cult film freak: MICHAEL PARÉ & NANCY ALLEN IN 'THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT'

Michael Paré marching through time in the YEAR: 1984

When two naval officers are thrust from the 1940's into the 1980's, they must literally get past very dated special effects...

After which, the otherwise heavily science-fiction based PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT becomes a typical action flick as Michael Paré, as a stranger in a strange land with fellow shipmate Bobby Di Cicco, aren’t sure what sent them through that lightning-driven portal into an era where jet fighter planes roar across the sky, people wear multicolored mohawks, men dress like women, and a former actor has become president. And much of this is experienced in one desert diner, where they should have hung around longer since the fun of time travel movies are how things have changed and how the characters react therein. But limited actor Paré's expressions, watching video games flashing and aliens on television, seems as if he's not surprised at all...

Michael Paré & Nancy Allen SCORE: ***1/2

So he's teamed with a more animated Bobbi Di Cicco, at first, and then Nancy Allen, serving a double-shift as the potential love interest and the only person willing to partially trust him in this unbelievable predicament, driving from point A to B with the military on their trail...

Meanwhile, the highway chases flow smoothly enough (albeit liken to a TV-movie... but a decent one) and Paré and Allen, for better or worse, have that essential chemistry reminiscent of golden age melodramas. But there should have been less of the fast-paced adventure by the pawns and more creative science-fiction exposition/enlightenment by the players: trying to move the pieces around a maze that, even after the resolution (having to do with a top secret Naval experiment to deflect vessels from radar), still doesn't quite make sense. Maybe if Executive Producer John Carpenter directed, it'd be more clear, and timeless.