Clockstoppers
Clockstoppers is a 2002 film, directed by Jonathan Frakes, that follows the story of Ordinary High School Student Zak Gibbs (Jesse Bradford), who stumbles upon an Applied Phlebotinum watch that allows him to stop time (okay, technically, it gives the wearer Super Speed and alters their perception of time). Before long, he's tangled up in a conspiracy as Quantum Tech, the company developing the technology, comes after him and will stop at nothing to get it back.
Tropes used in Clockstoppers include:
- Artistic License Physics: If a person was really sped up in such a way, placing your hand on a table would have the effect of slapping it hard. Running at a wall would hit it with the force of a car, which sounds nice but remember your skeleton isn't reinforced to handle that.
- Big Bad: Gates.
- Black Best Friend: Meeker.
- Cast From Lifespan: You age normally in hypertime.
- Convection, Schmonvection: The blobs of liquid nitrogen instantly freeze an entire human - in this case though the person would have to cool down from the point of contact with the liquid nitrogen. At best you could take out a joint or an arm instantly, but not the whole person at once.
- Covers Always Lie: From the cover, you'd think Meeker has a much bigger role than he actually has. Going by screen time and billing logically it should be French Stewart as Dr Dopler in his place.
- Creator Cameo: The film's director is an extra in one scene.
- Dawson Casting: Now those are some obviously twenty-something "teenagers"!
- Family-Friendly Firearms: How do you stop a person in Hypertime? With Paintballs loaded with liquid nitrogen, of course.
- I Have Your Dad: The bad guys kidnap Zak's dad to work for them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dr Dopler is one of these - kind of a prick but considering all he's been through, you can't really blame him, and he definitely comes through at the end.
- Meaningful Name: "Meeker"
- Mundane Utility: With vast time-stopping power at his fingertips, Zak chooses to pull pranks and impress Francesca, his date. Then again, he is a teenager trying to get with a hot girl.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Francesca drops her Hispanic accent partway through the film.
- Ordinary High School Student: The protagonists.
- Phlebotinum Breakdown: The hypertime device malfunctions after Zak gets it wet.
- Power Glows: When Zak uses the watch while already in the hypertime chamber.
- Engineer Exploited For Evil: Dr Dopler
- Stereotype Flip: Meeker, the black guy, is a much worse DJ than his white rival.
- Super Speed
- This Is as Far as I Go: Dopler refuses to accompany Zak and Francesca into Quantum Tech headquarters.
- Time Stands Still
- Token Trio: Zak, Francesca, and Meeker on the cover.
- Up to Eleven: What happens when you're already in hypertime, and you go even faster? At the end of the film, we find out.
- You Fail Physics Forever: Don't think too hard about how many laws of physics are broken in this film - pretty much all of them.