YMMV / Nick of Time

• Complete Monster: "Mr. Smith" is a psychopathic assassin who, with his compatriot Ms. Jones, strongarms everyman Gene Watson into carrying out a political assassination under the threat of his little girl Lynn's life. The nastier and the more unstable between himself and Ms. Jones, Mr. Smith beats, threatens, and hounds Gene at every opportunity, clearly intending to leave him to face the heat regardless of whether or not he successfully carries out the hit. When his target's assistant clues into too much for her own good, Smith shoots her in the head without blinking, and when his target escapes, Smith fires wildly into a populated crowd just to get her, hitting numerous other innocent people. To do nothing more than blow off some steam after the plan goes up in smoke, Smith tries to personally kill Lynn as well. Even when Gene shoots him in retribution for this, Smith is nothing but happy he's made the man take a life, proudly claiming "I told them I could make a killer out of you!"
• Cult Classic: A flop when it was first released, it's found an audience in recent years for being a precursor to more recent Real Time concepts such as Run Lola Run and 24.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The shootout in the Governor's suite, where Watson witnesses the execution of the Governor's assistant. He then shoots his way out of the suite before he is stopped dead in his tracks by the supposedly dead Mr. Smith, who he shot point blank just seconds earlier. He is then hurled off the balcony into the lobby below to his death.....only to wake up to reveal he had been hallucinating after receiving a brutal beating from Mr. Smith.
  • The entire murder conspiracy against Grant; even more disturbing is the fact that her own husband was a willing accomplice in the plot.
• Unintentional Period Piece: This film could take place in the modern day easily enough, aside from all of the plotters using handheld radios instead of mobile phones.

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