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Clock
Stoppers
Directed
By: Jonathan Frakes
Written By: Rob Hedden, Andy Hedden, J.D. Stern, David
N. Weiss
Starring: Jesse Bradford, French Stewart, Paula Garces,
Richard Biehn, Robin Thomas, Jason Richard George, Julia
Sweeney, Linda Kim
Rated: PG ( Action Violence / Mild Language )
Running Time: 94 Min.
Okay, here's the idea... a teenager comes across a top secret
'molecular accelerator', which has been designed into an ordinary
looking sport watch. Discovering that the watch can seemingly
stop time for its user, the teenager uses it for harmless mischief,
to help his friends, and to impress the new girl at school.
Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Well, think again. Clockstoppers,
produced by kid TV network Nickelodeon and directed by Star
Trek TNG veteran Jonathan Frakes may be a lot of things, but
fun isn't one of them.
The problem is one of tone. The concept of a watch that stops
time has already been done at least twice for television, on
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone and in the movie The Girl, the Gold
Watch, & Everything. The
Twilight Zone episode, 'A Kind of Stopwatch', played the story
for both wonder and irony, The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Everything
played it for romantic comedy, and Clockstoppers, for reasons
unknown, seems to have gone the route of broody teen-angst.
Big mistake! I would have tried to make it exciting and full
of action and adventure, but then what do I know?
Our young main character is Zak Gibbs, played by Jesse Bradford.
His father, a brilliant scientist, doesn't remotely understand
him, his mother seems to care only enough about her family to
feed them 'Hungry Man' frozen dinners, and his little sister
is simply annoying. All of this would be just fine if played
successfully for laughs, but apparently that was too much to
ask from Clockstopper's four screenwriters. As a result, Zak
seems pretty darn miserable during most of the film, whether
he's dealing with his semi-dysfunctional family or being chased
down and shot at by the rightful owners of the watch. No wonder
he jumps at the chance to get away from them all in 'hypertime'!
As far as those so-called bad guys are concerned, we get a handful
of generic covert government agents who are clumsily searching
for Zak and the missing watch, and Third Rock From the Sun's
French Stewart. Boy, this really is looking more and more like
a made-for-television movie stepped up to the big screen, isn't
it?
This is also looking less and less like a family film. Family
films usually include positive role models and behaviors, but
Clockstoppers is devoid of anything approaching 'family values'.
Especially disconcerting is the 'trouble' Zak supposedly has
with his parents. This is a kid who is obviously upper-middle-class,
with a nice home, electric guitar, cool bicycle and other things
provided by his folks, who becomes upset and depressed when
dad won't let him buy the used car he wants. In other words,
Zak is a spoiled brat. Also, he and his friends think nothing
of shoplifting the hi-tech equipment they need to try and thwart
the government agents. And I won't even mention the awkward
sexual innuendo between Zak and the girl he's known for less
than a week. Oops, I guess I mentioned it after all.
Normally, I would also mention something about how this type
of movie deals with time, motion and other physical laws, but
since Clockstoppers ignores virtually everything of a logical
nature, so will I.
Now, you may be wondering if there's anything actually worth
seeing in
Clockstoppers... um, well, I guess the special effects were
fairly good. None of them are groundbreaking, but they are original
and interesting to look at. Kudos to the post-production team
that slapped them together. In addition, director Jonathan Frakes
seems to have had some fun amusing himself during the production,
as evidenced by his choices for background music and a clunky
reference to his Star Trek alter-ego, Number One. Too bad this
movie turned out more like number... no, it's too easy, I won't
say it.
Movies are usually aimed at a specific audience. From its
trailers and the involvement of Nickelodeon, I had assumed
that Clockstoppers was targeting the ten to fifteen year old
crowd. After seeing it, I still have no idea who this movie
was made for, since it's unlikely to hold the interest of
kids or adults of any age. Why couldn't there be a watch that
speeds up time? I sure could have used one during Clockstoppers!
