Nick Of Time (DVD)

...in so I thought that Nick Of Time must have been a low budget, straight to DVD film and guess what… I was right!

Unfortunately starring Johnny Depp and the excellent Christopher Walken just isn’t enough to save this movie from being a bit of a washout. From the synopsis I thought that although it was likely to be a low budget thriller, from the A-List cast I thought that it may just be a diamond in the rough and not the budget bin ...
...The film has a very cheap feel to it right from the start, it was made in 1995 so it’s obviously a little dated but straight away when the credits came on I got the feeling that it was likely to be a little substandard and lacklustre as so many straight to DVD movies are. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad film, far from it actually and at times it shows real potential but I feel that if a bigger budget were issued and the story was revised a little ... more

When reserved and placid Gene Watson (Johnny Depp) arrives at a Los Angeles train station with his young daughter Lynn he never knew that his life could possibly change forever after a chance encounter with two would-be police officers.

When a man and a woman posing as police ask Gene to step into their van he obliges but it’s not long before a nightmare ensues for Gene. Gene is told that he must assassinate the Governor of California (Marsha Mason) and if it’s not done by 1.30pm his daughter will be killed. It’s already almost 12.30pm so Gene must get a move on if he wants his daughter to live passed the next hour…

Up until last night I had never heard of this film, going by the synopsis it sounded pretty good; ‘a real time suspense thriller starring Johnny Depp’ so I was a little confused as to why I had never heard of it. Being a big Johnny Depp fan I thought I’d probably heard of most things that he’d been in so I thought that Nick Of Time must have been a low budget, straight to DVD film and guess what… I was right!

Unfortunately starring Johnny Depp and the excellent Christopher Walken just isn’t enough to save this movie from being a bit of a washout. From the synopsis I thought that although it was likely to be a low budget thriller, from the A-List cast I thought that it may just be a diamond in the rough and not the budget bin filler it was destined to be.

The film has a very cheap feel to it right from the start, it was made in 1995 so it’s obviously a little dated but straight away when the credits came on I got the feeling that it was likely to be a little substandard and lacklustre as so many straight to DVD movies are. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad film, far from it actually and at times it shows real potential but I feel that if a bigger budget were issued and the story was revised a little then it could have been a really good film.

As much as I love Johnny Depp I don’t think action is the right genre for him, this is the sort of film that I can envisage someone like Nicholas Cage doing but Johnny Depp has become so suited to his quirky and eccentric roles that playing a mundane character like Gene (even his name is dull) leaves him looking a little uninteresting. When the film starts to pick up after about 10 minutes or so there’s no real emotion from Depp, it’s like he’s there but the lights aren’t switched on. Depp does everything right but unfortunately that spark which he normally has in front of the camera is missing and it’s simply down to the fact that this isn’t his genre and it’s no surprise that he hasn’t done many action films since this film. Therefore unfortunately what I first thought might save this film was one of the more disappointing aspects of an already lacklustre attempt at a thriller.

Christopher Walken isn’t his best either, maybe it’s the fact that because this is a low budget film their salaries aren’t as big therefore they don’t feel it necessary to try as hard but his turn as bad guy who we only know as Mr Smith was also highly disappointing. At times he shows a hint of menace but doesn’t put enough effort into his character to really excel as a believable villain. Some of the things that his character does are a little questionable too, he follows Gene around the whole time which gives the film no chance for tension. There could have been so many scenes where you think Gene has managed to get away or inform someone of the despicable plan only for Mr Smith to turn up at the most inopportune moment and shock both Gene and the audience however the fact that he was there the whole time left Gene with no chance of this and was a real let down.

The film doesn’t covey any sense of urgency which is what I was expecting it to do. It’s filmed in ‘real time’ which means that the hour or so that Depp’s character has to assassinate the Governor is exactly the running time of the movie which I think is a very clever idea and the only other thing that I can think of that uses this premise is ‘24’. Unique idea or not the film doesn’t use it to it’s full potential, there are so many missed opportunities for tension and anxiety but the director lets these slip through his fingers.

The fact that all the action is set in the same building makes the film feel a little dull and tedious, I was hoping for things to progress somewhere else to give the film a new lease of life because the same old location gets boring after about 10 minutes. There are times when the plot gets really dragged down and I was willing it to get moving but then there are times when it’s actually quite astute and there are numerous little twists throughout. However the problem with the twists are that they’re all the same which doesn’t do the film any favours as it adds an air of predictability to the proceedings.

Overall I think this is a pretty decent film for a straight to DVD movie however when you compare it against Depp’s other films it simply doesn’t stand up on it’s own merits. It seemed as though the cast and crew were holding back the entire time for some reason and there are so many lost opportunities for action and tension which become very infuriating after a while. If you’re a die hard Depp fan then you may be inclined to watch it but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.

The DVD is available from play.com for £4.99.  

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