Clockstoppers

Zak Gibbs (Jesse Bradford) is a teenager, son of Dr. Gibbs (Robin Thomas), a brilliant scientist. He wants to buy a car, but the attention of his father is to his own research work. Zak likes Francesca (Paula Graces), a new student from Venezuela. One day, Zak finds by accident a watch developed by Earl Dopler (French Stewart), a former student of Dr. Gibbs, with capability of accelerating time. Henry Gates (Michael Biehn), the villain of the story, stole this research and wants to make lots of money with this device. Zak and Francesca will face lots of adventures due to this finding. The screenplay of this film has lots of flaw, but anyway it entertains. There are lots of inconsistency in the story, but if the viewer do not pay attention to these details, may have some fun. The special effects are very reasonable. Teenagers are certainly the public-target of this movie. My vote is six.

and all the scientific mumbo-jumbo, then this movie can be entertaining. I mean, it's about everyone's fantasy, to be able to stop time and do what you are doing while everyone else is frozen. Except in this movie the people really aren't frozen, it is just that the people with the stop watches are able to speed themselves up so it looks like everyone else is standing still. A pretty cool idea, but when the bad guys show up with the special watches, a bunch of plot holes show up. And it was amusing, especially the dance party scene when Zak and Francesa spin their DJ friend around, so in real time it looks like he is a really good dancer.

FINAL VERDICT: A fairly entertaining kids movie. I think 9-13 year olds will like it, plus it isn't a total bore for adults.

This is a fun movie for kids, I went with 7 - 8 year old kids, they loved it : with them around, it interesting, otherwise, don't go with adults, they'll find it kinda stupid.

By the way, it's paradoxal to see a movie based on a plot very close to an old Star Trek episode ("Wink of an eye") directed by Jonathan Frakes...!

I've always been fascinated with the idea of stopping time, so when I saw the trailer, I was really interested in seeing the movie. Anyhow, the movie was actually really cool and had some REALLY cool ideas. I really liked the idea that they weren't actually stopping time, they were just slowing it down REALLY slow.

The main reason I wanted to see the movie was for the special effects and I wasn't let down, the special effects were spectacular and lots of fun.

As far as acting goes, I thought all the actors did a find job. I liked Jesse Bradford, French Stewart, Michael Biehn and last but certainly not least, Paula Garces. I was really impressed with Paula's beauty, she is a quite a beautiful woman and predict a great future for her. I can't wait to see her next project.

As far as story-line goes, I thought it was pretty darn good and rather smart. There were a few things that I could have done without, but I can deal. One part that really struck me as odd was when he (Jess Bradford) was in the bathroom at the hospital and he was trying to get the watch (time-stopper) to work. While he was in the bathroom the bad guys slow down time and come walking into the hospital and suddenly you see Jesse disguised as a cop and then as soon as the baddies walk by Jesse takes off running. I assume he got the watch to work momentarily, but that doesn't really make sense because later in the movie he gives it to French Stewart so he can repair it and get it working again. I just think that one scene could have been explained better and it would have been quite easy to do.

One little movie trivia tid-bit that I noticed in the film was when Francesca and Zak are having fun with the watch and she says "Make it so Number One". That is a reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Captain Picard always said that to Commander Riker (aka Number One). This is interesting, because "Clockstoppers" is directed by Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander Riker in Star Trek.

I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I did. It's not a superb sci-fi movie, but it's fun and it's got lots of cool things to look at and some fun ideas. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

Dumb. Dumb characters. Dumb plot (if it has a plot). Don't waste your time. The only good thing is that if it is successfuly enough, perhaps they will re-issue The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything on VHS, this had the same concept of a watch that would stop time, but was a lot more fun.