No time left for 'Clockstoppers'

Clockstoppers - PG\nStarring: Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, French Stewart\nDirected by: Jonathan Frakes\nNow Showing: Showplace East 11\nAll right, who's seen "Back to the Future"? Okay, most of you, good. And who liked it? Excellent, again, many of you. Who would be interested in seeing a lame and blatant rip off of "Back to the Future," only without "Back to the Future"'s style, humor or charm? Great, go give "Clockstoppers" a look, I'm sure you'll be happy.\nThe film is directed by Jonathan Frakes, who is best known for his role as Commander Riker on "Star Trek Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact," and "Star Trek: Insurrection." "Clockstoppers" is a capable movie that is aimed primarily at the 13-and-below crowd. The plot revolves around the development of devices, disguised as watches, which allow the wearer to enter "hypertime," a state where everything around them seems like it's stuck in ultra-slow motion, while the hypertime users move at high speeds that seem to them like normal speed. It's an interesting premise, but you never really care about what's going on.\nAnyway, when a high school student named Zak (Jesse Bradford) stumbles across one of these watches in his scientist father's basement workshop, he suddenly becomes the target of an evil weapons contractor that wants the watch for his own designs. Zak and his gorgeous girlfriend, Francesca (Paula Garces), have some fun with the watch early on, which you've likely seen showcased in the trailer and ads for the film. But they stop short of doing anything too scandalous or imaginative with the watch. \n"Clockstoppers" is a decent film for those too young to have enjoyed "Back to the Future," but as a whole the movie has far too little substance to justify its 93-minute running time. Frakes, who proves to be a fairly capable director, tries to elevate the script with some throwaway scenes of tension and father/son angst, but it never gets going. All-in-all, this film was an interesting idea that simply wasn't sufficiently developed. \n

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