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Lewis Hicks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is a boozing reporter who took for granted his ex spouse as well as his son who he misses weekend visits with because he's always onto the next biggest scoop. If his personal relationships could hit rock bottom any further, his current girlfriend ends up dead at the hands of a serial killer. Hicks shows up at her place after the fact but chases down the culprit and gets knocked out in an alleyway. He finds a diary with names and dates for more killings to come. The lead detective investigating the case has something against him from a slate in a past story and won't listen to what he's telling him now. Now Hicks feels it's his obligation to take on the investigation himself for redemption in his own life. The victims all have in common a troubled little boy at an orphanage who had more things happen to him at an early age than most can call claim to. Hicks starts to get too close and as a result the evidence starts to point to him instead of the real killer who always slips in and out without anyone else seeing. From then on out it turns into a cat and mouse game of good vs evil before more victims' lives are claimed.

The "big" twist in "Ticking Clock" is more related to science fiction than an action or thriller, and causes you to suspend your disbelief and except the facts at face value. This direct-to-video feature comes across like a scraped episode for "Millennium," with a similar, strange tone of drama and horror, where everything is baked in shadows, panned to get atmosphere, time stamped and generates tragic piano pieces to build mood. Though a share of the dialogue doesn't feel practiced, the suspense feels like false theatrics and the "acting" feels done on the first or second take, not to mention it has sentiment slipped in and can feel melodramatic without chemistry of the cast to back that up. This also attempts to be snide and sarcastic but the interaction between the actors can feel just as forced at times. The most important aspects this picture asks are: Is someone really able to get a second chance out of life? Is it possible to correct mistakes in the past? Is one able to put right what went wrong? Though, correcting one thing can cause another to have to be adjusted and so on until things are a mess all over again. Though answering those questions can be done without having to jump through hoops to get there by watching a film that feels quickly put together. Here's another question: If the filmmakers don't have both their feet in this, then how can they expect the viewer to? (Also submitted on http://fromblacktoredfilmreviews.blogspot.com/)

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s previous movie, "Wrong Turn At Tahoe", was a surprisingly good movie, so my expectations were pretty high for "Ticking Clock". Sadly, Gooding takes a step back with this movie. I admit that I can't say that this is a BAD movie - while watching it, it kept me interested in seeing how it would be wrapped up - but it's not a successful movie. The movie doesn't look very good for one thing, sometimes looking somewhat cheap and photographed in a way that gives the movie a muddy look. Gooding's character comes across as a somewhat dumb and irresponsible character, and Gooding adds a touch of whine to a lot of the lines this character speaks. And the big twist in the movie will become pretty obvious to just about every viewer long before it dawns on Gooding's character. With this movie, it doesn't seem that any time soon that Gooding will work his way out of the straight-to-DVD sludge he's currently stuck in.

(Credit IMDb) Lewis Hicks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is a reporter and journalist specializing in writing about the crime of murder. Instead of writing his next story, Lewis becomes the story when his new girlfriend is sadistically murdered, and he is the only suspect. Lewis investigates the murder himself and finds the killer's journal with his past victims and a death list of his future prey. Lewis believes that he is the only person who can stop the killer before time runs out for his next victim.

Ticking Clock is certainly one of the better DTV films starring Cuba. Wouldn't exactly call the premise original, but it does manage to avoid a lot of clichés and add its own spin on things. Neil McDonough provides a good antagonist to Cuba, and I loved the end showdown they had. Cuba actually looks motivated. When he is not motivated his DTV films usually suffer because of it. I'm not saying this is anything groundbreaking but for a DTV film it's very decent, and considering the depths Cuba has fallen? That is a big compliment. Cuba Gooding Jr. His performance is astute, and amiably well done. He makes for a formidable protagonist for McDonough, and doesn't succumb to moments of over-acting like he does at times in a lot of his DTV efforts. Neil McDonough plays a very good villain. Suitably twisted, and interesting to watch, he certainly did what was required pretty well.

Bottom line. Not perfect but it has some neat ideas and most of them were executed nicely. Good performances, intriguing story. What is not to like? Worth a watch

6 ½ 10

Wow!!! What a Great story...too bad it is all I can say on it's behalf...very poor casting...lacking in color...intriguing; brings you to the end...not a movie I would keep in my library...I wonder if a Nicholas Cage or a Bruce Willis could of punched out the film...I believe so...Sorry Cuba...Not great...But an Excellent Story...

Neil stole the lead role here and even there it was poor...I feel as though I was watching a B movie and was constantly waiting for a moment where I would of been surprised...did not happened...the surprise for me was not in the actual movie...but in the story...which is too bad because it is a great story...and had potential to be a great movie...

I actually ain't a stiff who pretends like every movie I see is the worst movie ever made. I've seen a ton of movies. So I know a horrible movie deserving of a 1 or 2 when I see 1. Yes we all have dif opinions but not to the point where we should ever give a watchable movie with enough good in it as a 1 or 2. Those are the type of movie you turn off imo or at least wish u had. In no way was this movie that bad. There was a enough to keep you interested til end. Enough suspense, drama & decent story if your into these kinda movies. If you are not into these types of movies, then you really shouldnt be giving an opinion since you are clearly bias. Or you can give opinion, but at least have the disclaimer that you hate these kind of movies to make it fair to others. Or else it makes rating systems a joke. Obv trolls or losers wouldn't care bout that but 1 would hope your life isn't too so pathetic that you have become 1

I give it a 5 & i don't consider that bad, it's average which makes sense in a 1-10 scale. The acting was decent throughout. I wasn't exactly expecting Oscar worthy performances & don't think they should be a requirement in every movie. Just be believable. I hate when people become hyper focused on plots & sub plots & need everything to make sense. Especially in Sci-fi movies. I mean, they are movies lol. But at same time, the ending kinda upset me a little on the fact that common-sense alone would've told anybody that you cannot end movie like that. It just doesn't work & I would've been such an easy fix & couldve made movie that much better with thoughtful ending. And when I say thoughtful I mean that it wouldn't have taken too much thinking to come up with something almost exactly the same but something that was plausible. It's not enough to ruin the entire movie experience but it's enough to keep it from becoming a pretty good movie worth 1-2 stars higher since the end of the movie most would agree Is kinda important. It's a little offensive they ended the movie the way they did. Not the very ending but what led to it anyways. It's the still part of ending tho.