5ive Days to Midnight 

When college professor J.T. Neumeyer discovers a police file that outlines the details of his murder - which is to take place five days in the future - he wastes no time trying to save his own life.

Stars:

Timothy Hutton, Randy Quaid, Kari Matchett

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Timothy Hutton	...	J.T. Neumeyer 5 episodes, 2004
Randy Quaid	...	Irwin Sikorski 5 episodes, 2004
Kari Matchett	...	Claudia Whitney 5 episodes, 2004
Hamish Linklater	...	Carl Axelrod 5 episodes, 2004
Angus Macfadyen	...	Roy Bremmer 5 episodes, 2004
Gage Golightly	...	Jesse Neumeyer 5 episodes, 2004
Nicole de Boer	...	Chantal Hume 5 episodes, 2004
David McIlwraith	...	Brad Hume 5 episodes, 2004
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Tim Sanders 5 episodes, 2004
Brian McCaig	...	Student #1 5 episodes, 2004
Juno Rinaldi	...	Toy store clerk 5 episodes, 2004
Jason Simpson	...	Steel Worker 5 episodes, 2004
Ian Thompson	...	Bus driver 5 episodes, 2004
Rob Stewart	...	Dr. Dan Westville 4 episodes, 2004
Chilton Crane	...	Jan Westville 3 episodes, 2004
Barbara Tyson	...	Mandy Murphy 3 episodes, 2004
April Telek	...	Dottie Sikorski 3 episodes, 2004
Paul Bittante	...	Policeman 2 episodes, 2004
Bruce Clark	...	Desk Sergeant 2 episodes, 2004
Samantha Crew	...	Katherine Neumeyer 2 episodes, 2004
Ashley Hale	...	Annabel Westville 2 episodes, 2004
Sydney Rae Sullivan	...	Topanga Sanders 2 episodes, 2004
Susie Wickstead	...	Paramedic 2 episodes, 2004

Storyline

While visiting the graveyard of his beloved wife with his daughter Jesse, the physics professor John T. Neumeyer finds a case with a police dossier relating his death in five days. He initially believes it is a sick prank from the brilliant but deranged physics student Carl Axelrod, but when a series of events related in the documents occur, he realizes that the file has been sent from the future. With the support of Detective Irwin Sikorski, whose name is indicated in the file as in charge of the investigation of his death, and suspecting of everybody including his girlfriend Claudia Whitney that has a blurred hidden past, J.T. tries to change the future and his fate. But Carl believes that any modification in the time-line will jeopardize mankind and the future of the planet.

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Plot Keywords:

black and white scene | sepia tinted scene | physics | silly string | case file | 

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Taglines:

"24" meets "MINORITY REPORT"

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The events in the mini-series take place Monday, 7 June 2004 through Friday, 11 June 2004. The show premiered on the SciFi Channel (USA) on Monday, 7 June 2004 and consecutive episodes were shown each night through Friday, 11 June 2004 roughly following a real-time schedule. The fourth episode (with events ending at or slightly past 3.55am according to the script) was actually first shown at 9.00pm on Thursday, 10 June 2004, so the series did get ahead a bit. Additional date-specific product placements (for instance, a poster for The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), playing in theaters at the time, as seen on a slow pan at the university outside Neumeyer's office) and current popular culture references (for example, a reference to the popular show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), airing at the time on network TV) in conversation help reinforce this setup.

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Goofs

A nude stripper is suddenly shown wearing a bikini in one shot and then she is nude again. In the same scene a topless waitress is shown wearing a bikini top and then she is topless again.

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Connections

References CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000)

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Soundtracks

10,000 Miles
Performed by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

Great concept, interesting performances, but blande as poundcake

Timothy hutton plays physics professor JT Neumeyer who while visiting his wife's grave discovers a thin silver brief case.

He opens it and discovers a group of files showing pictures of his death and newspapers clippings.

First declaring this as a practical joke, the events in the files play out slowly and now convinced that he'll die in five days, tries to find a way to prevent himself from dying and must change his destiny.

The concept is great despite being a bit derivative, and there's plenty of room for tension, suspense, and great bits on philosophy, but the screenwriters miss their chances.

The cast is comprised mostly of second rate actors with the exception of Hutton who tries his best at the lead role but ultimately fails towards the end of the film as he manages to go way over the top with his emotional scenes.

There's also Randy quaid who is quite bland and one-dimensional, and Angus McFayden who is the worst of the characters as the over the top mob boss Roy Bremmer. Watch for his really bad scenes as he attempts to inflict depth into his character but comes off as laughable.

Meanwhile the story has the ability to inject tension and sense of immediacy but all of it is loss in the bogged down story. Rambling and droning at some points it's difficult to understand why this couldn't have been a two hour film instead of a four parter.

There's also plenty of room for philosophy and the concept of destiny and fate towards death, but there's nothing here as the story is mostly comprised of uneventful occurances, slim character development, and so much dialogue.

While the film is engrossing at the beginning, it's ultimately lost halfway through as the plot is segued into the benign plot featuring McFayden which takes away from the actual reason why we're watching.

"Stay tuned for the shocking last minutes to 5 Days to Midnight" the Sci-Fi channel boasts which never usually works on me but I was rather interested to see where this was developing. But, unfortunately it was all just hype. I was expecting that Neumeyer's daughter would accidentally shoot him causing his death, and that we never got to see who sent the briefcase, but it's all pretty much explained in the end and nothing of the sort happens.

I wanted an ironic, witty, and shocking ending beneath the muddled plot and droning dialogue, but alas we're not given anything but an obligatory and rather disappointing happy ending.

Decent performances, a great concept but falls apart halfway through becoming routine and cliche. The writers never give this story and concept a chance to spread its wings and just keep it down to mediocre level.

** out of **** stars.

Details

Official Sites:

SciFi.com Space [Canada]

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

5 Days to Midnight

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lions Gate Television, David Kirschner Productions, Hallmark Entertainment Distribution LLC

Technical Specs

Runtime:

210 min (5 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1