Time Bomb (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

Generic cops family hostage/sports arena bomb

[uscmd · 6/10 · 20 March 2006]

The movie is not bad. Which ought to tell the discerning movie watcher quite a bit. One serious problem, with 500,000 actors in the world the best they can come up with for a Kiefer Sutherland type role is David Arquette? Not a single comedic moment, unless you find humor in mass murder. I can't see or hear Arquette without thinking ditsy lame comedy. The movie is part Sum of all fears and part Die Hard part 3, and part Sudden Death.

We've all seen the generic terrorist movie with minor variances, and this one is a cut above most made for TV movies. If there's nothing else on, watch a half hour and if it catches your interest, stay with it.....it does get better.

OK for made-for-TV.

[DominieDirtch · 4/10 · 20 March 2006]

I saw this on CBS last night, and I must say it kept my attention, but the acting was mediocre at best. David Arquette is almost impossible to take seriously, especially in the emotional moments. Honestly, what were they thinking when they cast him in the lead? There are probably thousands of unknown actors that would have been more believable. I've liked David Arquette in the other films I've seen him in, but this just shows that he is not a dramatic actor. He should stick to comedy. I won't give anything away, but the plot twist at the end doesn't really make a lot of sense either. I think the makers of this film thought the material with terrorism and racial profiling would make it relevant and edgy, but instead it was just cliché and predictable.

Also, the cinematography was nothing special, for a while I wasn't sure whether this was a movie or a new TV show. But I did keep watching till the end, but a good TV show could easily have pulled me away.

timebomb or stinkbomb

[leorican · 4/10 · 19 March 2006]

First this TV effort has three of my favs, David Arquette, Richard T Jones and the great Angela Bassett. Sadly they are not enough to save this odd fast paced terrorist adventure flick. The movie starts fast and you hardly have enough time to get to know anyone. It also has one of the most annoying filming gimmicks. The moving camera and fast shots of scenes and voice overs during fast shots. Its enough to give you a headache and you can see the same annoying gimmick in past disaster flicks like "10.5" and "The end of the world films" that have been on TV as of late. The story itself is a contradiction to its own purpose. Terrorist plant bombs in a football stadium and kidnap the family of one of the homeland security people played by Arguette. They warn the agents to stay away and not let anyone else know and not to move people out of the stadium. OK...so why then do they move security people in knowing the terrorists are watching them...and if they are being watched why don't the terrorists just tell the agents to leave. I mean they see them when they find the bombs and....unless I missing something....why don't they just threatened to blow up the place if the agents don't exit the arena?....To many questions like these had me rolling my eyes....the only good thing....was the final act when suspicions make for a guessing game of who's in on the threat...but again its not enough to save this frenzy of a movie that half the time looks like its being filmed by someones camcorder....Arguette has the chops to play serious but he dangles on the over the top...as does Angela...but she has it down to an art form and it works for her....Richard's laid back performance is best here. The reasons for all this drama and whats behind the threat will make your eyes roll all the way back and pop out from the absurdity...and again it finishes the same way it started fast and quick and your left feeling like you just ate your food real fast and didn't have time to enjoy it....

Sunday, Bloody Awful Sunday

[wille66 · 1/10 · 22 March 2006]

Where does one begin? Horrible acting, horrible over-acting, no suspense, full of stereotypes, choppy story line, and poor casting. Apparently the only lines David Arquette had were "what are the codes!!" and "where's my wife and son!!!" Repeat these many, many times in a loud, over-excited, daytime soapy manner and get the picture of this movie's dialog. If this isn't Mystery Science Theater material, I don't know what would be. The best line (sports arena maintenance guy to federal agents about to cloister him for security reasons): "I'm a veteran of Desert Storm and I can keep my mouth shut!" Ugh. Remember the old CBS late night movies? Prime candidate...definitely.

Exciting and complex

[vchimpanzee · 22 March 2006]

Homeland Security Agent Michael Bookman (David Arquette) has not been spending enough time with his wife Lynn and son Sean. That may be about to change as they join 63,000 other fans at Washington's Memorial Stadium for the football game against New Orleans, a team which lost badly in the last game against Washington and now wants revenge.

Also watching the game: fans at a bar where masked terrorists enter and handcuff them to a bomb which will go off if they move. The bomb is set on a timer, so it will go off anyway unless ...

Somehow, one of the people in the bar moves carefully enough to make a phone call, and Bookman has to make yet another excuse to his wife and son.

The first bomb was only a warning. A phone call made by someone with a disguised voice warns that the football stadium will be destroyed at the end of the game unless a prisoner with a Middle Eastern name I won't attempt to spell is released, and $100 million is deposited in an offshore account. The terrorist group Circle of Fire is blamed. Al Qaida is mentioned in the movie, but it is apparently separate. No one can announce this news to the crowd, and if the people start leaving--BOOM! When Bookman gets this news, he is on the phone with his wife, and he warns her to leave the stadium with Sean. Unfortunately, someone connected with the bombing threat knows where they are.

Bookman and bomb expert Douglas Campbell (Richard T. Jones) must lead the search for the bomb or bombs, with numerous complications standing in the way of preventing a tragedy. Among these is the fact that in the event of nuclear war, Congress would move to quarters accessible from the stadium, and this is where the terrorists might be.

Only a few people connected with the stadium or the game are allowed to know what is going on, and they are required to keep quiet--with men standing nearby with guns making sure they do.

The tension level remains constant in this movie, and the excitement builds to a climax enhanced by spectacular mixing of audio and video from the game with audio and video of the efforts to prevent the bombing. If there were an Emmy for just editing in a TV-movie or miniseries, as opposed to just audio editing or video editing, they could hand that one out right now. This is also true because of the impressive job done for editing the disarming of the first bomb.

Angela Bassett gave the standout performance here as the Homeland Security Agent who communicated with Bookman from the office where the investigation was taking place. She had difficult decisions to make--some of them life-or-death, and some having to be made with little warning.

David Arquette also showed a take-charge attitude, though his character had trouble controlling his temper, and while his anger might have been justified, his performance needed a little more range.

The football announcers did quite a good convincing job, especially the play-by-play man, who had one moment that could be ranked with the 1980 Olympic Hockey victory among the great events in sports broadcasting.

I also need to single out the actor who played a suspect who was arrested. He didn't have a lot of lines, but he did a good job. At this point, I should also mention that several Muslims and Middle Easterners, or people believed to be one or the other, were unjustly accused. This to me was not a weakness because it added to the drama, though several valuable members of the explosives team could have been lost as a result.

The writers really seemed to know what they were doing. I don't know enough to know whether the explosives experts were doing everything right, but they certainly dealt with a number of confusing and dangerous situations.

The football game seemed real enough, though I know little about sports. Based on the commentary from the announcers, the game added a lot to the movie's excitement.

This was one of the season's better TV-movies.

Poor going on mediocre

[malkia71 · 3/10 · 2 March 2010]

Poor, unconvincing and weak are the only words I can say for Time Bomb. There was no Time Bomb, from beginning to end the so called terrorists gave Home Land Security all the time to diffuse the situation "bombs" at their leisure. The acting was so poor and unconvincing I pitied and loathed the entire cast, from the protagonist to villain. David Arquette's emotions were as bad as Will Smith's in Seven Pounds. How this movie got the rating baffles me. Arquettes's wife and child have been kidnapped as leverage on the 65,000 people's lives, so what! Who is he that his family should come first before thousands? My 3 year old could have written a better screen play, and his reaction is so, so... unconvincing it's like he's had his neighbours' pet parrot taken for ransom. You can actually see him forcing to feel a connection to these 2 people (wife and son) when called by the so claimed "terrorist". This plot is becoming so generic that I can now almost guess the bad guy won't be the Arab, foreign type but the patriotic money hungry/warlord (weapons dealer) American. 24 has done all the foreign and internal terrorists scenario and pulled them off but the rest are like a fumbling copy cat serial murderer without the murderer's secret signature. Watch it if you've seen everything else on telly but otherwise wait till you're hospitalised (on you death bed) and can't change the channels.

Another comedy from Arquette, but of the unintentional variety.

[yellowdogtvray · 2/10 · 20 March 2006]

"Time Bomb" on CBS featured Mr. Courteney Cox as a Homeland Security officer who races to save 65,000 fans... and his own family... from a threatened terrorist attack at a pro football game in Washington, D.C.

Funny how Olympic Stadium in Montreal was suddenly located in D.C., but that's another matter.

I had absolutely no inclination or desire to watch "Time Bomb", but it was one of those "it's on, the DVR is rolling on my other stuff, what the hell, let's check it out for a few minutes" thingies.

Unbelievable.

I'd actually wondered before whether Arquette could play a non-clown role, and I got my answer tonight. All the classic overacting clichés... over emoting, pounding the wall, choking back tears, tortured grimaces... were there, and it was just awful.

(As for the "tortured grimace" noted above: who knew the "Dewey from 'Scream'" scrunched-up face was his default look?) One indelible moment was when Arquette's Dewey... er, DHS Agent Bookman (not the library cop from the classic "Seinfeld" episode)... was forced to squelch a crying jag while explaining that his family had been kidnapped. He stopped talking, gulped audibly, placed his hand to his face and said, "Sorry." I can't imagine what co-star Richard T. Jones was thinking at the time.

You'd think it was camp, but it was played just as straight as could be.

As for Angela Bassett, I see her name is missing from the current cast list. I'm betting she was added later, which wouldn't have been a problem, since all of her scenes take place in a different location.

Production values were O.K., but there are plot holes you could drive a truck thru (a zip line to a neighboring house? Wouldn't security notice?).

And director Stephen Gyllenhaal (also not listed) must have really loved his football footage: there are long stretches of game action shown (with play-by-play), for no apparent reason. And don't think we don't get the scoreboard clock as a "24" allusion, either.

David Arquette may be a terrific guy and has certainly had his share of successes with the odd-ball stuff. I actually admire him for wanting to stretch a bit, but dude, leave the tough-guy stuff for Willis or Keifer.

Guess who the terrorists aren't.

[mickeyro · 1/10 · 21 March 2006]

This review does contain spoilers so do not read it if you want to be surprised about this movie. When I saw the preview for this CBS movie I told my son we should watch it as it would be a topical movie about Middle Eastern/Arab/Muslim/Al Quaeda etc. types trying to kill a bunch of people. He told me I was an idiot as CBS would never make a movie where the terrorists were any of these and he proposed the terrorists to be white supremacists from Idaho and that any Arabs in the movie would be sympathetically portrayed and that any Muslim would be a good Muslim. It turned out that in fact I am an idiot. An Arab falsely profiled is actually a humanitarian football fan, a Muslim police officer is a victim of unfair discrimination and the terrorists willing to kill umpteen thousand of innocents just for greed are a couple of white police officers. Let's see, we have 9/11, the bombings in Madrid, the bombings in London, the bombings in Bali, etc. and who carried out those? I defy anyone to find terrorists attacks carried out by legitimate police officers of any color or race. Part of the reason to watch a movie is to be taken in by the premise and buy it as it might actually happen. I should have known from the beginning that things were not right when our star when told about the results of a wiretap of some suspect Muslims told the officer to get some translators on it as one would think the police would already have thought of having Arab translators listening to the Arab wiretaps. This movie is not about terrorism, but political correctness CBS style gone wild and thus is totally unbelievable in the end. Excellent performance by Richard T. Jones.

Military ain't no Bellisario

[deadthevideo · 1/10 · 18 June 2008]

A case of a film that desperately wants to be exciting but doesn't come off that way. The film could have been original but it uses one of those typical 'done-to-death' style plots which we've seen in other (better) movies, namely 'Sudden Death'. Where the film suffers most is in its woeful miscasting of the lead character. David Arquette was the ideal lead man for 'Eight Legged Freaks' but for this one - no way. He looks way too childish for this role. In my view, Richard T. Jones would have made a better action hero rather than support character. In Frank Military, this was written by a former NCIS producer. As it stands, if it was Donald P. Bellisario penning this, this could have been so much better, but Military ain't no Bellisario.

Instant critique

[koverartsnet · 4/10 · 19 March 2006]

I'm watching it right now on CBS, at best it is an average ticking clock disaster story. Acting is all quite capable. Nice editing in the action sequences. Good feel for the chaotic moments. That's hard to depict well.

Nothing new here, bombs planted in a football stadium. Lots of people as potential victims & shots of agents sweating over wires & LED countdowns. A few plot twists, but they aren't even novel. It's not clear to me how the explosives were embedded into the structure. This would imply an absurd lead time for the plot. Maybe that was explained better & I missed it. Why bother to cut holes in support beams & plant bombs? That would take a lot of time, & make lots of noise. That is a huge plot hole

Nice to see Jayne Heitmeyer again. She played Renee Palmer in Earth Final Conflict, & I enjoy seeing her again.

David Arquette often just seems too stiff in dramatic roles. he's a funny, likable guy, but I'm not quite buying him as the lead in a taught action role. He has some good moments, but I don't feel the grit & determination that I see when I watch Southerland in 24. I love the Arquette girls & I was a fan of Cliff, but right know David reminds me more of a city planner than a tough guy Homeland security agent.

Ouch, Arquette just shot a guy in the hand. Its ruthless, but Arquette isn't the tough guy type to do this. The bomb jacket on his wife & son are a bit much. The plot is getting rather convoluted as the story draws to a climax. Arquette jogging with a bomb vest on is too much. They jump & wrestle with these bomb vests on like they were some kind of film prop. Oh wait, they are...

Climax is on the silly side, & the ending shots with the American flag are pretty manipulative.

A one shot deal on a Sunday evening. Not bad, but if you didn't watch this broadcast, you will probably never get a chance to see this again. Oh well, probably as a re-run this summer.

Weak derivative thriller in the 24 mould but with a very weak version of Sutherland in Arquette

[bob the moo · 15 June 2008]

Department of Homeland Security agent Mike Bookman is on his way to meet his wife and son at an American football game in Washington when he gets divert to a bomb planted in a crowded bar in Washington. The bomb disposal experts cannot even get close to diffusing it and, with everyone evacuated, it detonates. Almost instantly another call comes in that this attack was just a show of strength and that the real bomb is the Washington stadium. It will collapse the whole stadium on the 65000 people inside if anyone is evacuated and a high profile terrorist prisoner is not released. With the pressure already on him, Bookman gets another very personal motivator.

From the very start this 24 wannabe seems happy to do the basics on the cheap but by learning from that show in regards what works. Hence we get the ticking clock situation, the constantly moving cameras, the Muslim terrorists, torture and the power of technology. So far so genre but ultimately it is weak in key areas that does undercut the film as a whole. The plot is generic but relies too heavily on weak devices and twists to keep it moving – even 24 struggles to do this but it does have a whole season to sustain. The use of Bookman's family and the many twists just reduce tension rather than increase it. Unlike some I did like the use of DV because it presents the illusion of action and realism when used with restraint, however other than this there is not a lot that Gyllenhaal's direction has to recommend it for.

The biggest weakness is the casting of David Arquette. He is far too weak to convince and I cannot believe that he was the first choice for this role. He is a light comedy actor and not suited or the Sutherland role. To be honest Jones would have been better in the main role as he has more presence and urgency about him in his turn, which is not brilliant but is definitely effective within the demands of the film. The main reason I checked this out was the presence of Bassett, because I was curious to see what she was up to recently – not only do I think she is talented but she is stunning even as she turns 50 this year. Here all she does is a few days worth of work, remote from the action and has more "reaction" shots than dialogue scenes. 24's Caro Rota turns up briefly (and uncredited) as a terrorist but other than that the cast are mostly TVM standard.

Time Bomb is not great, even by genre standards but it is just about clichéd enough to allow the undemanding viewer to watch, safe in the knowledge that thinking or caring is not required. The script is weak, the twists weak and the whole delivery is derivative. It might just about have been fun if it had had a stronger lead actor but, as it is, Arquette is so badly cast that he doesn't even convince once.