Meurtre en suspens

I actually really enjoyed this movie. It asks many questions about what a person would do in an impossible situation. The script is well done, funny and totally unpredictable. It is also quite original. This movie is certainly worth watching.

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.

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.

An young accountant Gene Wilson (Johnny Deep) arrived at L.A.'s Union Station with his daughter (Courtney Chase). From the moment, they arrived, two mysterious strangers (Oscar-Winner:Christopher Walken and Roma Maffia) separate him from his daughter. One of them proposed Gene to assassinate a government official (Marsha Mason) or else, they will murder his daughter.

Directed by John Badham (The Hard Way, Short Circuit, Stakeout) made an entertaining, clever if barely believable. suspense thriller that was filmed in "real time". Which it doesn't always paid off, especially the director used endless close-up of clocks. Which does at times makes this movie claustrophobic but not enough. This was one of the major box office flops and critical disappointments of 1995. But the picture plays surprisingly better on video and went on to have a sort of a cult following years later.

DVD has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an good-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD's only extra is the theatrical trailer. What makes this flawed movie watchable is a game cast, sometimes amusing dark sense of humour and a few good moments of genuine suspense. But at times, the film nearly falls apart from the unlikely false plot moment near the third act and an unsatisfying conclusion. Despite all this, this is a well directed picture that certainly worth a look of this truly real mixed bag film. Written by Patrick Sheane Duncan (Courage Under Fire, A Home of Our Own, Mr. Holland's Opus). (*** ½/*****).

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".