MovieChat Forums > Nick of Time (1995) Discussion > what a wasted chance!

what a wasted chance!

posted 19 years ago by watjibbit
6 replies | jump to latest

what a pity, interesting plot and two good actors wasted for a simple entertainment movie,

we could have had a brilliant two man play, with a johnny depp who is faced with making an inhuman moralic decision maybe with doing the hybris of naturally putting his daughters life above the one of the senator without questioning it, maybe being faced with various ways to justify this decision (senator is corrupt, deserves it... etc)

and a christopher walken maybe with a fatalistic apologic attitude ("we all have to die") or even reproachfull ("u arent better, putting ur daughters life above the senators" or "what we do will save lifes"),

both actors would have been capable of so much more no doubt,

but what we get is a pure actionthriller whos only question it is, how does the maincharacter get around this decision, just how to get our precious maincharacter out of this decision safely before it gets interesting, instead of using the potential of the exposition the movie falls into the conflicts solution immidiatly and bores us with it till the predictable end, its a wasted chance,

depp and walken do the work of average series actors, they both remain horribly flat, they seem to do the whole movie with just two expressions: walken is angry and nervous and depp is frightened and nervous all the time, u cant see any deeper conflicts or motivations,

its one of those typical movies which waste its interesting exposition to a pure actionloaded solution, it reminds me of the more recent "phone booth", maybe its a symptom for regisseurs who are overdemanded with a plot and fall into basic genre-patterns,

[–] peanut_j 19 years ago

I have to wonder what compels a person to go to a movie board and trash the movie. It isn't just this one, and it isn't just this person. I just don't understand the motivation. The only reasons I can think of are that the person wants attention, is trying to stir up s**t, or is just blatantly mean. Invariably, the person who does the trashing states it all as if it is a bonifide fact, when in fact, it is really just that person's opinion. Eh?

As this movie was done in real time, and with the crime about to be committed, I'd be nervous if I were either one of them .. and for the whole amount of time. As a parent, I'd be afraid the whole time, too. Terrified and probably unable to think straight.

So, here's my opinion. I thought the movie was very good. It kept me on the edge of my seat, which is exactly what it was meant to do. That's why it's called a "psychological thriller."

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[–] tcoffman 19 years ago

I liked the movie, too, but in all fairness, I don't see anything wrong with posting a negative opinion at a discussion board. The board is for discussion, not just praise. I've certainly been willing to let people know my negative opinion of a movie at other discussion boards on IMDB. Why have I done that? Not for attention, I don't think. For the sake of discussion, I guess.

As for this movie - I have to accept that many people seem to agree that it is lacking in something. I don't see that, myself. I was hooked from the moment Smith explained to Watson what he had to do, and I spent the rest of the movie absolutely on the edge of my seat in a state of suspense that was almost painful to endure. I felt like I was gasping for breath by the time it was over. That, I presume, is exactly what the moviemakers wanted to happen to me, so the movie was a success.

[–] watjibbit 19 years ago

lol right tcoffman, and peanut: if you read my posting more exactly u ll recognize that it isnt really opposing your opinion, i said 'a wasted chance' not 'a totally bad movie', yes it was a good edge of the seat thriller no doubt, but nothing more, not the movie it could have been, they didnt really need depp and walken - anyone could have played that,

i dont want to "trash" it, i like both actors and so the movie is still watchable, just could have been more, just a wasted chance as i said,

if u say its a psychological thriller id say its a lot of thriller with a tiny bit of psychology, i would have prefered a different focus

and btw. my motivation is just to check other opinions towards the movies, to see if i got something wrong or if i missed some parts and of course to share my opinion, thats the point of a board, no need to get annoyed, its just one opinion,

[–] peanut_j 19 years ago

I have absolutely no problem with opinions being stated. As was said, that is what the board is for. And I have no problem with wanting others' opinions, as that is also what the board is for. I just felt that your original post didn't sound like an opinion. It read more like a critic's review. I don't generally put much stock in critic's reviews because they don't state them as opinion. They state them as if they are fact, with no room for anyone else's opinion. That is how I felt your post was made. I apologize if I misread it.

My post was also not aimed at you personally. I check in and post on a number of Johnny movie boards and had just seen some 5 posts in a row that trashed the movie, or Johnny, or his acting, or any combination of them. They were not "opinions." They were stated as though they were fact. One more, which just happened to be this thread's original post, was that proverbial straw.

Anyway, I appreciate and respect your opinion.

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[–] Pikees191 19 years ago

I, personally, and probably a lot of other people come to movie chat boards to see whether or not the movie is worth seeing. So if only people who, like yourself, enjoyed the movie posted responses on the chat board, then no one would know that some people despised it and maybe one should think choice before renting it.

With all due respect to two very, very talented actors (Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken), I thought this movie was *beep* Clearly, others did too. And, now that everyone's opinion is represented, let's get back to commenting on the movie, not on other peoples comments.

[–] goaway_youirritateme 19 years ago

I agree with you in that Johnny Depp's character wasn't as in depth as others that he's played, (the same may go for Walken, but I haven't seen a whole lot of his movies so I'll just stick to what I know) but to me that just added to his versatility. Before I saw this movie, I thought that maybe he stuck to 'oddball' characters because that was all he was good at, that maybe he couldn't pull off a typical leading man character. Thanks to this movie, I know that isn't true.

And your ideas about how this movie could have gone are very interesting, and I would have liked to see that too, but I guess that's just not where they were going with the script.

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