It’s clear that no one in the future has decided to use time travel as a method of guaranteeing that only quality films come out of Hollywood. Even if a cursory glance at a theater marquee didn’t convey that clearly enough, the sheer existence of Universal’s upcoming Timecop reboot makes that painfully obvious. To tell this story of time crimes, the studio has hired screenwriting cousins Brian and Mark Gunn, best known for writing Brad Peyton’s comedic adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Not exactly the duo you expect to get the job, but if they use their connections to get Dwayne Johnson to fill the shoes once worn by Jean-Claude Van Damme, I’ll start talking about this movie without this sneer on my face.

It’s unclear which story the Gunns will tell, however. Timecop‘s origins lie in the first three issues of the plainly titled anthology Dark Horse Comics, published in 1992, under the name “A Man Out of Time.” This story, created by Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson and writer Mark Verheiden, followed a man who captures a time traveler intent on robbing a diamond mine in the 1930, but doesn’t know until it’s too late that the thief’s robotic assistant was left in the past, causing all kinds of time line problems.

I love Timecop, I really, really do. Put Jean-Claude Van Damme in anything, and I’ll watch it. That said, I can’t claim that Peter Hyam’s 1994 time travel joint is great cinema. And you have to wonder, if Universal is talking about remaking, or rebooting, or whatever they’re calling it this time, Timecop, are they getting down towards the bottom of the barrel?

Granted, Timecop did make more than $100,000,000 at the box office, and it is Van Damme’s second highest grossing movie to date, behind Kung Fu Panda 2. I’m not going to ask if this is a good idea, or even if this is necessary. No, my only question, Universal, is how the fuck are you going to remake Timecop without Van Damme? Come on. No one else in the world combines a wooden delivery, sweet feathered hair, and splits-doing ability quite like the Muscles from Brussels. Sure, he wasn’t involved in the short-lived TV show or the unfortunate sequel, but still…

For those of you not familiar with this particular bit of science fiction cinema, Timecop is precisely what the title implies, the story of time-travelling law enforcement officers. Set in the futuristic world of 2004, officers of the Time Enforcement Commission leap around in time, stopping those who would use time travel for nefarious purposes and screw with the space-time continuum. It’s a noble pursuit.