Nick of Time

In a rare and dramatic departure from the misfits and outcasts that have defined his career, Johnny Depp stars as an accountant(!) who disembarks from a train with his six-year-old daughter, only to immediately be plunged into a Hitchcockian nightmare. He is taken into "custody," handed a gun and told that unless he kills the governor of California within 90 minutes, he will never see his daughter alive again. John Badham, director of War Games, keeps the clock ticking by filming in real time, heightening the suspense of this implausible thriller. Christopher Walken adds yet another calm, cool madman to his resumè. A guilty pleasure. (K. Benson)