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Zak Gibbs is an ordinary teenager who suddenly obtains extraordinary
powers when he stumbles upon a mysterious wristwatch that
can literally stop time in its tracks. To Zak, it's the gadget
to impress Francesca the beautiful new foreign exchange student
at school. But
a hapless scientist and his sinister boss want the timepiece
back and that's when Zak and Francesca find themselves swept
into a high-tech race against time...
Clockstoppers
is
directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation actor/director
Jonathan Frakes. The most notable element of this movie is
the impressive visual effects - the majority of which are
similar to The Matrix 'bullet time' effects.
Other
than that there isn't enough meaty goodness to keep most viewers
interested for the duration. There are no outstanding performances
from the main actors and the storyline isn't half as interesting
as it could be.
Michael
Biehn (remember him from The Terminator, Aliens and
er... nothing else of note since the 80s) is brought back
from obscurity to play a pretty bland villain - the part is
so clichéd as to be unreal. But Biehn turns in an admirable
performance with the material available.
The
quote on the cover of this video, from LATV Live, is a little
on the misleading side "A Back to the Future for
a new generation," is what Paul Saucido thought. I'm
not convinced that this is the case. Back to the Future
is still as fresh today as it was back in 1985. I doubt whether
Clockstoppers will age anywhere near as well.
The
kids will love it, but adults may find it lacking in many
areas. Average family entertainment at best.
Pete
Boomer
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