Running Against Time |
  • USA • 1990 • 92m •    • Directed by: Bruce Seth Green. • Starring: Robert Hays, Catherine Hicks, Sam Wanamaker, Wayne Tippit, James DiStefano, Tracy Fraim, Juanita Jennings, Mark Phelan, Paul Scherrer, Brian Smiar, Milt Tarver, Russ Marin, Julie Ariola. • Music by: Don Davis.      A learned history professor goes back in time to attempt to save his older brother's life. Unfortunately, the attempt to save President Kennedy's life backfires, and the savior becomes the accused in the assassination. A rescue attempt by his girlfriend similarly backfires. By showing the new president a film documentary of the ongoing conflict, instead of convincing LBJ that the Vietnam War is a loosing proposition, he instead decides to escalate the war. The lesson is that sometimes the best of intentions cause the very thing we are trying to prevent. Although the dilemmas are resolved, we are left with the moral quandary of whether we should ever attempt to correct history.
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Review:
The storyline revolves around David Rhodes, a university history lecturer still haunted by the death of his elder brother who was killed in Vietnam. When he discovers scientist Dr Koopman had invented a time machine, David convinces him to send him back to 1963 in an attempt to save JKF and, in turn, prevent the Vietnam war from ever taking place. However, things turn sour when instead of preventing the assassination, David is accused of being the assassin, his girlfriend Laura Whittaker returns to 1963 to help.
Robert Hays plays a convincing and amiable David, a man driven by the loss of his brother and determined to do anything to 'fix' the past while Catherine Hicks is equally as likable in the role of Laura, a woman initially torn between helping David and washing her hands of him and his obsession with his brother. And Sam Wanamaker, who plays Dr Koopman, portrays a balance between being solemn and being eccentric and dotty.
Like the various time-travelling episodes of 'Star Trek', 'Running Against Time' depicts how detrimental the effects could be if we were to ever discover a way of travelling back in time. That while it would be nice to reminisce with dead loved ones and late historical figures, altering history may not achieve the results we want. It also portrays some genuinely heart-warming scenes between a young David and his brother, conveying how devastating it must be for children to lose elder siblings in war and how such losses could effect them for life.
This film does have a number of time-travelling paradoxes that are not addressed (such as if David changed history then the timeline would have been altered so why were Koopman and Laura not affected, etc) but, ultimately, it's important to remember that it is just a film, not a Stephen Hawking documentary. Almost all films that feature time-travel in the plot will create the problem of paradoxes, which viewer just have to over-look. When watching 'Running Against Time', just involve yourself in the storyline instead of worrying over the science and you'll find it to be an enjoyable film.
Review by Mel J from the Internet Movie Database.
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