Review of Nick of Time (1995) by George E — 28 Sep 2012

It's odd how our memory can play tricks on us. Somehow I remember watching this film decades ago and thinking it was quite good. So when I saw the opportunity to pick up the DVD I jumped on it. Well one of two things happened, either the movie didn't age well, or my tastes changed significantly. This movie has one thing going for it, and that is the real time ticking clock mechanism. You can feel the climax drawing near each time they show a minute hand tick off another minute. Sadly the rest is far fetched to say the least, and also lacks some dramatic tension because it follows some Hollywood cliches.

Johnny Depp feels surprisingly unemotional in what should be a very heart-wrenching situation. His whole performance just feels flat for some reason. The saving grace of the film is Christopher Walken. I honestly can't imagine anyone being quite as awesome in the role of psychotic killer. He makes this film watchable simply by being crazy, and delivering those intimidating threats to Johnny Depp. The rest of the cast is largely forgettable. None of them make much of an impression, and they certainly don't add anything to the film.

The real problem with the movie is the plot. I understand the logic of why they wanted this woman dead, but the idea of intimidating some innocent bystander into doing the deed instead of just sacrificing one of their own men is too fantastical to be believable. Especially when they start killing other people indiscriminately without worry. Plus it felt like they never wrote out the whole plot. It's like someone had a great idea for the framework of a real time assassination plot, but they didn't figure out how the story would carry through 90 minutes. So it starts to seem like they're just filling time. They repeat actions (going to a shoe shine, bar, bathroom, etc. more than once) and it becomes almost boring instead of intense. In the end the movie feels really weak, and I can see why it's not looked on as one of Depp's better performances. But 16-year-old me loved it.