Time Changer (2002) Reviews

• somehow watchable but not exactly good

  BZaphod2005-08-15

  I picked up Time Changer because it looked like a nice low-budget scifi time travel movie and I was in the mood for something like that. The description said it had something to do with some biblical stuff and time travel but I didn't expect a fundamentalist Christian film! The movie had decent special effects and an interesting premise that could have gone places and been far more interesting than it ended up being. Our hero, who is a bible professor from the 1890s, eventually travels forward to the 2000s and finds that modern life is filled with the influences of evil - Jesus is nowhere to be found. This wonderful technological feat is accomplished with the assistance of a fellow bible teacher who somehow managed to invent a functional HG-Wells-style time machine. The movie starts to lose some credibility at this point, which is unfortunate because this happens very early in the film. Earlier (or perhaps immediately later, can't remember for certain), our hero professor was seen teaching what appeared to be a science class where he claimed that scientific findings could only be considered validated if it could be matched with what the bible says. What should be obvious to anyone is that this is clearly not what the scientific method is about, however it is presented such that the filmmakers appear to prefer the point of view that science is useful only if it supports their claims and otherwise is not useful. In any case, that belief is perfectly valid and sensible in the context of the character at the time. So, if we accept that as the fact of life for these bible professors, then obviously the professor who went and invented the time machine isn't a very strong believer as I don't think there's any evidence (and none was offered) for the physics of time travel in the bible. So immediately there's a problem with mixed messages and credibility there, but never mind... After the professor is convinced to take the leap into the future, the shock of modern technology was handled quite well in most cases. It was also fun to not have it pinned down to an exact year (as the character is reading the date off a newspaper to himself, a car honks a horn and it scares him into not finishing the date: it's just two thousand and... *honk*). Some of the shock went on a little too long, though. For instance, the car was one of the first things he encountered when he arrived and around two days later he's invited to a church movie night and takes a ride in a van. He sticks his head out the window like a dog might, is scared by the headlights and the starting engine, etc. That seemed a bit off since he'd been there a few days by this point and the city appeared to be quite busy with traffic. In any case, that's easy to ignore. The rest of the tech shock was well done - especially his first encounter with the TV which was delayed because he didn't even realize what it was until he saw a kid watching one and using a remote. Unfortunately, our hero predictably starts to preach to virtually everyone he meets as if he's an authority on all life and religion just because he's from the past and is an elder. Eventually he gets himself a brief moment in the spotlight at the church he had been visiting where he proceeds to explain his concept of Christianity to them in a long monologue that was supposed to be moving and insightful, but mostly was just more of the same. A couple of husbands in the church begin to get a funny feeling about this guy (go figure) and investigate his name. They eventually conclude that he either is a time traveler or is impersonating this long dead bible professor and decide to find out which it is. The movie frames these guys as non-believer bad guys for being skeptical. Just before the professor is to head back to his own time, he is confronted by those two men. In an effort to avoid being arrested or hauled away, he eventually breaks into an almost insane-like rant about how Jesus is coming soon and that he's a prophet so they should listen to him. Just in time, he's whisked away and one of the husbands wonders if perhaps this is the rapture he'd heard so much about. The irony is that this essentially means the professor became a self-proclaimed (and most likely false) prophet claiming to know that the rapture was near and he was sent by God when truthfully he was sent by his fellow bible professor and did not have any God-given knowledge (that was stated or even hinted at). As I understand it, Revelation claims that the time of the end is only for God to know and at the end of the film we see the inventor professor trying (and failing) to send a bible into the future. First 2080, then 2070, etc. as the scene fades out. Clearly he's trying to determine the exact date of the end times - which he shouldn't be able to know! Essentially, the entire premise of the movie cancels itself out because by being so insistent on their religious beliefs and how certain things are for God to know only, it means there couldn't ever BE a time machine in the first place because then mankind could find out something that only God should know! The entire movie's premise collapses and makes the whole thing basically worthless as it undermines it's own credibility in the end.

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• Laugh-Out-Loud, Unmitigated Crap

  droppo762009-09-10

  I caught this gem at 4:00 AM on the religious network. By the title, I thought the movie was going to be about a guy who punches in other people's time cards at work for them, or maybe about a guy who sets his alarm clock ahead a few minutes so he won't be late for work. As it turns out, the film is about a biblical scholar, Russell Carlisle, who travels through time from the 1890's to 2002 and changes nothing. Huh. Carlyle's character of a Victorian era prude is played convincingly by D. David Morin, in that he has a beard and doesn't use contractions. Those two elements really helped me willfully suspend my disbelief so that I could enjoy the riotously hilarious plot, which is as follows: At the suggestion and doing of his colleague, Dr. Anderson (played by the indomitable Gavin McLeod), Carlisle travels from the fictional country/era of the United States of Fundamentalist Christians via a time machine so that he can see for himself the dangers of distinguishing morality as separate from the teachings of Jesus Christ. I use the word "fictional" as it applies to the majority of the audience that has graduated high school, lives above the 39th parallel, or hasn't suffered a serious head injury. If you don't fall into any of the criteria above, or you happen to be one of the screenwriters, you probably think that the United States was once a brittle, austere theocracy in which stuffy, community theater actors paraded around in monocles, scolding knickerbocker clad children with bibles tucked under their arms. But seeing as we're dealing with creative minds that believe the Earth is only about 100,000 years-old, why bother about historical accuracy? Anyway, Dr. C steps onto a platform, is engulfed in green light, and arrives in 2002. Carlisle then gives us the perfunctory "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" routine where upon seeing water fountains, automobiles, and motion pictures he goes into a German Sheppard-like torpor, craning his head to one side and dropping his jaw a little. This, by the way, comprises about two thirds of D. David Morin's range of performance and adds to the long, long, long list of unintentional hilarities as ALL of these modern marvels existed before 1890. Carlisle then encounters a slew of modern, profound, societal dilemmas would test anyone's Christian mettle such as: children stealing hot dogs, teenagers peacefully convening on street corners after dark, lingerie displays, well mannered laundry mat owners, and my personal favorite, movies that contain dialogue with the words "God" and "Damn" in them. In this particular scene, Carlisle goes to see a film with a church group in which the aforementioned is uttered by an actor. Dr. C. is then seen running from the theater and into the lobby, shouting hysterically at the popcorn clerks about blasphemy and pleading they should "stop this at once!!!" In another scene, Carlisle, like many strangers met at church groups within the past 48 hours, is invited to talk to a science class in a public school by a teacher. He greets the class and then immediately begins a symposium on how God, our father, is the core off all science, and that everything written in the bible has been proved as actual, indisputable fact. After he is quickly ushered away by the teacher and told his behavior was inappropriate, Carlisle's sadness and inability to understand this cruel future are punctuated by an extreme close-up, and heart-wrenching, incidental music. I actually pulled a muscle in my upper rib cage from laughing. The film culminates by telegraphing the Fundamentalist mantra via a tender dialogue between Carlisle and a sympathetic character who proclaims that Satan's greatest victory was removing the word of God in secular entertainment and public schools. Yes, my rib was still hurting at this point, but it wasn't over yet. Before Carlisle returns to his time and fictional national, he revisits Eddie Martinez, the well mannered, patient, and helpful laundry mat owner played by Z list actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez. In a most frank, earnest, and unwittingly hilarious moment, Carlisle tells Eddie that no matter how good a person he is in this lifetime, he will burn in hell lest he give credit to Jesus Christ for the source of his morality. In fact, there is no difference between his productive and generally moral life than that of a child rapist or a murderer, that is, in the eyes of God at least. Eddie then promises to read the bible. Wouldn't you? Carlisle then returns home to a decade devoid of D.H. Lawrence, violent racism, and pubic lice and tells Dr. Anderson what he has observed in his "experiment." He tells him that not giving proper MLA documentation to Jesus in the "works cited" page we call "life" will lead the country down a path to destruction as proved by the proclivity of hot dog theft and science unfettered by creationism. Yes, the petty and vindictive God will send even good people straight to an eternity of burning pain, because he desires credit for the work more than he does the results of "goodness." Strangely, Carlisle leaves out that life expectancy has doubled, indoor plumbing is common, and Jim Crowe has been outlawed when reporting back to Dr. Anderson. Huh. Dr. Anderson then wonders how long mankind has before Jesus destroys the world in a ball of fire that will consume all non-believers, or: the ultimate, orgasmic-like fantasy of all religious zealots. Anyway, please watch this turd, if for nothing more than a good laugh, than for the salvation of your very real soul, one that sees intolerance, censorship, and torture fantasy for what it is: About one more gay-bashing away from flying airplanes into buildings.

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• I couldn't believe my eyes.

  judylondon2003-09-09

  A Bible professor from 1890 comes forward in time to the present via a time machine and cannot believe the things that he sees! Well niether could I. This is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. It is one long dull sermon on the "declining moral standards" of modern times. Very Christian fundamentalist inspired, the movie offers nothing to the general viewer except propaganda. It has little or no entertainment value.

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• Profound and visionary look at "the domino effect..."

  MajorFilms2003-07-06

  TIME CHANGER is certainly not going to appeal to all audiences, especially teeny-boppers who may be atracted by the SCI-FI elements of the film's artwork and trailers. Yes, the film contains some very cool visual effects and a plot premise right out of H.G. Well's Time Machine. However, make no mistake, director Rich Christiano and his investors at Trinity Broadcasting Network are using this unique Sci-Fi premise to make a definitive spiritual point. Accordingly, I would suspect that TIME CHANGER will be strongly embraced by the Christian community and fans of movies such as "LEFT BEHIND" and "THE OMEGA CODE." The film is well made and especially well acted with a fine cast. For those seeking intellectually intriguing Christian entertainment, TIME CHANGER is the "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY" of this emerging genre'. Mainstream audiences will also enjoy the premise and superb execution. But this is not likely to be the first choice of the rebellious teen-crowd. Regardless, I would recommend this film as a great video purchase or rental.

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• As an antitheist, I actually loved this movie...

  rachel-iriscelendine2013-06-24

  OK, I have to start this review off by saying I am an antitheist. I was raised Christian, dabbled in wicca, turned agnostic, atheist, then antitheist. I stumbled upon this movie as a total accident and watched it for a laugh during work. However, I totally loved it. The lead in this movie says things in a way that makes me feel the actor truly feels that way. He gets upset by the tiniest things and this movie is a total crack up. I found myself rooting for him, wanting him to succeed, even though his goal is something I do not personally believe in. If you are Christian, this is a great inspirational watch. If you're not, it's a great laugh and feel good movie.

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