Clockstoppers (2002)

Too much of everything

Just what I expected

Admirable film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Clockstoppers begins by introducing us to Quantum Tech Corporation (QT Corporation), which has developed a new project called "Hypertime," allowing a user's molecules to reach lightning speeds, giving the appearance that everything around him or her is standing still. "Hypertime" can be activated by wearing a particular wristwatch, and despite the NSA stopping the project before it is fully completed, QT's CEO Henry Gates (Michael Biehn) still wants the watch for his own power.Unbeknownst to Gates, one of the leading scientists behind the project sent the watch to Dr. George Gibbs (Robin Thomas), a teacher at his son Zak's (Jesse Bradford) school. Zak, who keeps pining his father for a hot new Ford Mustang, winds up getting his hands on the watch, and, upon discovering its true powers, uses it to impress Francesca (Paula Garcés), the new girl at school from Venezuela. It doesn't take long for the two of them and their other friend Meeker (Garikayi Mutambirwa) to abuse the watch's power and cross paths with Gates, who desperately wants that watch back.Clockstoppers is simple entertainment; precisely the kind of medium-budget production you could envision Nickelodeon Movies putting out in the early 2000s. It takes a lot of similar vibes from Back to the Future, and it focuses on familiar teen tropes in order to momentarily capture the attention of pre-teens. It has an attractive lead actor with a rebellious swagger, a beautiful foreign exchange girl who sticks closely by his side after initially showing her claws, and the rowdy sidekick, who adds a more comedic spin on his buddy's serious perils.Throw that all in a blender and you get Clockstoppers, basic cable's best friend. A film good enough to take up a two hour time-slot with commercials, but not good enough to have any retaining or lasting value outside of basic cable entertainment. Despite both Bradford and Garcés boasting enough charisma to make them worthy of the two leading roles, it's largely the way the film surprisingly handles the material in an unexciting way, right down to crafting a boring villain who feels about as uninspired and as cookie-cutter as they come. For a film about stopping time and momentarily stunning and transforming the space-time continuum, it's a film with shockingly low energy.Bradford and Garcés do manage to be pretty charismatic screen presences throughout the film, making you wish they did more of these tween adventure films for the sake of their appealing nature. This was a time when Disney and Nickelodeon films based around brand new, live-action properties were being churned out and nearly every young, white actor was getting their shot at centerstage for whatever project the studios wanted to concoct. Clockstoppers isn't uniquely bad, which in itself is a bit of a disappointment because at least it would provide me with something noteworthy to say. Unfortunately, the film is just a simple case of fast food filmmaking, movies you can quickly watch and just as quickly forget.Starring: Jesse Bradford, Paula Garcés, Garikayi Mutambirwa, Robin Thomas, and Michael Biehn. Directed by: Johnathan Frakes.

I watched this as a kid and I loved it. It was actually not easy to find again considering it's age. This teenager, who sells everything he can on Ubid (at the time it was actually a thing 02), is saving up for a car. While going through his father's old junk from down stairs, he stumbles upon an old wooden box that he knocks off a shelf. In the box is a watch. When he presses a button on the watch it "slows down time" not actually stopping it. Moving so fast thru time, accelerating at the speed of a hummingbirds wing flapping, (google it). His father had explained what it does at one point but not explaining in full detail but calling it "Hypertime.His father is the main creator of the watch and knows how to duplicate it but says instead (like all movies) "What would happen if this got into the wrong hands?"As he figures out the watch, a group of men want it to use for their own purpose. (go figure the bad guys). As the teenager uses the watch, he also learns of it's side affects. When in Hypertime, the body is actually accelerating at hyperspeed as well, causing the cells of the body to age faster. 1 minute in reality is close to something like 5 or 10 minutes. 1 hour? almost something close to 2 days or more. As for a story line, a "hero" like based movie, this is a really good movie and deserves a 2nd film but never happened. If you like the concept of Time manipulation you will like this movie.

Clever kiddie movie that harks back to such lighthearted 1980s fantasy fare as "Weird Science" and "Gremlins." Jesse Bradford, playing a Zach Galligan-type teenager, "borrows" his scientist-father's weird watch that allows the wearer to speed up his molecules, so that everyone and everything around him appears to slow down and freeze. He and his new girlfriend have some fun with the device, until they realize they are being pursued by some very unpleasant people who are after the watch. Familiar TV actor French Stewart plays a wacky scientist who comes to the kids' aid. There's really nothing here you haven't seen before, but it is fun while it lasts. Great special effects.

I am a sucker for science fiction movies. One of my favorites (along with about a billion others) is 'Back To The Future.' As soon as I started watching 'Clockstoppers' I felt that it had a 'Back To The Future' feel to it. Watching the extras on the DVD, those in the movie thought so too. However there is no comparison. This movie uses a group of B-grade actors and a great, novel concept of certain persons becoming able to greatly speed up their time, rendering the world and people around comparatively in extremely slow motion. The problem starts right after that great concept is introduced, as the writer and director were not able to develop any substantial story line to go along with it. The result is a cute, mostly fun little movie that uses the hyper time mode for silly things, and when it is all over we realize the hyper time concept was the entire movie, with a silly script strapped on to make it look like a movie. I was highly entertained by the hyper time concept, I was mostly bored with the story surrounding it.SPOILERS -- We get the first glimpse that something is askew when a highly disguised Dr Doppler (great name!) is trying to get quickly onto a plane for Central America, only to get invisibly jerked off the tarmac platform right before boarding. Later we figure out that it was the two bad guys operating in hyper time, moving so fast they couldn't be seen. A professor had invented the circuitry, disguised as a watch, the government was realizing the hazard of this getting into enemy hands and not wanting to terminate the project, the bad guys need Dr Doppler to finish the design, because as it stood everyone operating in hyper time ages very rapidly, which defeats part of the purpose. The professor's son accidently gets the watch, figures out how to use it, helps his friend win a DJ contest, foils a bike theft, gets back at an over-eager meter maid, and various silly uses for such a fabulous technology. In the end, of course, the bad guys are foiled, and the professor's son drives away in his new Mustang, and goes into hyper time as the cops chase him. he had kept one of the watches!