Meurtre en suspens

Original title: Nick of Time

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Johnny Depp in Meurtre en suspens (1995)

Dark Comedy Political Thriller Psychological Thriller Action Crime Drama Thriller

An unimpressive, everyday man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.An unimpressive, everyday man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.An unimpressive, everyday man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

46K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos110

+ 102

User reviews172

6.346.4K

Featured reviews

7andrew4858

Walken and Depp Make the Movie Worth It

I am a huge Christopher Walken fan so that was my motivation for seeing this film. I must first say that it is similar to "Speed" but I thought this was much more entertaining. The movie is entertaining and it has a few great little speeches by Mr. Walken. Johnny Depp is cool as a normal guy trying to be the hero. Watch this movie if you love these two actors. If you do not like Walken then you will probably not like the film (but who doesn't like Christopher Walken?!)

7Prismark10

Real time conspiracy

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.

MovieAlien

Riveting thriller with an excellent cast

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".

8mdlee

How are we gonna' get out of this fix?

When you see the name Wes Craven, John Carpenter or Brian de Palma, we know that we can trust that we're in for a couple of hours of fine entertainment.

Although not as much a household name as the directors above, John Badham knows how to tell a suspenseful story as well as any of the other "kids on the block." Please look up his filmography and see all the countless house of excellent entertainment he has brought us; not only on the big screen but on television as well.

In "Nick of Time" John carefully guides us through one disaster after another. Johnny Depp conveys his frustration and fear that he might not be able to prevent any of the bad things that will happen.

Christopher Walken again proves that he is as comfortable being the "heavy" as he has been the "hero."

At a time when sometimes the good guys don't always win and the bad guys sometimes "get away with it," this is one cinematic thriller that should keep you on the edge of your seat the whole 90 minutes.

7barberoux

Good movie.

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.

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
One of the most remarkable film sequences involved one seamless take, during which Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken board a glass-walled elevator, and ride 35 floors to the top of Los Angeles' Bonaventure hotel. Crammed into the confines of the elevator with the actors were director John Badham, cinematographer Roy H. Wagner, focus-puller Todd Slyapich, sound mixer Willie D. Burton, boom operator Marvin E. Lewis, and script supervisor Barbara Thaxton. Given the fact that the elevator was glass from top to bottom, was lit by eight Kino Flo lamps, ensuring that camera and crew reflections were not captured on film, was quite an exercise in and of itself.

Goofs
Once Gene Watson gets to the hotel and realizes who he's been sent to kill, he checks his watch. The watch in the closeup is a round watch. As we walks off and speaks to another person the watch on his arm becomes visible. It is a square faced watch.

Quotes
[Mr. Smith tells Mr. Watson a story about a man he loved]
Mr. Smith: There was this guy... Big guy, Irish-Italian. Red-faced, black-haired, jolly son of a bitch... Wait a second, nobody could make me laugh like him. He made a science of collecting jokes. We closed more bars together than I could count. Now, he was a pal. I loved the crazy mick. I'm not ashamed to say that, but... He was a fuck-up. He had this image of himself. He thought he was a con man. Always trying to shave the edge. He was nickel and dime. I'll always miss him. Tell me why.
Gene Watson: Tell you why, what?
Mr. Smith: Tell me why I miss him.
Gene Watson: He's dead?
Mr. Smith: That's right. He is dead, but tell me why.
Gene Watson: How do I know? I don't...
Mr. Smith: Tell me why he's dead.
Gene Watson: Because you killed him.
Mr. Smith: That's right, I did. I killed him. He fucked up one too many times. So, I put a bullet in his eye. Then, I put two more into him just to make sure. Now, that was somebody I loved; I loved him! But I got the call, and I put him down like a sick animal. So... if you got doubts... about what's going to happen if you don't deliver, let me tell you something. I'll make gravy out of your little girl just to season that Black Irish cocksucker's meat. Now, you do what you're supposed to do, young man. You do it now.

Alternate versions
Television broadcast versions include one additional scene shortly before the final shot. Gene, his daughter, Huey, and the governor are all chatting in the aftermath of the mayhem. Huey asks what time it was, and Gene reveals that he had lost his watch.