Beautiful Kylie Travis ('Models Inc.') plays Karen, a hostage negotiator with tragedy in her recent past. Having quit the force, she's traveling through rural Texas when she has car trouble and is then picked up by jovial sleaze bag Frank (James Belushi). When Frank realizes that his wife Rayanne (erotic film star Shannon Whirry) has been unfaithful, he murders her in cold blood. While Karen runs from Frank, she comes across an isolated government complex where lonely young scientist Brian (Frank Whaley) has been conducting time travel experiments. Karen then realizes that here is a situation where she can go back in time and do things over...so she does. The only problem is, she actually makes things WORSE. So she ends up back at the complex, and goes back in time again. And so it goes while she stubbornly tries, each time, to make better decisions.Yeah...this does indeed sound like a serious sci-fi version of "Groundhog Day", much like an an earlier TV movie titled '12:01', starring Jonathan Silverman. But the premise is amusing, and director Louis Morneau actually does a very creditable job at keeping things very taut and compelling. The movie has a breakneck pace to it, a respectable intensity level, and characters about whom we can actually give a damn. Travis is quite good in the central role, while Belushi relishes the opportunity to go over the top in his portrayal of a hair-trigger tempered piece of scum. Whaley is very likable as the scientist, and Whirry earns our sympathies as the timid wife. It's also nice, as it always is, to see M. Emmet Walsh, as he plays cheerful gas station proprietor Sam. Jesse Borrego ("Con Air"), Sherman Howard ("Day of the Dead" '85), and Guy Boyd ("Body Double") co-star."Retroactive" is slickly photographed in Clairmont-Scope by George Mooradian, and has an appropriate sun baked look to it in all outdoor scenes. Special effects are decent and not overdone. I don't know if the script (credited to Michael Hamilton-Wright, Robert Strauss, and Phillip Badger) will bear any close scrutiny, but at least while this thrill ride is still going on, the viewer may not mind too much. It does give in to some clichés (such as characters missing their targets all too often when they shoot, or guns that take forever to run out of ammo), but the action is first-rate, and our protagonist and antagonist do set off some big sparks.Seven out of 10.
... View MoreDirector Louis Morneau who also directed another classic flick, Road Kill 2: Dead Ahead 2008 has created another gem in Retroactive.Starring James Belushi who has also been other classic flick , Salvador 1986 and Made Men 1999.Also starring Kylie Travis.Also starring Shannon Whirry who has also been in other classic flicks, Animal Instincts II 1994, Animal Instincts 1992, Mirror Images II 1993 and Out for Justice 1991.Also starring M.Emmet Walsh who has also been in other classic flicks, Romeo + Juliet 1996, Narrow Margin 1990, Blood Simple 1984 and Blade Runner 1982.I enjoyed the shootouts and car chases.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic time travel flicks, The Butterfly Effect 2004, Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey 1988, Planet of the Apes 1968, Primer 2004, Returner 2002, Slaughterhouse-Five 1972, Timecop 1994, The Caller 2011, Triangle 2009, Edge of Tomorrow 2014 and Timecrimes 2007.
... View MoreJames Belushi as a villain?? I used to watch this movie a few tears ago in hospital (having some kinda disease). This is really a good sci-fi movie, where James Belushi is always a master actor in every piece of his movie. The only reason i find retroactive entertaining is because of him..nothing else!! He has turned this movie somehow...somewhat...a pure sensational action movie! I'll give this a 10/10..Unfortunately,people nowadays could not create good movies like this anymore.For all of u guyz out there, give this movie a chance, and u'll find that this would be far much2 more satisfying than watching other stupid sci-fi movies (blade runner, transformer, the matrix...) Watch Retroactive!!! 10*stars(excellent)
... View MoreA cross between "time machine"(at a small range) "the groundhog day" and a road movie,"Retroactive " is not to be taken seriously(!).Belushi's acting verges on a cartoon villain:he looks like Tweety Pie's Sylvester.There's some black humor,mainly in the first part;it tends to become repetitive after a while. Anyway the place where Brian works is two-bit sci-fi and the scientist's dumb-founded looks are priceless.So is Belushi's big bad wolf swagger.But the prize goes to M.Emmet Walsh's Sam:"don't do it here ,please,take'em to the desert!" "Retroactive" has a couldn't-care- less side which is quite entertaining.But if one seeks meaning and brain stuff,one must move on.
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