Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie Review

A twist-and-turn third act can't save an otherwise DOA DTV film.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 8, 2011

It's written, so it's going to have to happen.

Ticking Clock is the ultimate in frustrating filmmaking. Here's a movie that begins as, at its best, a routine Thriller and morphs into something cleverly unique in the third act, but the picture is so flimsy, the acting so stilted, the writing so poor, and the pace so sluggish that even a superior idea is simply lost to the film's more generalized woes. Indeed, the final act is engaging to the point that an otherwise, to be kind, boring picture pulls its audience in and suddenly becomes a watchable, yea enjoyable, little diversion, but by then even the strong twist can't overcome the film's plethora of faults. Everything about the picture save for the actual story plays as dreadfully clichéd, overdone, or underdeveloped. Ticking Clock sure isn't much for living up to its namesake; rather than a precision Swiss timepiece, this is a clunky, hastily-assembled only-right-twice-per-day junker that might have otherwise been more reliable in the hands of a master craftsman.

"I swear I will not kill anyone."

Keech (Neal McDonough, Traitor) is killing women in the order in which they appear within his grisly and highly-detailed notebook. His latest victim is Felicia Carson (Veronica Berry), a close source and personal friend of an alcoholic single father, Lewis Hicks (Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jerry Maguire), who is, professionally, a washed-up investigative reporter. Hicks comes face-to-face with Kreech after the Carson murder; Hicks is rendered unconscious, but he discovers Kreech's graphic notebook left behind at the scene of the crime. From the book, Hicks learns that Kreech has methodically planned a series of seemingly random but highly detailed murders. Evidence leads Hicks to a young 11-year-old foster child named James (Austin Abrams) who unknowingly holds the key to the Kreech murders and within whom the fates and futures of several lives rest.

To say more would be to be a disservice to the final act; whether audiences are going to hang around that long is another story entirely, but Ticking Clock does reward the most stalwart of audiences with a decidedly engaging final act that still might suffer under the burden of halfhearted acting and flimsy filmmaking, but that is nevertheless saved on the strength of the story and the toying with ideas on cause and effect and the subsequent consequences rendered. Indeed, Ticking Clock works around a very smart idea, one that, in the hands of a better director working off of a rewritten script may have turned it into at least a serviceable, if not altogether memorable, picture. After watching Ticking Clock, consider what might have been had a Steven Spielberg in full Minority Report mode or an in-his-prime RoboCop/Total Recall/Starship Troopers Paul Verhoeven been behind the camera. That's not something that can be said of every bad movie; some are just plain old terrible, but Ticking Clock shows a whole lot more promise than does the typical forgettable direct to video loser Action/Thriller film.

So the blame for the general awfulness that is Ticking Clock resides everywhere but with the basic story outline. Cuba Gooding, Jr., turns in a lackadaisical effort that plays like the very definition of "over-acting." He tries too hard to emote, both physically and verbally, resulting in an overstated and choppy performance, the antithesis of the dependable and reserved effort turned in by Neal McDonough. Aside from McDonough's Keech and Austin Abrams's James, the characters are incredibly one-dimensional; it's no surprise that McDonough and Abrams play their roles with a bit more focus seeing as theirs are the best-written characters. That returns to the age-old question of whether bad performances are a result of poor writing or just plain old bad acting. With Ticking Clock, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, though favoring the film's unpolished script. Gooding's character, for instance, is given almost nothing of substance to work with; the actor is forced into cliché not by the very nature of the part but in the way it is written, leading to the inevitable poor performance that leaves him no choice but to play it up, translating into the aforementioned 90-minute bout of overacting. Additionally, Director Ernie Barbarash (Hardwired) desperately wants to paint his picture with a dour, moody brush, but he can never seem to find the right balance between subtle suggestion and blunt-force-trauma of the issue. His pacing is poor and his structure is made up of generic storytelling elements, but again, it all comes back to a poorly-written story of what is otherwise a very solid premise.

Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ticking Clock's 1080p Blu-ray transfer is technically solid but visually unremarkable. The film favors a lifeless, gray texture in many scenes; elsewhere, it plays with a decidedly sepia-toned tint. As a result, the film looks fairly lifeless -- and combined with the flat HD video texture doubly so -- but there's no denying the sheer technical accuracy of the thing. A few bouts of banding around bright light sources, a sprinkling of noise, and a few blocky backgrounds knock the image down a point, but things are counterbalanced by a generally sharp and crisp texture and strong detailing in close-up shots. Faces reveal a strong level of fine detailing, as do clothing textures and general objects around the frame. Flesh tones are heavily influenced by the film's color scheme, but blacks hold up quite well, yielding strong shadow detail and never favoring a grayish/overly bright shading. This is certainly not a snazzy image, but it's basically proficient in replicating the film's intended visual scheme, which is all one can realistically expect of a Blu-ray transfer.

Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ticking Clock's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is about on par with one might expect of a low-grade modern-day DTV release. Things are suitably robust but there's an absence of the superior definition usually found with the more thoroughly-constructed tracks. The film's sound design strives for a moody, atmospheric texture; it's built on low, foreboding notes that the track handles with a good deal of authority. Bass can be a little sloppy, but the effect is evident throughout. Atmospherics are delivered with a fair amount of attention to detail; driving rain in one sequence falls all around the listening area, and direction-specific effects -- a ringing doorbell, for instance -- are delivered with a reasonable amount of realism. General action effects are met with an average amount of energy. Dialogue is wishy-washy at best, sometimes coming through clearly enough but at others sounding like it could use some more volume. All said, this isn't a top-shelf, memorable sort of track, but it's a serviceable little mix all things considered.

Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ticking Clock features only BD-Live connectivity and previews for various Sony titles.

Ticking Clock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ticking Clock is a dumbed-down DTV movie that should have been better. The basic story outline is intriguing at worst and ripe for a fantastic film of equal parts action, gore, and character study at best, but the final film is instead a snoozer of a whodunit that suddenly morphs into something different in the third act, too late to rescue itself from the doldrums of the first two. Flat-out bad writing seems the culprit here; it would be interesting to see Ticking Clock reworked and remade with a superior script and better acting, not to mention with a more visionary director behind the camera. As it is, Ticking Clock earns a few points based on potential and a fairly engaging final act. Otherwise, it's a real clunker of a DTV film. Sony's Blu-ray release of Ticking Clock features no extras, but it does provide serviceable high-def video and audio. Worth a rental on a slow day or to watch a potentially good film go completely to waste.