Time Burst: The Final Alliance

My review was written in August 1989 after watching the film on AIP video cassette.

A modest made-for-video sci-fi feature, "Time Burst" lacks the special effects and straightforward storytelling needed to attract a following.

Filmmaker Peter Yuval's previous genre effort, "Dead End City" was a crisp B picture, while "Time Burst" is awkwardly constructed. Nutty opening has hero Scott David King walking away from a Cesna plane crash after he's kidnapped an antiquity dealer (Richard Rogers killed in the plane mishap. Vintage Japanese samurai are battling in the California forest nearby for no reason.

King has amnesia but is soon chasing hither and yon with pretty (and violent) teammate Michiko, a CIA operative. Snippets of exposition finally reveal that everyone after a set of ancient Japanese tablets held by Gerald Okamua, that offer the key to immortality, King turns out to be 350 years old and impervious to bullets and such, making for some cute though silly plot twists during shootouts.

King, a handsome young thesp vaguely resembling Stephen Collins, delivers a straightforward performance in a confusing role, while Michiko adds a distinctive, offbeat beauty to the pic.