Thrill Seekers a.k.a The Time Shifters
Abandon Pictures, Avenue Pictures, Carlton America, Hamdon Entertainment, USA, Canada, 1999.
Abandon Pictures, Avenue Pictures, Carlton America, Hamdon Entertainment, USA, Canada, 1999.
Tom Merrick (Casper Van Dien) was a star TV reporter whose overambitiousness cost the live of two of his working partners in power plant disaster. He was only saved because he was confused when he saw a strange man loitering in the burning building. Tom is traumatized, loses his marriage and says goodbye to his career.
Years later he is happy getting a job in a quality magazine. You know, the kind of magazine with articles such as 'Hitler found: exclusive first interview' and 'Boy trapped in furnace eats own foot.' His first assignment is to write an article about historical disasters. Researching old pictures reveals that the same man with a black hat (Julian Richings) has always been sighted at the locations of disasters. Maybe there is a centuries old conspiracy behind the accidents. That could be scoop of the century if the photographs are real. So Tom travels to find the original archived photos only to notice that the same man is in the airplane and that the airplane is about to crash.
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| HIgh quality journalism |
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| Time Tourist |
Tom hijacks the airplane to avoid the crash. After preventing the disaster Tom is arrested by the FBI only to be kidnapped by agents from the future (Theresa Saldana and Peter Outerbridge). He manages to escape but the cops think he is a terrorist. Apparently tourists from the future are coming to watch the disasters. Together with colleague Elizabeth Wintern (Catherine Bell) Tom tries to prevent the next disasters.
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| Elizabeth Wintern |
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| Cortez and Felder |
Better than average TV-movie has an interesting idea although the economic production reminds that you are watching a TV-movie and it could have worked also as a higher budget film. In Casper Van Dien's filmography this is one of the more interesting ones. The plot keeps in its grip, with couple of clever twists although the time paradoxes that the story creates are quite absurd if thought seriously. Director Mario Azzopardi has scifi-experience for directing episodes for such series as "Outer Limits" and "Stargate SG-1." Martin Sheen appears as a travel company boss from the future. Many of the actors are familiar faces from TV. Catherine Bell appeared in "JAG" and Theresa Saldana in "The Commish". Julian Richings looked familiar and no wonder as he has a long career of acting in scifi-films and TV-series, including "Cube", "Supernatural" and "Orphan Black."
Recommended for scifi fans who liked "Outer Limits."
Recommended for scifi fans who liked "Outer Limits."
Rating: 
Good
Good
Starring: Casper Van Dien, Catherine Bell, Theresa Saldana, Peter Outerbridge, Julian Richings, Lawrence Dane, Catherine Oxenberg, Mimi Kuzyk, James Allodi, Deborah Odell, Martin Sheen, Matthew Bennett, Marc Donato, Stephen Bogaert, Sumela Kay, Carole Mackereth, Trevor Bain, Matt Birman, Jim Codrington, Brendan Connor, Kathryn Humphries, Oscar Hsu, Tony Meyler, Billy Otis, Lee Smart, Robert Thomas
Director: Mario Azzopardi
Director: Mario Azzopardi
Vuosia sitten kun vielä liikuin aktiivisemmin leffafoorumeilla, tms. tuli kahden elokuvan kohdalla toistuvasti vastaan kysymys, että mikä se on. Toinen oli se elokuva jossa oltiin jossain lentokentällä ja jotktu pallot söivät kaiken (Langoliers) ja toinen se missä joku mustapukuinen tyyppi vieraili historiallisilla tapaturmapaikoilla juuri tapahtuma-aikaan, eli tämä Thrillseekers. Ja nämä kysymykset tulivat lähes viikottain esille, mikä on mielenkiintoista koska molemmista muistettiin elokuvan tunnistettavimmat piirteet, mutta ei itse nimeä. No, toisaalta molemmat ovat idealtaan parempia kuin toteutukseltaan.
ReplyDeleteTykkäsin Langoliersistakin aikoinaan. Tosin jos sen nyt katsoisi uudestaan voisi olla että tulisi pettymys kun eivät ne efektit silloinkaan hyviä olleet ja tuskin ovat paremmaksi muuttuneet.
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