Line #21 Film/NickOfTime


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_450.jpeg]]
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3	''Nick of Time'' is a 1995 thriller film directed by John Badham, starring Creator/JohnnyDepp and Creator/ChristopherWalken.
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5	A young girl, Lynn Watson (Creator/CourtneyChase), is taken hostage by two mysterious people, Mr. Smith (Walken) and Miss Jones (Creator/RomaMaffia). Her father, Gene Watson (Depp), is told that he must kill a woman, Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason), if he wants to get his girl back.
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7	Notable for being filmed in real-time: the movie has a run time of about 90 minutes, and the plot itself unfurls in that same amount of time.
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9	Not to be confused with Creator/NicolasCage [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} apparently ascending to the God Tiers to survive the destruction of Earth]].
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11	----
12	!! This film provides examples of:
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14	* ArcWords: Numerous phrases revolving around time, regarding either having enough time to do something or running out of it.
15	* AssassinationAttempt: The protagonist is "recruited" to assassinate Governor Grant by a cabal of disgruntled underlings. If he refuses, or fails, or otherwise disappoints the conspirators, they will kill the protagonist's young daughter in cold blood.
16	* AxCrazy / PsychoForHire: Smith. To elaborate, when Eleanor manages to clue into the assassination plot and tries to escape, Smith begins firing ''into the crowd'' to get to her, resulting in numerous bystanders getting shot in the process.
17	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Watson's EstablishingCharacterMoment involves his "accidental" take-down of two rollerblading thugs when they are harassing his daughter.
18	** Gus, the bellhop, gets another one near the end when [[spoiler:he kills one of the conspirators, albeit on accident, by ramming him into an electrical panel with a heavy cart]].
19	* BondOneLiner: [[CallBack "Nothing beats a good Wingtip!"]]
20	* BulletproofVest: One character finds cause to lament that the vests [[OnlyAFleshWound don't come with sleeves]].
21	* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Mentioned by Jones about Gulf War, when Smith and her discover they can't blackmail a French couple into doing their bidding, since they are [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreigners]].
22	* ChekhovsGun: The radios' limited usefulness inside the hotel, and Watson's gun gets used at the end of the film [[spoiler:to stop Smith from killing his daughter]]. Even the dish cart that factors into the final climax gets some screen-time a few scenes earlier.
23	* ChekhovsGunman: If a character is focused on for more than one or two lines, they are guaranteed to become important later on. As the entire movie takes place in the same hotel, you tend to see the same people a lot. Played with in the end, with one background character who had been featured numerous times finally getting to play his part...as a newscaster reporting on the attempted assassination once everything is done.
24	* TheChessmaster: Huey seems to know everyone who works in the hotel, and quickly puts together a plot with different staffers helping Watson along the way.
25	* ClosedCircle: Most of the film takes place in the hotel, over the course of an hour and a half.
26	* ClothingSwitch: When Watson needs to evade Smith for a while, he and Gus trade clothes, letting him sneak off while Gus sits on the toilet and pretends to be him.
27	* CorruptCop: Officer [[IronicName Trust]], one of Smith's co-conspirators.
28	* CreepyStalkerVan: The two villains from ''Film/NickOfTime'' kidnap Gene Watson's young daughter, and issue him an ultimatum: assassinate Governor Grant, or little Lynn dies. The villains keep poor Lynn in an unmarked van near the site of the Governor's campaign speech.
29	* TheDeterminator: Smith is very determined to keep Watson from trying to seek outside help, following him everywhere, to the point of seeming OffscreenTeleportation.
30	* DiesWideOpen: Krista Brooks, the Governor's aide, after she tries to warn Grant's husband about the assassination plot.
31	* DisabledSnarker: Huey is partially deaf and [[AnArmAndALeg missing part of a leg]]. He lays on the snark when people frustrate him, but is otherwise outgoing and friendly.
32	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
33	** The meek and mild-mannered Watson is trying to make a phone call at the bus station, while a group of [[TheQuincyPunk punk]] [[RollerbladeGood rollerbladers]] harass his young daughter. After they refuse to go away after he asks them numerous times, he [[PapaWolf knocks over a garbage can in their path]], sending them crashing to the floor [[BewareTheNiceOnes with a deadpan "Oops"]] and a reminder to his daughter to wear a helmet and knee-pads when rollerskating.
34	*** It's also this InUniverse; Smith witnesses the above scene and knows that Watson has what's needed to commit the assassination.
35	** Smith repeating "Keep your eyes peeled" to Jones: he is in charge and focused.
36	* FathersQuest: An interesting example occurs here where ''both'' father and daughter are kidnapped, but the former is obligated to kill a woman or else his daughter dies, so he instead makes an improvised plan to save her without becoming a murderer.
37	* FauxAffablyEvil: Smith is initially professional and polite towards Gene the first time he meets him. He then blackmails Gene with his daughter's life in a very not-so-subtle way revealing the true monster beneath him.
38	* GrievousHarmWithABody: Huey beats one of the bad guys unconscious with his prosthetic leg.
39	* TheHeavy: Mr. Smith directly antagonizes Gene but he's employed by an unnamed lobbyist, who, despite being the BigBad, almost never appears while Smith, in contrast confronts the hero and is at the forefront of the kidnapping and assassination.
40	* HopeSpot: Watson tries to warn various people about the plot (cab driver, police officer, Huey, the Governor's aide) about the assassination plot, but is foiled at almost every turn (the cabbie doesn't even read the note he gives him before throwing it away, the cop is in on the assassination plot, Huey initially doesn't want anything to do with it, and the aide tries to get help, [[HaveYouToldAnyoneElse but is shot dead for her trouble]]).
41	* IdiotBall: The villains are scarily competent at first, but suddenly when it's convenient for the hero their competence goes down a few notches and they start committing unnecessary blunders that could ([[spoiler:and then did]]) destroy their EvilPlan (like [[spoiler:killing the governor's personal assistant without coming up with an explanation for her absence]]), though it is implied that they did so out of sheer nervousness and desperation. The whole thing is [[GambitRoulette unnecessarily risky]], so it's amazing they didn't make more mistakes.
42	* IHaveYourWife: The bad guys are holding Watson's daughter hostage, in order to secure his cooperation. They keep showing up to remind him of the fact, just in case he gets any crazy ideas.
43	* ImagineSpot: Watson has a shootout where he guns down Smith, the corrupt detective, various other plotters and almost escapes, only to be grabbed by Smith (not dead after all) who throws him off a balcony, before it is revealed to be a dream he had after blacking out due to Smith choking him.
44	* IronicName: [[CorruptCop Officer Trust]]
45	* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[spoiler:After Eleanor gets shot, her husband gloats about the plan succeeding right in front of her face thinking she's dead. She's not.]]
46	* LargeHam: It's Creator/ChristopherWalken as a bad guy. What do you think?
47	* LeonineContract: Smith and Jones are holding Watson's daughter hostage. If he doesn't assassinate his target, they kill his daughter. Worth noting, they never promise to let her go afterwards, either.
48	* LostInTransmission: Quite a few characters use handheld radios to communicate with each other, and throughout the entire film, it is demonstrated that the radios have lots of trouble inside the concrete structure of the hotel, with one background character eventually [[DiscussedTrope complaining about]] this problem. [[ChekhovsGun Why yes, this does become important later on]].
49	* MaskOfSanity: Smith always appears as a charming, charismatic and sophisticated man. During the movie's course, [[spoiler: expecially when his plan goes up in smoke]], he however shows what he truly is: wrathful, psychopatic and murderous.
50	* ObfuscatingDisability: Huey really is disabled. But he's an amputee, not (completely) deaf as Watson lead Smith to believe.
51	* MetalDetectorCheckpoint: At one point, Watson has to go through a security checkpoint while carrying a loaded gun. [[spoiler:The security guard turns off the his handheld metal detector while wanding Watson, demonstrating that the plot is wider-reaching than it initially appeared.]]
52	* MexicanStandoff: The trope is mentioned by Jones, [[spoiler:when she's pointing a gun at Watson's daughter while he's pointing a gun at her.]]
53	* MobstacleCourse: Watson is able to invoke this trope by FiringInTheAirALot in a crowded banquet hall in order to escape. Several hotel employees aid him by interfering with his pursuers, with one of the villains being accidentally killed by a bellhop in the process.
54	* NoNameGiven: The conspiracy's mastermind is never adressed by his proper name. Even in the credits is simply listed as "Mystery man".
55	* NonActionBigBad: The lobbyist leaves the action in his assassination plot to his subordinates, while he never gets his hands his hands dirty himself, [[spoiler:riding away in a car when his plans are foiled]].
56	* NoYouHangUpFirst: Done briefly between Watson and his daughter over Smith's radio, much to Smith's annoyance.
57	* ObviouslyEvil: The first time we see Smith, all dressed in black and sinister-looking, we can deduce he's anything but a good guy.
58	* PapaWolf: It's Creator/JohnnyDepp, and he's willing to do ''anything'' to protect his daughter. Aww.
59	* PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler:When Brendan Grant realizes that his wife is not dead, and that she now knows he tried to have her killed, he just walks away, knowing that it doesn't matter what he does now.]]
60	* RealTime: With multiple shots of nearby clocks to show exactly how much time is passing.
61	* RetiredBadass: Huey, a medically retired US Army artilleryman turned shoe shiner.
62	* TheReveal: Watson opens the envelope to look at the picture of his target. At the same time, some hotel workers unfurl a large re-election banner for Governor Eleanor Grant, who happens to be the woman in the photo.
63	-->'''Watson:''' [[PrecisionFStrike Oh shit]].
64	* RightOnTheTick: Quite a few shots of clocks and watches showing the time as the film progresses.
65	* ShockAndAwe: The corrupt cop is killed when a bellhop rams him into an electrical panel with a heavy dish cart during the climax.
66	* TheSociopath: Smith. While great part of the conspiracy's members are quite unscrupolous people, they at least have some pragmatism and some standards. Smith on the other hand is the worst of all being a PsychoForHire who goes even beyond his "job" by ruining an innocent man's life and being willed to kill unharmed bystanders (which is very unprofessional considering he has to keep a low profile).
67	* StrawmanPolitical: The bad guys are willing to go so far as murder a political opponent.
68	* TilMurderDoUsPart: [[spoiler: Brendan Grant, the Governor's husband, is also part of the assassination plot.]]
69	* UncomfortableElevatorMoment: At one point Watson rides in an elevator with the Governor and her bodyguards. It gets more awkward when Smith joins them.
70	* VillainBall: [[spoiler:The Governor's husband just has to monologue over her after he thinks she's been shot. [[EyeAwaken And then her eyes snap open]] as she comes to, and she stares at him in horror as her suspicions are confirmed]].
71	* VillainousBreakdown: Smith totally losts his composure and flies into an homicidal rage [[spoiler: when the Governor's assassination turns into a complete failure.]]
72	* VisualPun: The whole movie is interspersed with shots of clocks, wristwatches, etc. showing just how much time has passed in the film. During the final confrontation when Watson foils the assassination, we see someone's watch get torn off and then crushed under foot, showing that Watson has stopped the clock.
73	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the end of the film, the grey-haired politician departs in his limo just before the police arrive, making it unclear if he will see justice for his part in the conspiracy.
74	* WouldHurtAChild: They're serious when they say they'll kill Watson's daughter. Hell, they try to do it out of spite.
75	* WorthyOpponent: Smith finally seems to genuinely respect Watson after he [[spoiler:shoots Smith to death in the climax]].
76	-->Very good, Mr. Watson. [[spoiler:I told them I could make a killer out of you.]]

Context Film / NickOfTime