CLOCKSTOPPERS
US, 2002, 95 minutes, Colour.
Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, French Stewart, Michael Biehn, Robin Thomas.
Directed by Jonathan Frakes.
A science fiction fantasy combined with a popular teen movie. Jesse Bradford comes across a watch that can puts its wearers (and anyone touching them) into Hypertime. This is where the wearer moves so fast that ordinary motion looks at a standstill. This gives opportunity for plenty of visual humour as the young hero and his girlfriend do a bit of motion management, especially helping their awkward friend win a DJs competition in the loudest disco in California. So, there are family tensions, girlfriend problems as well as science experiments and espionage chases and shootouts. It's a bit like Spy Teenagers rather than Spy Kids.
1. A teen movie? A difference? Science fiction and fantasy?
2. The plausibility of the plot? Scientists? The concept of hypertime? Seeing it in action, seriously, playfully? Industrial espionage?
3. The California settings, the homes, school, the streets, the laboratories? The musical score and the range of songs?
4. A science fiction film for the teenage audience? The appeal of the central characters, their use of hypertime, their being involved in car chases and espionage, emerging as heroic?
5. Zac Gibbs, his wanting a car, his use of computers, getting old junk and selling it, the typewriter, the computer_? His visiting his father at college, his clashes with his father? His father thinking he was aimless? His snooty sister? Loving mother? The finding of the watch, using it, going into hypertime? His seeing Francesca in the shop, watching her climb, her put-down, going to her house, the attraction, the family? Her sharing his hypertime when she touched him? The enjoyment of the hypertime, Mika in the shop, his deejay performance, their helping him? The encounter with Dopler? The danger, the shootings, Zach and Francesca driving to see Zach's father, the spies following them? The car chase, the crash, the police? Zach disguised as a policeman, getting Mika's help? The final confrontations and chases? Using hypertime to track the intruders in the house, going to the laboratory, the freezing of the characters and the arrests? Zach getting his new car, family reconciliation, Francesca?
6. The scientific background, the plausibility of hypertime, theories of relativity? Zac's father and his lectures, going to the science exhibition? His solving the problems?
7. Dopler and the opening of the film, his disguise, rude, trying to get on the plane? His going back in time? His age changing? His being pursued by the spies? His encounter with Zac, fixing the watch after the crash, the final resolution? His future - and reverting to teenage?
8. Francesca, the Venezuelan family in California, strong-minded, attracted to Zac, sharing his experiences, going with him to the science convention, helping get the equipment for fixing the watch? The future?
9. Mika, in the shop, his ambitions, his deejay performance, the rivalries in the club, his help from Zac and Francesca?
10. The family, the clashes, the resolution?
11. The spies, their motivations, their methods? The car chases? The shootouts?
12. The usual ingredients for a more adult espionage and science fiction fantasy adapted for a teenage audience?
