The production values of this movie are really, really, bad. People run through train stations with guns drawn while no-one notices, and the special effects of disasters are very amateurishly done. The motivations of the main characters are simplistically drawn. Add a whole slew of pretty bad performances, and you've got a recipe for disaster.
Yet despite all this, I rather enjoyed the movie, in spite of itself. The time travel paradoxes were well handled - to the point where I found myself rooting for the nominal "bad guys," instead of the "good guys." The story is interesting and well handled, and Catherine Bell is, as always, a knockout.
One point - the general premise of the film (and this isn't really a spoiler; it's spelled out right away, but if you don't want to know anything about the film, stop reading), that of time travellers from the future taking vacations to the past to view disasters, is taken (uncredited) directly from C.L. Moore's classic story "Vintage Season," one of my favorite sci-fi works. The details are different, but the premise is identical. Moore's story has been filmed more faithfully, as "Disaster in Time." Anyone who liked "The Time Shifters" should check it out, or even better, the original source material.
Yet despite all this, I rather enjoyed the movie, in spite of itself. The time travel paradoxes were well handled - to the point where I found myself rooting for the nominal "bad guys," instead of the "good guys." The story is interesting and well handled, and Catherine Bell is, as always, a knockout.
One point - the general premise of the film (and this isn't really a spoiler; it's spelled out right away, but if you don't want to know anything about the film, stop reading), that of time travellers from the future taking vacations to the past to view disasters, is taken (uncredited) directly from C.L. Moore's classic story "Vintage Season," one of my favorite sci-fi works. The details are different, but the premise is identical. Moore's story has been filmed more faithfully, as "Disaster in Time." Anyone who liked "The Time Shifters" should check it out, or even better, the original source material.