‘Nick of Time’ (R)

"Nick of Time," another Hollywood experiment in cliff-hanging ludicrousness, made me think of those cruel childhood what-if games some of us played with siblings late at night. As in, What would you rather do, jump into a bowl of burning acid or watch your [select family member here] die? In these games, copping out was not an option.

In director John Badham's movie—the Hollywood equivalent of one of these nasty games— Gene Watson (Johnny Depp), accompanied by 6-year-old daughter Lynn (Courtney Chase) has just disembarked at L.A.'s Union Station, when he's randomly chosen to participate in a horrible dilemma.

A mustachioed stranger (Christopher Walken) and his female associate (Roma Maffia), pretending to be plainclothes cops, usher Watson and his girl into a van. The stranger, who goes by Mr. Smith, gives Watson a gun, some photographs and a nasty mission. Watson has to take a taxi to a nearby hotel, stalk the woman in the pictures and plug her, or little Courtney will be—you know.

To emphasize that he's very, very committed to Watson pulling this off without any fuss, Mr. Smith batters the hapless accountant on the kneecap, orders him out and holds on to the little girl. The target, Watson finds out, is Eleanor S. Grant (Marsha Mason), the governor of California, who's scheduled to make a speech at the swanky hotel. The deed must be done by 1:30 that afternoon or Watson will experience firsthand bereavement.

"You're out of your mind," Watson informs Mr. Smith, in one of the movie's rare moments of lucidity.

"What's your point?" responds Mr. Smith, in one of its even rarer moments of humor.

Which would you rather do? As should be expected, Watson tries to delay the inevitable, while the movie expends considerable energy attempting to buttress its silly idea. Digital clocks measure the passing of time. A panicked Watson tries, under Mr. Smith's gaze, to make an ally out of shoe-shiner Charles S. Dutton. But despite a mood of ceaseless anxiety, and Walken's Luciferian presence (visually, he suggests a car salesman from hell), "Nick of Time" remains a premise stretched way beyond its breaking point.

Unanswered questions abound. Why, for instance, does this Mr. Smith stake a big assassination on the unpredictability of an innocent bystander? Did he lose his Rolodex of dependable assassins? It seems to take Watson an eternity to ask the blackmailers: "How do I know you're not going to kill my kid?" But that's the point of the ticking clocks (or do they all whir these days?). The faster the movie slides past you (and the less you ask of it), the better it works. Nevertheless, here's one situation where you can exercise that option—to cop out, I mean.

NICK OF TIME (R) — Contains violence and profanity.