Retro Film Review: 12: 01 (1993)

(Note: Capsule version of the review is available here.)

1993 was the year that lacked thought-provoking Hollywood films. One of the exceptions was Groundhog Day, fantasy comedy by Harold Ramis. Its concept - protagonist caught in a same day for all eternity - was later used in some popular TV shows like Xena or The X-Files. The concept, however, wasn't original. It was first used in a short story by science fiction author Richard A. Lupoff. The same story was used in 1990 film by Jonathan Heap. Three years later, television remake was filmed, this time directed by Jack Sholder and written by Philip Morton.

The movie protagonist is Barry Thomas (played by Jonathan Silverman), office worker who meets beautiful scientist Lisa Fredericks (played by Helen Slater) and falls in love with her. But, before he could meet her, she falls victim to uknown assassins. Depressed, Barry goes to bar and gets drunk. Next morning, he is surprised to see his colleagues use exactly the same lines and doing exactly the same movements like yesterday. When he sees Lisa alive and well, he figures that something is very wrong. Next morning, exactly the same thing happens, and Barry realises that he is trapped inside the time loop. Finally, he discovers the facts that could serve as an explanation - secret nuclear physics experiments that may have disrupted the time-space continuum and caused the loop.

Compared with Groundhog Day, this film is disappointment. On its own, it is more than passable piece of TV entertainment The story has its own internal logic (although the pseudoscientific explanation is rather lame). Jack Sholder, director whose best film so far is 1986 SF thriller HIDDEN, is handling this television production quite well. The characters and situations are interesting, providing a lot of humour. The actors are capable in their roles, although they lack charisma (especially Jonathan Silverman). Martin Landau, on the other hand, wasted his own in the role of rather conventional project leader. All in all, good film for the viewers who watch movies without too much expectations.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on April 24th 1999)