Tag Archives: Time Limit

Time Limit Review

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It’s time for a film that really pushes is characters to the limit. How far can a soldier be pushed before succumbing to the enemy? Ultimately this will depend entirely on who the soldier is of course but the film raises up some good questions around that. This is a solid movie all around and definitely one that I could recommend. There isn’t really any action so you need to really be watching this film for the strong writing.

The movie starts by introducing us to William who is in charge of investigating a soldier who is said to have betrayed America. The evidence against him is really strong. This man (Harry) has his signature on different documents and his voice plays over the airways with propaganda for the enemy. Finally, he doesn’t even resist any of the charges and just says that he is guilty. Everyone says William should just end the case as guilty and recommend Harry for a court martial but it all feels too easy. William feels like something shady is going on and is determined to look into this more.

Now it is definitely good for William to check all the bases and not immediately just say guilty if he thinks that this isn’t conclusive. That said, not everything is a conspiracy. Now there would be no movie if this was the case but usually the other characters would probably be right here. It’s not like it is only circumstantial evidence, having the guy’s actual voice and signature be around paints a very definitive picture. As for why he is declaring guilt, well you could say that his conscience caught up to him.

Throughout the film, William’s right hand man is particularly upset about this. By taking such a stand, William is putting his whole career in jeopardy and if you are black listed from the army then getting another job can be very difficult. As a result the friend has to play the heel and apply a lot of pressure to Harry. Whether you like the character or not will probably depend on if you think he went too far in the movie or if you think he was just being a good friend. You probably want to have a friend who will have your back like this but of course there are pros and cons to this.

Sometimes the only way to help your friend out is to go against their wishes but that’s not always going to go over well. William’s secretary takes a much more measured approach but also tends to think William is making the wrong move here. Even William is unsure of himself at times but at least he does manage to get the full story by the end. He will have no regrets now about leaving any knowledge on the table. The film also ends early so you don’t know if his efforts were successful or not. It is ultimately up to you to wonder about that.

Without going into details, the explanation is essentially what you might have figured here. The enemy put a lot of pressure on Harry and threatened lives until Harry ended up working for their side. This is a classic tactic to break an enemy soldier from any country. You either torture them directly or bring in some others and see how much pain you can inflict until the guy cracks. For this reason, some are not sympathetic to Harry’s plight. As they would say, this is just part of what you signed up for.

If you can save 10 people by making a compromise with the enemy while potentially hurting 100 others, did you make the right call? You will never see the other 100 but you can directly see the 10 that you saved. It’s the tough kind of moral call that you can never predict until you are actually in the situation. It’s easy to backseat drive it but that will always be one of the toughest kinds of decisions out there.

For the records, I was on the boss’s side here. Ultimately you can’t crack because you will be hurting untold masses by working with the enemy. It doesn’t mean that I would have the strength to resist but I do think it would be the wrong move to work with the enemy. Their general was clearly not bluffing so he would have murdered the whole squad but they would know that they stuck true to their ideals the whole way through.

I don’t think William will ultimately be able to sway a jury on this one. As for Harry, I don’t fault him for his decision. Even if I don’t agree with it, I couldn’t bring myself to slam him for having to make such a tough call. It’s just too high stakes for all of that. I do think he could have been a lot more co-operative during the movie though. I understand that he wanted to keep the events secret after several promises were made but by being so tight lipped he instead caused more scrutiny to go into the case. If he wanted to take the fall without fighting back, then he could have explained in more general terms what happened.

He also ended up carrying the guilt to such a degree that it hurt his wife and anyone around him as well. There had to be a better way of handling this. It’s a burden that is hard to really understand from afar but staying quiet is never the right answer here. The film’s cast is pretty small overall so you really have a lot of time to think about the story and what was going on here. This is a film that is definitely timeless since war is eternal and this kind of situation will always appear. Like the general says, rules are ultimately there for a reason though. If you start to doubt them then you’re going to be in a weaker space right away.

Overall, I’m not always for following the rules in these kinds of films but this time the army creed actually held up. The rules were set up for good reason and have withstood the test of time. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re up for a film with debates and conversations about ethics. It’s not exactly a feel good movie though so you should be prepared for drama and an ending that is only potentially going to wind up being a happy one.

Overall 7/10

Time Lock Review

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Time Lock is a very retro thriller that has aged quite well. The main danger here is trying to save a kid before a certain amount of time has elapsed so it’s a concept that you could easily apply to a modern movie as well. There’s a lot of solid dialogue here and a quality cast of characters so the movie goes by rather quickly. It’s got a good amount of replay value as well so I could easily recommend it.

The movie starts with the bankers getting ready to close shop for the long weekend. It had been a busy week so they were all glad to have some time off. They get ready to close the vault but there’s a traffic incident outside so the two men take a break to look outside. In the meanwhile the banker’s kid sneaks into the vault. The bankers don’t notice this as they close the vault only to find out right afterwards that he snuck in. The issue is that the vault is sealed with a Time Lock which was created for the sole purpose of making sure that nobody can get into the vault once it is closed. They must now find a way to get the boy out before he runs out of Oxygen and call in everyone they can think of to help. Their best bet is the expert known as Mr. Dawson but he is already on vacation so they’ll need to track him down.

Dawson doesn’t appear until we’re deep into the film but his presence is felt almost immediately. Right from the start the characters acknowledge that he is their best bet and he is portrayed really well as an expert who knows his stuff. He takes charge and makes all of the right moves. Initially my reaction was that he could have started giving instructions before he got to the bank but as this was the 50s I assume that wasn’t really an option at the time. Dawson’s easily the best character in the film for sure.

Still, there aren’t really any bad characters here. Everyone does their best to help the kid out and it’s nice to see the community come together like this. For example, at one point the main characters are effectively out of options so a local reporter offers to help out by getting alerts out on all their channels and even flying in Dawson. Then you’ve got all of the townsfolk who are ready to help break through the vault however they can. Everyone here is doing their part. If anything the bank gives the reporter a tough time despite being so helpful towards the end but they weren’t trying to squeeze in a random antagonist. I suppose in this film you didn’t need one although it would have been pretty interesting to have some bank robbers run in to cause chaos.

The main emotional plot here is with the kid’s parents since they aren’t taking this quite so well. The Dad blames himself for not noticing that the kid went into the vault in time while the Mom is stressed out since the kid may not make it. The Secretary was also slow to alert them that the kid went into the vault since she saw him run in and should have yelled out immediately. Then you have the boss who didn’t do a second check after turning his back to the vault. In a situation like this there is naturally a lot of collective blame that can be had. At the end of the day the characters were just a bit careless because it’s a task they’ve done so many times and so they got a bit complacent this time around. Human error is something that can happen so it was just about time.

I’ll give the kid some credit for not panicking here though. He actually takes the whole situation pretty well in stride. He doesn’t start crying or yelling once he’s stuck there and just calmly tries to follow orders. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to unlock the vault or the whole film would have ended a lot sooner. It was a good idea on their part to use the megaphone though and it was an interesting dilemma since there was no way for the kid to signal if he heard or not. So they would have to talk not knowing if they were receiving a response or not. Definitely not an easy spot to be in.

As for the solution to breaking through the vault, it was pretty interesting. I feel like one of the side characters had actually suggested going in through the side and the others had said it was a waste. Ultimately the idea seemed good although of course here they were going for the switch as opposed to going all through the side. So there is a difference there but at least the Welder deserves some credit there before Dawson came in to save the day. Most of the characters in this film were professionals and it was nice to see them be able to use their expertise to help out in the situation.

Overall, Time Lock is a solid film. It really has no weaknesses and performs well as a low key thriller. The stakes may not be something like a city at stake but any life in the balance makes for a very personal film. You’ve got a solid cast, solid writing, and an interesting plot. It all boils down to a movie that’s just entertaining from start to finish. You’re bound to have a good time with this one. It also shows how well designed the bank vault is as not just anyone could have broken into it without those resources. I’m sure that the manufacturers would probably build some extra precautions into the next version so this probably wouldn’t even work next time around. That said, I doubt the kid will be going anywhere close to a vault after this.

Overall 7/10