User reviews

I thought this was a pretty good movie. A suspenseful movie, Hitchcockian in that an innocent man gets involved in a deadly plot. An intriguing plot that had me thinking what I would do in the situation. Christopher Walken was, as usual, creepy and Johnny Depp was believable. The rest of the cast was very competent. I'd advise renting it. Not a special effects extravaganza but a nicely written fast moving movie.

Nick of Time has a rather novel concept of taking place in real time some years before the TV series 24 made this its central conceit.

Johnny Depp plays an everyman accountant whose young daughter is kidnapped by villainous Christopher Walken and ordered to kill the Governor of California or else his daughter will die.

Walken gives him a gun and a time limit of 90 minutes and it has to be done when the Governor is giving a speech in a hotel.

Depp in an unusual role playing a normal guy has to keep his wits about him and try to find help but Walken and his cronies are watching his every move. Depp still manages to unravel a conspiracy.

The film may have a preposterous plot, surely there are easier ways to kill the Governor but the film kicks in quickly and director John Badham clearly brings a Hitchcockian sheen to the film. You seem the time motif regularly in the film and an increasingly frantic Depp as time goes on.

A clever idea - an thriller played along real time to involve the viewer directly in the tension and pressure of the deadlines. Depp is forced to kill a senator or his daughter will be killed by Walken and Maffia. He is given a gun and a time limit to carry it out.

As the basis for a thriller it doesn't quite work - the real time concept falls apart a few times, but with this much talent on board it still holds it own. A throwback to the Hitchcock everyman thrillers of years ago, Depp plays his character well and you always believe he is just an ordinary man in an unbelievable situation rather than an action hero in the making while Walken does what he does best and plays the villain well.

The plot holds together well and you really find stuff out at the same time as Depp does. Some of the conspiracy stuff towards the end of the film is obvious and doesn't add anything to the film, but the main story revolving around Depp and Walken is tense enough to carry the film.

It doesn't contain any explosions or martial arts but the tension is good throughout. It's not a classic thriller but it's quite an original idea and plot and almost manages to keep the tension for the whole movie.

I am a huge Christopher Walken fan so that was my motivation for seeing this film. I must first say that it is similar to "Speed" but I thought this was much more entertaining. The movie is entertaining and it has a few great little speeches by Mr. Walken. Johnny Depp is cool as a normal guy trying to be the hero. Watch this movie if you love these two actors. If you do not like Walken then you will probably not like the film (but who doesn't like Christopher Walken?!)

This Hichcockian movie deals with an accountant named Watson (Johnny Depp) arriving in L.A. Union Station accompanied by his little daughter named Lynn (Courtney Chase). He's approached by a pair of rare people (Christopher Walken, Roma Maffia). The daughter is taken hostage into a van and Watson suffers a blackmail , he's given a gun with six bullets and he must go to the Bonaventure Hotel and commit a murder on a known people (Marsha Mason) . Watson is only helped by a shoeshine worker (Charles S Dutton).

Gripping, original action movie with Depp desperately trying to find the means to avoid his daughter to be murdered. Excellent thriller full of intrigue and tense , this is a fast-paced, stylized action-suspense film . The tension of this picture keeps snowballing as the clock ticks ever close for killing the starring's daughter . The tale appears to be unfolded in real time as the many on screen clocks will verify. Most unusual is the device of having the victim play desperado and hunt the killers, and saving his daughter , as time runs out. Casting is frankly magnificent, Johnny Deep as a tormented businessman who becomes involved into a twisted plot , Christopher Walken takes honors as a psychopath who attempts to turn the tables on the victim before he can inform the police . Plus, a good secondary cast , such as Peter Strauss, Roma Maffia, Gloria Reuben, Marsha Mason, G D Spradlin, among them . Adequate musical score accompanying the action by Arthur B. Rubinstein and inventively photographed by Roy Wagner. The motion picture was well directed by John Badham. He's a nice director who achieved his greatest success in the 80s . He directed several hits (Saturday night fever, Short circuit, Blue thunder, Drop zone, War games, Skateout), though today making TV movies (Jack Bull, Floating away) and television episodes (Crossing Jordan ,Psych, Las Vegas , Standoff, Heroes).

This may not be the best thriller I've ever seen, but it sure wasn't the worst either. At first it is a bit chaotic and not always as intense as you might want to, but as the movie progresses it gets better and better.

First you see a man and his daughter arriving at a train station. The police immediately takes them into custody, forcing them to come with them to their van. Their they make the man an offer. He has to kill a woman who he doesn't know. He gets 1.5 hours for it and if he fails or refuses his little daughter will die. Soon he finds out that the woman he has to kill is the governor and that he is involved in a conspiracy.

As I already said the movie isn't really great at the beginning, but from the moment on that you are past the half way point it seems to shift up a few gears and it does exactly what you can expect from a thriller. That's why I give it a 7/10. Not really special, but certainly worth a watch.

(Credit IMDb) An unimpressive, every-day man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.

This isn't your typical Johnny Depp film. It's quite surreal to see him play such a usual, everyday man role. While this isn't exactly original, and it's undoubtedly derivative, I still managed to have some fun with it. It has some fair suspense, and Johnny Depp makes for a likable, if flawed hero. It does get a little convoluted in the second half, but it moves at such a swift pace, I managed to block it out. Christopher Walken can do this type of stuff in his sleep. He always makes for a fantastic villain. Charles S. Dutton plays a shoe shiner, and is Depp's helper. He did a pretty good job, and adds solid presence like he does in most movies. Courtney Chase is quite tolerable as the daughter. With kid actors, I can't ask for much more than that. It's not original, it won't make your day, but it's fairly entertaining. If you need time to kill on a slow moving day, this is your ticket

6.3/10

Everything in that movie is phony. The basic thing if you want to make a good suspense film is that the situation is believable and you can identify with the protagonist and think: "Oh my Gosh that could happen to me" "If it does, I would react exactly like this"... In this film a very strong and professional outfit (Christopher Walken) wants to kill the governor of California (we'll never know why) during a political meeting (so corny, already in 1995).This outfit include almost everybody except the governor herself, including all the security crew (!??). And in order to do that they kidnap some guy (Johnny Depp) and his daughter randomly at the train station, give a gun to this guy (who has never used a gun before in his life) and tell him that if he doesn't kill the governor at 1:30 pm they will execute his daughter. Off course the guy doesn't want to do it and try to escape them but Christopher Walken keeps popping up from everywhere to keep the pressure on Johnny Depp.

So the question is: "Why didn't they hire some hit-man to do the job????"

Because there would have been no film? Yes, it's true but it would have made more sense.

Johnny Depp takes a break from his usual roles as outcasts, in this playing a clean-cut accountant who travels by train back to LA with his daughter after the wake of his deceased ex-wife. Upon entering the station, 2 people show him a police badge, take him into a van, and blackmail him into assassinating the governor in one hour or else they'll kill his daughter.

The remainder of the entire movie takes place in a hotel where the paranoid atmosphere gives clues about how big the conspiracy is and the political motives behind it; with nearly everyone keeping their eye on him and very little time, he's faced with the difficult task of getting out of this situation.

A must-see if you like edge of your seat excitement and an excellent cast, with Depp (great as Gene Watson), Marsha Mason, Charles S. Dutton, and Christopher Walken, playing the most despicable bad guy since Laurence Olivier in "Marathon Man".

Nick of Time was a very enjoyable thriller in the Hitchcock tradition of an ordinary man caught up in an extraordinary situation. Depp and Walken are very authentic and entertaining in their roles and I was very interested in their fates. The staging in the hotel was very nicely executed by the director. Strongly recommended, 8/10.

Nick Of Time is one of those short nifty films that just gets by by being cute, (so darn cute here) throwing everything in, but the kitchen sink. Depp and daughter arrive at an L.A. train station where they are approached by two mysterious figures (Walken and Mafia, like you've never seen her before) posing as plain clothes cops. At the flash of a badge, the daughter is snatched from Depp, and Walken gives him an ultimatum: assassinate this senator (Mason) within 75 minutes, of the daughter will be killed. These pro killers will carry out on their promise too. So we're working with real time, where it's hard to believe all of what Depp goes through, happens in this time space. I'll be honest, it's almost improbable, and you will notice by the cut back to time readings, time moves slow. It is interesting though in how Depp does his own thing, using his smarts, trying to figure an answer out of the dilemma, and what he resorts to. There are holes in this film, trust me. Depp plays it down the line, Mr Goody clean, in one of his sanest roles. He's superb, where Walken is fantastic as always, and menacing where Mafia is scary and disturbing. Mason with her doting public figure character, couldn't be finer, where Strauss, as a bad guy? yeah, and Mason's husband, does well. There are some thrilling turns in this, where Depp must outwit a sea of good and bad guys, but on the whole, NOT is weak, get by thriller, written by the guy who strangely enough wrote 94's dark, flat, adult pic, The Pornographer, where his baby was 82's The Beach Girls. NOT does have a truly thrilling and spectacular climax, bringing it's quality up, in something too little, too late. It isn't one of the brightest films, or brightest written, parts, involving dialogue too, seemed to be made up as it went, by a writer who's written his share of pics, and a consistent director, who's made his share.

Movies like "Nick of Time" take skill to do correctly. The entire movie occurs in roughly an hour and a half movie time so you have to craft a good script to capture that little bit of time in a feature length movie and still be compelling. "Nick of Time" did that.

A man named Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) is visiting L.A. with his daughter. They don't even get out of the train station before two law enforcement types rustle them up and whisk them away in a van. At that time Mr. Smith (Christopher Walken) tells Gene that he must kill Governor Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason) by 1:30 or his daughter will be killed. That's a doozy of a decision for anyone. Doubtlessly, you're going to do any and everything to save your daughter, but killing a governor is morally detestable as well as a one way to ticket to prison. Besides, he can't think that they'll leave him alive after the job is complete.

With that hanging over his head and the ever-watchful eye of Mr. Smith Gene went into action. I don't want to make it sound like he had some ingenious plan to avoid killing the governor and save his daughter because he didn't. He went into action sort of like an old jalopy--sputtering, wheezing, and barely moving.

It was an intense movie though. Johnny Depp captured the sheer fright, anxiety, confusion, and hopelessness of his situation. Walken was masterful as the omnipresent evil pall hanging over Gene. And even as far-fetched as it was, I liked the script. It was something different, and in a good way.

Shortly after this Box Office and Critical Bomb, once Acclaimed Director John Badham Migrated to TV and has been there ever since Doing Episodes of Various Series. Not to Say that this Midland Movie was to Blame but although it does have some Energy and Engaging Scenes, as a Whole the Film Fails on the most Basic Level.

Our Old Friend "Suspension of Disbelief" won't cooperate and keeps it from becoming an Involving Thriller. It is just too Contrived and Forced to be much more than a Time Waster and considering Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken manage to bring Their Characters to Life, the Film itself is on Life Support from the Get Go.

It's one of those that takes Place in "Real Time" and the Minutes Count Down as the Plot Unfolds as Clocks can be Seen Full Face or in the Periphery in almost Every Scene.

But as the Characters Tick-Toc in and out of the Frame the Film becomes a rather Failed Mechanical Exercise. There is one Dream Sequence that Works and the Movie as a Whole isn't awful (thanks mostly to Depp and Walken) it remains a Failed Attempt at Worst and a Mild Entertainment at Best.

Johnny Depp is Gene Watson. Gene is a man with a good career, a wife he's divorcing and a daughter, Lynn, he loves dearly. Everything was fine until Gene was approached by Mr. Smith (Walken) and Ms. Jones (Maffia) - a 'couple' with a hard bargain for Gene: Your daughter is kidnapped, you have to kill California governor Eleanor Grant in 90 minutes or less, or Lynn will die.

The film starts out a bit slow but it builds into a suspenseful thriller. Not my favorite Depp or Walken film but a good watch from time to time.

6/10

The consistent struggle for originality in the genre of action thrillers has lead to certain less than outstanding premises being lauded as innovative - Nick of Time being a perfect example. While the premise of an everyman being blackmailed into murder to prevent his daughter's murder is undeniably a clever one, showing glimmers of Hitchcock, it was hardly an instant meal ticket to a successful film. In the hands of a sturdy, capable filmmaker and boasting a taut, terse script, Nick of Time might have evolved into a nail biting masterpiece of tension, but as it is, the results fall disappointingly short of initial expectations.

While the idea of the film's plot unfolding in real time is intriguing, despite its concise hour and a half length the film still feels overlong, as if it is pushing its slight concept over too extended a period, leading to many repetitions or slack moments as opposed to the taut, gripping thriller it intended to be. Director John Badham (name related puns were just bound to surface given the quality of his work here) appears uncomfortable with the notion of an intense, claustrophobic thriller, and continually inundates the film with long shots, as if attempting to broaden its scope - the result being an expansive laxity of the tension which was ultimately necessary to make the film a success. Similarly, despite its "thriller" classification, the action in the film is restricted to only two brief setpieces (one being an ill- advised dream sequence), suggesting its being primarily fuelled by suspense and emotional tension - however, apart from the odd patch of effectively generated tension, the film is so poorly executed on these fronts that it is often simply a lackluster, or simply uninteresting watch, falling short of expectations that were never terribly high to begin with.

The paltry, often laughable script offers nothing more than poor lines, a mostly entirely absent sense of palpable tension and frequent absurdly inexplicable character motivations (seeing as Walken's character oversees the pending murder so closely, why not simply do the job himself?) leading to plot twists which make little sense. Even the initially appealing premise reveals itself to be a thinly thought out one, complete with dollops of plot holes too large to be swallowed up by the pithy enjoyment factor. While some peculiar cinematography adds a mildly unique quality to the film, the ever so subtle recurring visual motif of clocks or watches serves to slow the film down rather than amp up the tension.

Despite being deprived a venue for his usual lunacies, Johnny Depp does what he can with the role of a harried everyman blackmailed into an assassination plot, exuding enough charisma to keep the thin premise afloat. Christopher Walken has a great deal more fun, oozing wild eyed menace as the mysterious captor coercing Depp into murder, and delivering the only really noteworthy performance of the film. Charles S. Dutton is amusing as a jovial shoe shiner swept into the midst, though his character's offbeat humour more often than not seems out of place considering his grim surroundings. Roma Maffia puts a slightly inventive spin on the archetypal hostage captor, but Marsha Mason gives an embarrassingly melodramatic rendition of the threatened senatorial candidate, Depp's target. Similarly, Courtney Chase fulfils just about every "irritating little girl" cliché in the book as Depp's kidnapped daughter, doing little to sympathise the character in the audience's eyes.

While the film can hardly be described as anywhere near as downright despicable as it might have become, disappointing is indeed the word of choice as a decently intriguing premise is overwhelmed by inattentive, lacklustre directing and lazy screen writing generating hardly a scrap of tension in a film intended to thrive on it. While the odd sliver of enjoyment can frequently be extracted from the experience, most would be well advised to avoid Nick of Time apart from those willing to tolerate its glaring inadequacies.

-5/10

When you see the name Wes Craven, John Carpenter or Brian de Palma, we know that we can trust that we're in for a couple of hours of fine entertainment.

Although not as much a household name as the directors above, John Badham knows how to tell a suspenseful story as well as any of the other "kids on the block." Please look up his filmography and see all the countless house of excellent entertainment he has brought us; not only on the big screen but on television as well.

In "Nick of Time" John carefully guides us through one disaster after another. Johnny Depp conveys his frustration and fear that he might not be able to prevent any of the bad things that will happen.

Christopher Walken again proves that he is as comfortable being the "heavy" as he has been the "hero."

At a time when sometimes the good guys don't always win and the bad guys sometimes "get away with it," this is one cinematic thriller that should keep you on the edge of your seat the whole 90 minutes.

It is definitively not a must see. I discovered this one in a dvd shop. Before buying it I read the IMDb critics. I don´t know why many say this is an underrated movie. I don´t find so because every time the victim fails killing the governor he gets a new chance. Nothing really happens until at the end when the shots falls. I have to admit that there were some good jokes from the shoes cleaner but that´s all. Well done but just average. Running time is okay. My wife and I vote 6.5/10.

An unimpressive, every-day man (John Depp) is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter (Courtney Chase).

I simply cannot express my level of disappointment. Johnny Depp has his good movies and bad movies, and so does Christopher Walken. But together, you would think this would be a surefire hit. Walken is pretty good as the menacing bad guy... but Depp, he just seems lost in the material.

The concept and plot are fine, but it seems to run on and on, and how many times can one guy bump into the governor? There are some plausibility questions, but we can ignore those. Really, it just comes down to Depp not selling the role.