‘Nick Of Time’ Focuses On 70 Crucial Minutes

Tue., Nov. 21, 1995

Chris Hewitt St Paul Pioneer Press

Are 70 minutes enough time to turn a decent man into a killer?

That’s the question in “Nick of Time.” Johnny Depp’s daughter is kidnapped, with an unusual ransom demand: Kill the governor of California (a Dianne Feinstein-ish Marsha Mason) or your young daughter gets it between her saucer-size eyes.

The movie, which opens Wednesday, follows Depp for all of those 70 minutes (sort of - there’s some cheating). The gimmick’s good: We see the clock ticking seconds off the little girl’s life as the script complicates Depp’s dilemma.

But the Second Coming wouldn’t be enough to divert us from the logic leaps - make that logic broad jumps. The assassination plot is so huge that Depp is virtually the only person in Los Angeles not walking around with a gun and a grudge against the governor - which makes for more silliness than tension in the finale.

Depp is oddly unsympathetic, keeping us at a distance when he should be giving us a hug. The endangered moppet is a problem, too - let’s just say one less cutesy-pie child actress doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. And Christopher Walken has played the vampire-pale baddie so many times that “Nick of Time” simply asks us to remember the snarls and tics he’s used in other, better films.

The movie’s grossest problem is its cynicism about family values. It goes out of its way to let us know that Depp’s ex-wife wanted a divorce, not him. And the movie’s whole point is that murder is understandable when it’s done in the name of paternity. That’s right - “Father Kills Best.”

xxxx “NICK OF TIME” Location: To be announced Credits: Directed by John Badham; starring Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken Running time: 1:10 Rating: R

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