Retroactive

Rating:
Summary: Good plot, well acted, well directed --> GREAT FUN
Review: A kind of R rated Groundhog day. An 'on the road' action-thriller that reminded me of The Hitcher but with reversed roles {psycho picks up hitchhiker} in its initial part, but goes on to become an action/sci-fi thrill ride with various characters, not only Travis, going back to the past to change things.

Video-favourite Jim Belushi's acting is a delight, and here he goes over the top as a gun-toting psycho with a texas accent. Travis' performance is overshadowed by Belushi's as usually happens with supercool villains. Frank Whaley and M. Emmet Walsh have bit parts.

Rating:
Summary: An action-packed joyride.
Review: A word of warning before the review: I highly recommend Retroactive and suggest you go out of your way to see it in widescreen because the numerous action scenes and breathtaking desert cinematography are cramped and a pain to watch in pan-and-scan.

Relegated to a straight-to-video release, Retroactive is a smart and entertaining thriller that deserves a wider audience. The film features a relatively simple but clever premise: Superhottie Kylie Travis stars as Karen Warren, a police negotiator who's on vacation in Texas. She gets into a car accident and has to hitchhike with a somewhat odd, but seemingly friendly couple, Frank and Rayanne (James Belushi and Shannon Whirry).

But everything goes horribly wrong when Frank discovers Rayanne has been cheating on him and he murders her right in front of Karen's eyes, who proceeds to run to the nearest building, a government-owned complex run by a single occupant, a scientist named Brian (Frank Whaley). There, he accidentally activates the time travel device he was working on, sending Karen back twenty minutes, just as she's been picked up by Frank. She then becomes determined to stop the horrible crime for occurring, but unfortunately, the body count grows even larger and she must go back again to prevent an even larger massacre.

Retroactive's appeal holds mainly to sci-fi action fans. The plot has a lot of twists and turns, which keeps the film unpredictable and suspenseful. But the real treat is for action fans, who should strap in for an adrenaline-pumping thrill ride. From the moment Travis is sent back in time, the film deliver non-stop excitement. There are tense shootouts and fast-paced car chases, the latter of which boasts some of the most exhilarating stunts since The Road Warrior. From a visceral point-of-view, Retroactive surpasses most of Hollywood's recent summer blockbusters.

The film still has its flaws, none of them surprisingly having to do with a sense of repetition, considering each action setpiece has the same basic setting and situation (car chase on a lonely desert highway, shootout at a gas station). Credit director Louis Morneau for keeping each sequence fresh and taut with suspense. The set-up may be the same, but the results and resolutions considerably differ. Rather, what I do have a problem with is some technical error during the shootouts. Belushi is shown firing a six-bullet revolver at one point, but clearly fires more than ten rounds. Another similar blatant miscalculation occurs again near the end. Plot holes and leaps of logic are expected in this kind of film, but the number of shots fired from a gun shouldn't be that hard to keep track of.

As the film's tough heroine, the absolutely gorgeous Kylie Travis is refreshingly intelligent and strong-willed. She occasionally has trouble holding back that British accent of hers, but still comes across quite well (looks great in that black tank-top, too). The only thing really holding her back is the fact that she's so gorgeous, it's a little tough to believe someone with her looks works as a cop (but I see her looks more as a plus, given what eye candy she is). James Belushi is a lot of fun as the psychotic villain, clearly relishing the over-the-top role, even though his character does lose menace through some ridiculous one-liners. Frank Whaley is quite good as the young scientist, hampered only by a single scene that requires him to forget the logic of his own device which Travis corrects him on.

With blistering, fast-paced action and a fun story, Retroactive proves to be a highly enjoyable way to spend ninety minutes. Most of the running time features a tight tank-top and pants wearing Kylie Travis kicking ass, so that alone is enough to recomend the film.
*** 1/2 out of *****

Rating:
Summary: NOT BAD AT ALL...
Review: At first this movie seemed to be B class at best. While it an A- at best it diffenately was worth the time. The acting could have been a little better at times, but the story is where this movie shows its glory. What I'm saying is the 'RETROACTIVE' parts of the movie...you'll see. It gets more and more interesting as the movie goes on. A must for any Sci-Fi fan.

Rating:
Summary: TEMPIS FUGIT
Review: Bearing some similarities to the recent BUTTERFLY EFFECT, RETROACTIVE shows what can happen when one meddles with time. The results are usually more disastrous, as pretty Kylie Travis discovers in this sometimes exhilarating, other times ridiculous time travel story. Filled with breathtaking action scenes and a fairly original plot, RETROACTIVE loses a lot of steam because the performances, at least in my humble opinion, are amateurish and over the top. James Belushi as the villain Frank tries to be the perfect Texas redneck, down to the Elvis sideburns. But Belushi becomes merely a caricature of himself or Ernest. Kylie Travis struggles to maintain an actress' abilities, but she comes across very wooden and "lost" in her character. Frank Whaley is awful as the scientist, looking like a young Timothy Hutton, searching for some meaning in his underwritten part. Just who is this guy anyway? Shannon Whirry is the only one who comes across "in to" her role as the waifish Rayanne.
The script does offer some interesting changes each time Travis goes back in time. The ending is appropriately ironic justice.
NOt a bad movie, by any means, just needed some stronger leads.

Rating:
Summary: THIS MOVIE ROCKS!
Review: Belushi plays an excellent redneck, and the time-travel element will not disappoint any sci-fi fans. Go ahead, check it out!

Rating:
Summary: Jon graham
Review: Belushi sort of soups up this very interesting flick about temporary time travel. As with any time travel movie, it leaves you guessing as to the consequences and basic physics of supposed time travel,....but it also contains a sort of theme. The main character is on the road when she hooks up with Belushi,...they then go crazy and without ruining the plot of a movie you should definatel see alot of action and time travellig occur in a desperate attempt to make right what went wrong. Definately rewatchable.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: but do not expect to see any special effects of note. It is a well thought-out story capable of keeping your attention for the time allotted.

Rating:
Summary: a Very Clever film... Plotting and Acting are top-notch.
Review: Finally, a time-travelling movie that is fresh and original, and it has James Belushi brilliantly playing a bad guy. In Australia, this film was a straight to video, so I wasn't expecting much. But when I hired it I found it Clever, Exciting and above all... Highly Entertaining. We get to see the same scene repeated over and over again to change the outcome, which mekes for great entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: A KOOL "TIME TRAVEL" MOVIE
Review: I have this VHS movie and really enjoyed it. I am a "Time Travel" freek and have about 30 movies pertaining to this subject. My favorite TV show is "7 Days" which is about a man that travels back through time to correct things that went wrong. A super TV show! (Perhaps some day, time travel will become a reality?)

Rating:
Summary: Very surprising
Review: I saw this movie by accident - it was a late show on a small-fry TV station which I flipped onto and stayed when I saw an ad for a film in which James Belushi dressed up as Elvis.

I'm glad I stayed - this is one of the most fun, clever and enjoyable films I've seen in a long time. Belushi is, frankly, brilliant (I had no idea he could actually ACT until I saw this movie) and Kylie Travis as "Our hero" who keeps trying to rectify a situation which has gone woefully wrong, making it worse by orders of magnitude each time is wonderful as well.

Well recommeded - buy it. I can't wait for my copy to arrive.