Wonderfully offbeat film!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

While visiting the graveyard of his beloved wife with his daughter Jesse (Gage Golightly), the physics professor John T. Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) 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 (Hamish Linklater), 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 (Randy Quaid), 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 (Kari Matchett) 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."Five Days to Midnight" is a good mini-series with a quite original story that blends action, thriller, sci-fi and drama in an intriguing way. Unfortunately the plot has the usual holes and flaws relative to time-travel. For example, if Jesse sent the dossier from the future, why not write a note to her father asking him to keep the open mind and explaining the whole situation? This would be the simpler and most rational way to advise J. T. Neumeyer how to prevent his death and eliminate his list of suspects. Therefore there is a great incoherence in the plot. In Brazil, the DVD was edited and released with 148 minutes running time, in a regretful but usual procedure of the Brazilian distributors. The mutilated edition destroys the original work of the director and writer, and the viewer loses many references along the story. Anyway I found that the weak climax of the plot could be improved by the writer since this mini-series has a great premise and deserved a better conclusion and resolution. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Cinco Dias Para a Morte" ("Five Days To the Death")

i did'nt mind this mini series.for a TV science fiction movie,it's not half bad.it kept me interested through out,and even riveted at times.the acting is very good in this movie.i'm not sure how accurate the movie is from a physics point of view,but so what,i enjoyed it.the basic premise is that physics professor J.T.Neumeyer(Timothy Hutton) discovers that he is murdered in 5 days(thanks to an anonymous tip from the future.so he must try to figure out who the murderer is and try to prevent his own killing thereby altering his destiny and maybe that of others.the whole thing involves theoretical time travel(sort of)in the present and in the future.i have to say,the ending caught me completely by surprise.i wasn't expecting it at all.i honestly thought this was a well done mini series.i'd give '5 days to Midnite' 8/10

Sometimes not having the parameters of a Hollywood film can make Television the best outlet for a brilliant film. Sure it might not have the special effects, stunts, even big names but you can see some really unique talent, and a strong story that is enthralling. Five Days Till Midnight is an edge of your seat murder mystery that combines some truly great performances with a even better storyline. Clocking in at 3 1/2 hours (another thing a Hollywood film could never accomplish) you would never know it. The film is over in a blink and you want more because it was so good. It's non-stop and so incredibly written by Robert Zappia (Halloween H20), David Aaron Cohen (The Devil's Own), Anthony Peckham (Don't Say A Word), and Cindy Myers.Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton leads the cast as Professor JT Neumeyer. Devastated by the loss of his wife, and deeply protective and loving of his beautiful daughter Jesse, he seems to finally be putting the pieces of his life back together including a new woman in his life. Hutton is intense, emotional, strong, a great leading man for this role. He also portrays brilliance and devotion to his daughter and you really feel for his character. He absolutely should have at least gotten an Emmy nod out of this. Randy Quaid is equally as brilliant as tough as nails Homicide detective Irwin Sikorski. Quaid's character seems a little dark, sinister and yet dedicated to his job and the people he serves. This is one of Quaid's best roles and certainly one of his most dramatic. He plays the role to the fullest. Kari Matchett plays Hutton's new love interest with a mysterious past Claudia Whitney. TV Fans will recognize Matchett from the sadly canceled Invasion. Matchett and Hutton make a good couple and I don't think Matchett is quite likable enough for the role but she does alright. Hamish Linklater plays the slightly disturbed but incredibly brilliant Carl Axelrod. His unbalanced performance is small but effective and he's great at it. Angus Macfadyen is the brutal mobster Roy Bremmer. I think Bremmer's role could have been bigger but the scenes he was in were very effective. He comes across as adequately evil and is the perfect bad guy but also the perfect scape goat for the murder mystery at hand. And last but certainly not least is the incredible performance by young Gage Golightly as Hutton's daughter Jesse. First of all Golightly has a striking resemblance to a young Drew Barrymore and equally charismatic on screen. Her role as Jesse is NOT a typical "kid" role and instead she is utilized to the fullest in the role. She's smart, and important to the story and she does such an incredible job. This should have been her claim to fame and rocketed her into bigger and better things and I'm sure she'll surface again in the future.Veteran TV director Michael W. Watkins does an incredible job setting up suspense and clues and an intriguing time travel type storyline without complicating things. Some would say it's almost too simplistic. For instance why doesn't any of the evidence change as J.T. changes the time-line?? Still it doesn't matter because everything fits together so perfectly and it's simplicity makes it so watchable. The characters are all so real and you just get brought into this twisted world of this seemingly normal, rather boring professor's life. Even when the film is over you'll have questions in your mind, and plenty to discuss, it's the ultimate water cooler film. This is a real treat and a hidden gem for sure. I think it's one of my favorites. 9/10

Timothy Hutton gives another unexpected brilliant television performance on the par of his portrayal of Archie Goodwin in the A&E productions of the Nero Wolfe mysteries. Further he is reunited here with Kari Matchett (one of the ensemble players of that series), who deftly tunes her character between utter trustworthiness and blatant suspect without upsetting the delicate balance of suspense. The other key players also deliver masterful, convincing performances, particularly Gage Golightly, who steals every scene she's in and leaves us loving it.The cinematography, especially the frequent use of slow-motion and delay-action, is meant to add to the suspense but winds up feeling a bit silly and overplayed. Also, the frequent product-placements (the gift of Playstation 2, the insurance receptionist's salad and drink from McDonald's, the Mountain Dew can in Carl's apartment, the rental car agent's perky emoting of, "And you'll be putting that on your Visa?", the Eclipse gum display at the airport kiosk, et cetera ad infinitum) tend to tear the viewer out of the story in amusement - we're more interested in seeing which of the sponsors' products are going to show up next than we are in watching for clues.Spoiler ahead:Allowing for all of the occurrences that lead up to the climax/denouement of the story is all well and good, but the primary questions: "What is a college professor, not in the habit of frequenting such establishments, doing in a strip club at 3:55 am?" and "Who, at that time, wants him dead, and why?" are never resolved. Obviously, by the fifth day, the reason he is there is to solve the mystery, but the mystery as it originally appeared for him to solve is never explained. The first four hours of the miniseries were intriguing and curiosity-provoking, but the final hour was unsatisfying from a physics or even a science-fiction standpoint, and cheesily derivative of "Back to the Future" from an entertainment standpoint. From either standpoint, the final hour is condescending to the viewer, and in my opinion cheapened the overall impact of the story.