Against the time

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Movie
German title Against the time
Original title Nick of Time
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 85 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Badham
script Patrick Sheane Duncan
production John Badham
music Arthur B. Rubinstein
camera Roy H. Wagner
cut Frank Morriss
Kevin Stitt
occupation

Against the time (Original title: Nick of Time ) is an American thriller from the director John Badham from 1995 with Johnny Depp in the leading role. The plot is told in real time and corresponds to the 85 minutes of the feature length.

action

After his ex-wife's funeral, Gene Watson travels to Los Angeles on business . At the train station, he and his daughter Lynn are asked by two police officers who introduce themselves as Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones to follow them to a van. Once there, it turns out that it is a kidnapping with blackmail. Smith demands that Watson kill Eleanor Grant, the governor of the US state of California , who is staying at the Bonaventure Hotel, within a little over an hour . If she is not dead within this time, this means the death sentence for his daughter. Smith hands Watson a gun and ID.

Watson tries to contact security guards, but is horrified to discover that his contacts are involved in the conspiracy . In addition, Smith, who is also part of the security service, is always around. Watson only finds help from the shoeshine boy Huey, a disabled veteran. This helps him to speak to the politician personally, unnoticed by Smith. Watson advises her to cancel the next speaking appointment when the fate of both of them and his daughter is to be decided. Gradually he begins to see through the plot of the conspirators when he learns that his daughter will be kept alive after an assassination attempt, but that he himself is to be shot by the security guards.

After speaking with Watson, Governor Grant finds evidence that his conspiracy theory may be true. But she lets her husband, who belongs to the group of conspirators, persuade her to keep the appointment. Watson draws his gun in the hall, but shoots Smith, who in turn shoots the governor. With presence of mind, a bodyguard throws himself in front of the politician and with his bulletproof vest intercepts the cartridge fired by Smith. At the same time, the shoe shiner Huey is able to prevent Smith's accomplice Jones from killing little Lynn at the van. Watson arrives at the vehicle in time to shoot Smith down.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that Johnny Depp had a "considerable" screen presence, but that he was miscast in the thriller. The character he is playing seems "boring".

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times of November 22, 1995 that the thriller plays in real time so that the viewer can clearly feel it. He particularly praised the "reliable" Christopher Walken. The plot, however, seems "artificial"; he bores himself as a spectator because he cannot believe that Mrs. Jones would actually kill the little girl.

“Thriller staged in the style of a 1940s B-movie. Far from the lavish bombasticity of today's action films, the film is an amusing finger exercise in a newly discovered simplicity. The fact that the length of the film corresponds to the timing of the plot is what makes it so special. "

- Lexicon of international film

background

The thriller was filmed at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles and Toronto . It grossed approximately $ 8.17 million in US cinemas . Since the film flopped at the US box office, it didn't even make it to German cinemas.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Against the time film review by Berardinelli
  2. ^ Against the time film review by Ebert
  3. ↑ Against time. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used