Time Under Fire (1997)

Well you could never accuse the team behind this of not having grown up watching movies. Just about everything from “Return of the Jedi” to “The Hunt for Red October” via “Terminator” and that terrible “Amazing Captain Nemo” film from 1978 is creatively incorporated into this. It’s a US Navy submarine that unwisely ignores advice to avoid the Bermuda Triangle and finds itself transported one hundred years into a future ruled by a militarist and his stormtroopers. He is working on the ultimate weapon - an android who just happens to look like the captain of the submarine, which has in the intervening few moments of plot development, been captured. Of course, the now imprisoned crew decide that they have to thwart this dastardly plan, but are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned by this vastly technologically superior society. So what do we reckon, then? It’s actually quite impressive that Messrs. Levy and Reed have managed to string this thinnest of stories out for ninety minutes, but they do save the best for last with some great robot effects. Anyone else remember that tinned “Cremola Foam” stuff you made with water? The acting and writing don’t merit any comment beyond the fact that they are there; there’s a bit of entirely unnecessary sex and sadly this is no better than a low-budget film made to plug a gap in the sci-channel’s overnight schedules. Skip it, sorry.