment wouldn't be that important, or maybe the people at the appointment might think you're older than you're supposed to be, but really... time machine means no hurry. Unfortunately asking that question sort of makes Time After Time a little stupid. But then time travel is always full of holes. I think they're called time holes.I'm pretty sure in 1979, that 'no hurry' question never popped into my head. I was dazzled by the idea, and the performances of Malcolm and Mary and David, and also N. Meyer, and San Francisco, and thought it was a very good movie. Jiminy Crickets, almost 40 years in the future, the performances still dazzle, but for some reason I can't help asking, instead of jumping ahead a century, why didn't HG just go back a day. Things would've been much simpler, but then, of course, there'd be no movie.

I have mixed feelings about TIME AFTER TIME. On the face of it, it's the kind of film I really should enjoy. A fish-out-of-water adventure in which H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the then-present day via his real-life time machine, what could possibly go wrong with that? Well, the answer is plenty, and all of it is down to the script, which goes down the clichéd romantic route rather than the thriller route.So what we get is a long, slow-paced romantic comedy in which Wells takes time out to pursue the youthful Mary Steenburgen and almost seems to forget that he's supposed to be hunting a killer. The romantic scenes are quite sweet but I avoid the genre like the plague where possible and I just wanted them to get back to the action.Malcolm McDowell is a fine choice to play Wells and he reminds us that he's far more than the stock villain that he's usually stuck playing in Hollywood. Poor old David Warner has a great part but is barely utilised here. The dated special effects scenes are fun but there's far too much romance and too little in the way of genuine science fiction; the film as a result plods when it should zing.

A fiction adventure of the Victorian writer H.G. Wells (McDowell), who time-travels to San Francisco in 1979 to capture the infamous Jack the Ripper aka. Dr. Stevenson (Warner), who uses Wells' newly-invented time machine to escape and keep slaughtering women in the city, meanwhile he gets hooked on a local bank clerk, a modern woman Amy Robbins (Steenburgen), whose life comes under threat during the cat-and-mouse chase, Wells has to rescue her and settles the old scores with Stevenson. For its own sake, the film leans more on a romantic adventure than a Sci-Fi no-brainer, predates the ultra-popular BACK TO THE FUTURE franchise (where Steenburgen also stars in its third installment), it pairs Wells' ungainly anachronism and old-fangled chivalry with Amy's active happiness-pursuing initiative from women's liberation movement, it is most tantalizing when the pair connects under an unconventional method when the woman takes the lead and not shies away about it, Amy's racy retort to Wells' polite concerning is "Forcing me? My God, Herbert, I'm practically raping you.", while Wells is an avant-garde exponent of free love, this is one significant aspect he envisions for a Utopian future. McDowell is innocuously likable with an unsophisticated urgency to right the wrong and Steenburgen acts with a distinctive drawl which sounds both seductive and peculiar, the two not just click wonderfully on screen, in reality, they also tied the knot in 1980, but eventually broke up after 10 years. As for Warner, his gore slashing atrocity is mostly dampened for not going to far, so his portrayal of the notorious killer is not startling enough, strangely, his final gesture even strikes as a tacit agreement with Wells, permits him a way out of an alienated real world. Then with regard to the time machine gizmo, it looks chintzy even compared with George Pal's THE TIME MACHINE (1960, 6/10). However in its London prologue, Wells laboriously clarifies how the machine functions, with an emphasis on two important devices, one is the key, which the passenger should keep with to prevent the time machine returns to its departure location after the mission; another is the vaporising equalizer, if it has been pulled out, the passenger will travel through time without the time machine, he will be stuck into an infinite dimension, so there is no coming back. The former grants the precondition of Wells' pursuit in the first place while the latter guarantees the demise of the evil Ripper like a cinch. Director-screenwriter Nicholas Meyer really makes an effort to make the story at least logically passable, unfortunately, the happenings in San Francisco do not deserve such treatment, the sloppiness of a museum without any security measurement, or how Amy stays put in the exact same place even she is fully aware a murder will befall upon her later is alternately frustrating and befuddling, all feel more slapdash is that the suspense has been honed up greatly owing to Miklós Rózsa's formidable symphonic score, if only the listless writers can squeeze their brain to confect a more believable scenario. So TIME AFTER TIME has its innate clumsiness, but it also has a beguiling goofiness underneath to greet new visitors, plus if you are really into time travel or Jack the Ripper, this amalgam may shred some dim delight.

Time After Time is directed by Nicholas Meyer who also adapts the screenplay from a story written by Karl Alexander and Steve Hayes. It stars Malcolm McDowell, David Warner and Mary Steenburgen. Music is by Miklos Rozsa and cinematography is by Paul Lohmann.How delightful, a wonderful idea is given an equally wonderful presentation. The makers have come up with the idea of pitching Jack the Ripper against H.G. Wells, in the present day of 1979. This after the Ripper (Warner) used Wells' (McDowell) time machine to escape the Whitechapel police back in 1891, thus forcing Wells to track the infamous killer to San Francisco in the future.There have been so many fish-out-of-water based movies over the years, it's so refreshing to find one that has a genuinely original premise to work from. In the Ripper's case he sees all the violence around the streets of San Fran and believes it's his calling to be in this company. On the flip-side, Wells is perturbed to find that this is not the Utopia he had envisaged, but yet the science lover in him is fascinated by what he finds. Helps, too, that he has caught the attention of a very horny Amy Robbins (Steenburgen), who is equally fascinated by his genteel mannerisms.Naturally the fun has to stop at some point to let the suspense and darker aspects of the story come to the surface. Meyer gets the blend right, dropping in little snippets of evil as Jolly Jack, resplendent with waistcoat and money belt, goes about his bloody business, and then switching to the Wells/Amy axis as they try to build a relationship whilst trying to convince the authorities that a nutter is very much in their midst. It builds nicely, ramping up the tension considerably, and there's always the pertinent question hanging in the air of if there is any hope for H.G. and Amy?Such is the rich characterisations and quality of story telling, we most assuredly care about the outcome to this splendid piece of time travelling cake. 8.5/10