The problem is that he scalds himself with coffee. That triggers an avalanche of complications, centered around a plot to use the latest time travel technique to go back for a visit at Hitler's to present him with a recently stolen A-bomb to make him win the war, but as is commonly the case with political intrigue, things don't always turn out exactly as expected or planned.
Just to mention a few of the complexities, the pilot has a twin brother, and as one of them chokes on a roll his brother takes his place without knowing what on earth he is going for on this trip, and accidentally a few time travel tourists are booked on the same trip without knowing they will be joining some modern nazi weirdos on their venture to make Hitler win the second world war. There are many such complications, for instance, accidentally, the time travel rocket lands three years before schedule just after Pearl Harbor when Hitler stands outside Moscow and is already certain that he can't lose the war, so there is some double confusion here.
It's a brilliant tongue-in-cheek comedy all the way, and it's admirable how serious everyone remains in the middle of amounting hilarities that constantly increase in absurdity. The paralyzing pistol that turns its victims green is sensational. This is a unique science fiction comedy of refreshing self irony all the way, making fun of everything, society, bureaucracy, gangsters, Nazis and even the genre itself, while at the same time there is some serious business: the highlight is the tremendous scene with Hitler himself when he is compelled to watch documentaries from the future of the fall of his Reich with its consequences. Of course, he can't believe his eyes, and still, when he is alone, he can't resist the temptation to watch it all over again, not to gloat in it, but to try to understand what is to him absolutely impossible. This is ingenious science fiction with an intelligent psychological touch to it.
The whole film is over-intelligent, and as the complications keep towering it becomes increasingly difficult to follow the constant turnings of the bizarre events which eventually turn to some heaps of killings, but it all makes sense at least mathematically and logically, although fortunately so far it is all completely impossible - unless you believe in Stephen Hawking's persistent assertions. Maybe he is next to be favored by some cure from the future...
Just to mention a few of the complexities, the pilot has a twin brother, and as one of them chokes on a roll his brother takes his place without knowing what on earth he is going for on this trip, and accidentally a few time travel tourists are booked on the same trip without knowing they will be joining some modern nazi weirdos on their venture to make Hitler win the second world war. There are many such complications, for instance, accidentally, the time travel rocket lands three years before schedule just after Pearl Harbor when Hitler stands outside Moscow and is already certain that he can't lose the war, so there is some double confusion here.
It's a brilliant tongue-in-cheek comedy all the way, and it's admirable how serious everyone remains in the middle of amounting hilarities that constantly increase in absurdity. The paralyzing pistol that turns its victims green is sensational. This is a unique science fiction comedy of refreshing self irony all the way, making fun of everything, society, bureaucracy, gangsters, Nazis and even the genre itself, while at the same time there is some serious business: the highlight is the tremendous scene with Hitler himself when he is compelled to watch documentaries from the future of the fall of his Reich with its consequences. Of course, he can't believe his eyes, and still, when he is alone, he can't resist the temptation to watch it all over again, not to gloat in it, but to try to understand what is to him absolutely impossible. This is ingenious science fiction with an intelligent psychological touch to it.
The whole film is over-intelligent, and as the complications keep towering it becomes increasingly difficult to follow the constant turnings of the bizarre events which eventually turn to some heaps of killings, but it all makes sense at least mathematically and logically, although fortunately so far it is all completely impossible - unless you believe in Stephen Hawking's persistent assertions. Maybe he is next to be favored by some cure from the future...