Ticking Clock (2011)

the audience applauded

A lot of fun.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

TICKING CLOCK is a shabby straight to video serial killer thriller in which a slumming-it Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a reporter investigating the journal of a crazed killer, played with customary relish by Neal McDonough. As the story gets more complex and Gooding Jr. befriends a twisted young boy who has an unusual link to the crimes, things take on a sci-fi twist that reminded me a little of the ones in FREQUENCY or DEJA VU. Sadly, this is a criminally low budget production, shot in a shabby and gloomy style, that merely comes across as depressing and bereft of ideas.

Cuba's performance left a lot to be desired...I think he was going for 'stunned' for the dramatic moments, but it just came off as blank and lifeless. The supporting actors weren't bad. I'll always have a soft spot for Nicki from her Supernatural days. It's not completely the actors' fault that this ended up being nearly unwatchable. The plot itself was just bad sci-fi. It made no sense. The murderer turns out to be a guy from the future who wants to give his younger self a better life than he had. Okay. That I'll buy. So he comes back and kills his abusive mother, which puts the kid in a worse situation (living with his aunt). So future guy kills the aunt, which puts the kid in an orphanage so the future self comes back and kills the teacher who's recommendation kept him from being adopted and so on blah blah blah. In the end, the time-traveling murder ends up killing his younger self, which in turn kills the future self and rights everything. And by rights everything, I mean it sticks the younger self right back in the original situation with the crack whore mom that ended up producing his serial-killing future self in the first place. Fail.They either needed to kill the kid and have him stay dead or change his situation so drastically (Cuba adopting him and making him grow up to be less of a sociopath, for example) that he no longer becomes creepy guy from Desperate Housewives. Just a bad movie, all around.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s previous movie, "Wrong Turn At Tahoe", was a surprisingly good movie, so my expectations were pretty high for "Ticking Clock". Sadly, Gooding takes a step back with this movie. I admit that I can't say that this is a BAD movie - while watching it, it kept me interested in seeing how it would be wrapped up - but it's not a successful movie. The movie doesn't look very good for one thing, sometimes looking somewhat cheap and photographed in a way that gives the movie a muddy look. Gooding's character comes across as a somewhat dumb and irresponsible character, and Gooding adds a touch of whine to a lot of the lines this character speaks. And the big twist in the movie will become pretty obvious to just about every viewer long before it dawns on Gooding's character. With this movie, it doesn't seem that any time soon that Gooding will work his way out of the straight-to-DVD sludge he's currently stuck in.

Wow!!! What a Great story...too bad it is all I can say on it's behalf...very poor casting...lacking in color...intriguing; brings you to the end...not a movie I would keep in my library...I wonder if a Nicholas Cage or a Bruce Willis could of punched out the film...I believe so...Sorry Cuba...Not great...But an Excellent Story...Neil stole the lead role here and even there it was poor...I feel as though I was watching a B movie and was constantly waiting for a moment where I would of been surprised...did not happened...the surprise for me was not in the actual movie...but in the story...which is too bad because it is a great story...and had potential to be a great movie...