Clockstoppers

for action violence and mild language

03/28/2002

By Nancy Churnin / Movie Critic of The Dallas Morning News

	Paramount Pictures
	Jesse Bradford and Robin Thomas in Clockstoppers.

Director: Jonathan Frakes Starring: Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, Gariyaki Mutambirwa, Robin Thomas, French Stewart Movie trailer Movie web site

If there's one thing we're desperately short of in this harried world, it's time. And that makes the premise of Clockstoppers appealing – even when that premise is used in the interest of better teenage high jinks rather than anything remotely helpful to humanity.

Teenager Zak Gibbs (Jesse Bradford) stumbles across what he thinks is an old watch that no one in his house wants. It turns out the watch is an invention on which his father has been collaborating. It can put the wearer in "hypertime" – making him move so quickly that he is invisible. Meanwhile the rest of the world moves so comparatively slowly, it seems frozen.

Zak's father, George Gibbs (Robin Thomas) envisions the wonders the device could make possible, including lifesaving operations by doctors moving in hypertime.

Bad-guy Gates (Michael Biehn), who is after George and Zak, envisions using it to take over the world.

But Zak and his new girlfriend, Francesca (Paula Garces), use it to beat the traffic, help their friend Meeker (Gariyaki Mutambirwa) impress a party crowd with his dancing, and settle scores with a policewoman giving out parking tickets and a used-car dealer selling the car Zak wants to buy.

The hypertime idea recalls an old Star Trek episode in which the Enterprise is invaded by an alien race the crew members can't see because the aliens move faster than they do. Fittingly, Star Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes directs Clockstoppers, showing a deft feel for the sci-fi special effects, including water that stops midstream and Zak's frozen mid-leap through broken glass as a blast of liquid nitrogen slows him down from hypertime to real time.

Mr. Bradford, already a screen veteran at 22 (King of the Hill and Bring It On), doesn't get to do much beyond fall for pretty Ms. Garces, save his dad and have goofy Excellent Adventure-type fun. But he does these well.

In keeping with the PG rating, there's no sex beyond a few kisses, no blood or death and just mild language. The characters – even the bad guys – use guns filled with liquid nitrogen to slow their enemies from hypertime to real time.

This is escapist, science-fiction fun, with a little relativity theory thrown in. And it should work just fine for the pre-teen crowd.