Josh Hutcherson and Lovie Simone in 57 Seconds. Photo: Highland Film Group
Josh Hutcherson and Lovie Simone in 57 Seconds. Photo: Highland Film Group
Josh Hutcherson and Lovie Simone in 57 Seconds. Photo: Highland Film Group
Josh Hutcherson and Lovie Simone in 57 Seconds. Photo: Highland Film Group

57 Seconds review: Time-travel film with good premise but terrible execution


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Time-travel movies usually involve characters moving backwards or forwards in years so that they can experience a vastly different past or future to their own.

In 57 Seconds, Josh Hutcherson’s Franklin can travel, you guessed it, only 57 seconds into the past. But while you might think he’d be unable to create much chaos by repeating a minute, in a matter of weeks Franklin goes from being a lowly tech blogger to a rich insider at a pharmaceutical company.

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Franklin is able to travel back in time after he thwarts the assassination of visionary tech guru Anton Burrell (Morgan Freeman). Backstage after the incident, Franklin finds a mysterious ring on the floor. When he presses the diamond on the ring it transports him back 57 seconds.

At first, Franklin uses the ring to help him on his date with Jala (Lovie Simone), a girl he met while he was waiting to interview Burrell. After his car gets towed away, the desperately poor Franklin goes to a casino where he’s able to amass thousands of dollars in just a few hours by playing the previous roulette numbers.

But Franklin also has his eyes set firmly on revenge. The reason he was trying to interview Burrell was because he wanted his help in exposing Sig Thorensen (Greg Germann), the evil head of the pharmaceutical company responsible for his twin sister’s drug overdose and subsequent death.

After getting close to his nemesis, Franklin’s ability to predict every detail of the immediate future results in him being brought into Thorensen’s inner circle. Franklin sees this as an opportunity to get not just a minor victory over Thorensen, but to instead bring down his whole company. But the longer Franklin stays with the pharmaceutical executive, the closer he gets to him, and the more he uses the ring, Jala becomes concerned that he’s actually addicted to the power of time travel instead.

There are certainly moments where you can see why such a bevy of talented actors were attracted to 57 Seconds. Whenever Franklin is using the ring, there’s an excitement and intrigue about how he’s going to redo the minute. There’s a goofy cheekiness to Hutcherson that allows viewers to be impressed by the character’s rise, without ever getting annoyed by him, too. Plus the mere presence of Freeman is enough to make any cinephile smile – the veteran screen star could make reading the phone book sound profound.

The problem with 57 Seconds, though, is that it’s so poorly shot and thinly plotted that you’re always aware of just how sub-par the film is. It doesn’t even take 57 seconds to realise that the film does not have the budget, script, or direction from Rusty Cundieff to match its premise.

As 57 Seconds gets going, Hutcherson’s nearly intelligible narration provides pointless exposition in a ham-fisted fashion. It then sporadically returns throughout the story whenever it’s verging on getting too complicated. Meanwhile, the motivations for most of the characters are either non-existent or bizarre, there’s zero suspense at moments where it's required, while you can’t help but laugh at the ridiculous plot developments.

The script’s lack of quality is especially surprising considering that Cundieff co-wrote it with Macon Blair, whose previous films I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore and Hold the Dark gathered strong reviews. The writing is so bad that at times it has more in common with a soap opera than a sci-fi thriller starring two bona-fide Hollywood stars.

All of which builds to a pathetic final action sequence, which is then followed by a predicable and lacklustre plot twist and reveal that immediately renders any lingering goodwill for the film moot.

Thankfully, the film’s stellar cast, its entertaining premise, and its swift hour-and-a-half running time are enough to make sure that 57 Seconds isn’t a complete disaster. But you can’t help but wonder how good it might have been if it had a bigger budget, tighter script and better direction.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs

Engine 60kwh FWD

Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry

Power 204hp Torque 360Nm

Price, base / as tested Dh174,500 

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:

Ajax 2-3 Tottenham

Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate

Final: June 1, Madrid

While you're here
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Korean Film Festival 2019 line-up

Innocent Witness, June 26 at 7pm

On Your Wedding Day, June 27 at 7pm

The Great Battle, June 27 at 9pm

The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, June 28 at 4pm

Romang, June 28 at 6pm

Mal Mo E: The Secret Mission, June 28 at 8pm

Underdog, June 29 at 2pm

Nearby Sky, June 29 at 4pm

A Resistance, June 29 at 6pm 

 

SPECS

Nissan 370z Nismo

Engine: 3.7-litre V6

Transmission: seven-speed automatic

Power: 363hp

Torque: 560Nm

Price: Dh184,500

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary

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Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

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'Ashkal'
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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Rain Management

Year started: 2017

Based: Bahrain

Employees: 100-120

Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund

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Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

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57%20Seconds
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Updated: October 20, 2023, 6:02 PM`