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

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.

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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.

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

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)

One in nine do not have enough to eat

Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.

One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.

The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.

Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.

It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.

On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.

Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.

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The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Results

5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 (Turf) 1,400m. Winner: Al Ajeeb W’Rsan, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Jaci Wickham (trainer).

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 80,000 (T) 1,400m racing. Winner: Mujeeb, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel.

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 90,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Onward, Connor Beasley, Abdallah Al Hammadi.

6.30pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown Prep Rated Conditions (PA) Dh 125,000 (T) 2,200m. Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle.

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (T) 1,600m. Winner: AF Arrab, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel.

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 90,000 (T) 1,400m. Winner: Irish Freedom, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill

Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.