Got a minute? Well, how about 57 Seconds? Because that is both the name and the driving concept of Rusty Cundieff’s new film, a timey-wimey thriller which seems to split the difference between Limitless, The Lazarus Project, and… err… About Time. Check out the trailer below and you’ll see what we mean:
Based on E.C. Tubbs’ short story Lucifer, Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) stars in this one as Franklin, a man whose interview with tech mogul Anton Burrell (Morgan Freeman) inadvertently leads to his discovery of a ring with the power to take the wearer precisely 57 seconds back in time. It’s all fun and games at first, with the trailer showing Franklin hitting up the casino and betting big on the roulettes, but as Franklin determines with Burrell to use his time-constrained powers to help get revenge on the pharmaceutical company responsible for his sister’s death, things get complicated.
See? You’ve got the miracle drug/tech element of Limitless, the checkpoint-style limited time travel device of The Lazarus Project, and the emotional thrust and human concerns of About Time – just with fewer sad acoustic needle-drops and – criminally! – no Bill Nighy. Still, Nighy or no Nighy, there’s promise to this premise, which Cundieff co-adapted with the scribe behind the upcoming Toxic Avenger movie, Macon Blair. In a statement when the project was announced, Cundieff highlighted the film’s timely themes: “Today we have tools at our fingertips that allow us to respond to events at the moment, short-circuiting our time to be thoughtful and consider the consequences. 57 Seconds examines how emotions influence the innate human desire to solve things quickly via technology, be it a gun, pill or computer.”
57 Seconds is due to release later this year, expected in US cinemas and on demand on 29 September – stay tuned for updates on a UK release. In the meantime, we’ll just be over here trying to figure out a way to convince ourselves that this is somehow an unlikely Gone In 60 Seconds prequel. As Memphis Raines once said, “Without disappointment you cannot appreciate victory!”