Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

bensonmum2 Poirot is approached by Lieutenant Colin Race for help with a case. Race has found himself mixed-up in an unusual murder mystery. The story goes like this: Walking down a street, Race is nearly knocked over by a hysterical young woman named Shelia Webb as she runs from the front door of a house. Inside the house are a dead body and the owner of the house, a blind woman who knows nothing of the girl or the dead man. The police cannot identify the body and no one can explain how Webb, a typist for hire, came to be in the house with the dead man. Added to the mystery are four clocks in the room where the dead man was found, all set to 4:13. The blind woman knows nothing of the clocks and no one can explain what they mean. Oh, there's also some missing military documents that Race has been investigating thrown into the mix. Poirot has is hands full with this one.I've ranted recently about several of the newer Poirot episodes. Some are twisted and changed from Christie's original work to the point they are unrecognizable. Some are filmed in a modern style more suited for something like CSI than a classic detective story set in the 1930s. I'm happy to report that neither is true with The Clocks. The story, while it varies on some aspects of Christie's The Clocks, holds true on most of the main plot points. It's easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the book. And the movie is told is style more fitting Poriot and Christie. It looks more like the earlier episodes I enjoy so much.The Clocks was always one of my favorite Christie books and this adaptation did not disappoint. I congratulate director Charlie Palmer and the screenwriters for taking a fairly complicated story with multiple characters and suspects and putting it together so well. There are plenty of red herrings that work perfectly. It has all the hallmarks of a classic, well made, and well told mystery. The acting is top notch. By now, my enjoyment of Suchet's work goes without saying. The supporting cast, including Tom Burke as Race and Jaime Winstone as Shelia Webb, is very strong. There's even some good comic relief provided by the frustrated Inspector Hardcastle, played brilliantly by Phil Daniels. The sets and locations are once again flawless. I'm amazed at all the varied locations the producers were able to find for filming. Just beautiful. Finally, the music is a real bonus. It fits nicely with the unfolding story. Overall, an easy 8/10 from me.

bob the moo Pursuit of a spy ring brings Lt. Colin Race comes to Wilbraham Crescent, where he happens upon a woman fleeing in terror from a house containing the blind owner, and a dead man. The house contains clocks all stopped at the wrong time – which the owner insists are not hers, and nobody seems to know who the dead man is. The police get involved in the shape of Inspector Hardcastle, but so too does Race's family friend of Hercule Poirot. The potential for witnesses to the crime in the small contained Crescent, means a door to door investigation, during which time the many odd characters are revealed – but what does it all mean? Does it link to the suspected spy ring? What do the clocks mean? And where did one of them go? And was it really Mr Tinkles who wee'd on the sofa? Poirot investigates.The play that this film opens with is noted for containing many red herrings (or whatever it is called in Finnish); I thought this was maybe a reference to such a scene in Appointment with Death, but the author Ariadne Oliver was not in that story. Anyway, what this reference does link to is the rest of this film, because it is noteworthy for how convoluted it is, but yet how (comparatively) simple the actual solution is. Indeed my own experience with it rather fits with this since I spent most of the film trying to align the many, many moving parts and red herrings, but yet at the same time I always suspected Martindale on the simple basis that she was the gate- keeper to one of the key events that put Webb into the house at the right time (the supposed phone call requesting her services); so all at once I had one of the perps but yet nothing by fog as to how it all would work out.There is a certain amount of pleasure in this mess of clues and irrelevant detail, and it helps that the residents of the Crescent are colourful – it is nice to have some comedic touches back in the film after the rather more brooding Orient Express. However, at the same time it is difficult to fight your way through any of it since there is a lot going on. This limited how engaged I was in the mystery, even though I was still interested enough to keep up and keep fighting to put things into the right slots. The colourful characters are ell delivered by the colourful cast, with Sharp, Winstone, Massey, Wicks and others all do good work, with plenty of energy and intrigue; special mention to Edney's cat woman for comedy effect. The period delivery continues to work, although it does not feel as precise and focused on period detail as maybe it once did, but it is broader and more sweeping in scale than the original episodes. Suchet is on good form and, even though he lacks any of his usual companions, he works well with Daniels (even if personally I found Burke to be a bit dull).The Clocks is a double-edged sword then; the convoluted and colorful nature of the mystery and characters manages to both engage by virtue of its complexity, but yet also make it harder to really be engaged since it is so deliberately filled with the famous red fish. So as a mystery I did not find it to be as rewarding or intriguing as the stronger films in the series, but as entertainment it still very much worked for me.

richard.fuller1 I did this with the movie Se7en with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.The understanding of a killer is really very simplistic to say the least, and Se7en didn't fit, using the Deadly Sins as a reason to commit the crimes, but it relied too much on outside sources to progress his deeds, similar to BTK, but that one did a lot of meaningless fluff.So what do we have here with Clocks. First, remove the entire spy plot, as it is only connected in the corpse was put in the spy's apartment as obviously no one would think a blind woman committed the crime.So now, we want to get rid of the man who can identify the woman as not being the wife receiving the inheritance. In truth, wouldn't it have been easier to simply club him over the head and dump him in the river? Or at best, pay him off, as they ended up having to do with the actress anyway.The availability of the blind woman's apartment, I can follow, but with nosy neighbors (which was really kind of intended to be the focus of this story), a lot of the disguise (the laundry truck) now becomes obvious.So the boss lady disliked the young woman, so she decided to frame her for the crime by getting her to the apartment she has never been to before.Yes, this all unraveled once more, but it seems like once the old blind woman said she called no one to do dictation, that should have made the police suspicious as well.The criminals seemed to think, we'll just say I received the phone call, the old woman will say she called for no one and no one will believe the young girl.In truth, the clocks were a rather bad addition. They were found in the apartment and the old woman knew nothing about them. So why would the young girl take the silly clocks there if she intended on killing the man? What we are then left with is really clumsy killers, hardly worthy of Poirot's attention. it seemed more like the spy plot was added or included (by Christie, not by any filmmaker here, tho i've never read the books) to justify international detective Poirot's presence.There have been more fun mysteries with 'not seeming like it is' and 'not being told what we are seeing' and again, in truth, this one had that, with who the murdered man actually was.But then to strangle a girl in a phone booth and club the actress, again, wouldn't it have just been easier to pay off the guy, or club him over the head and throw him in the river? Criminals really don't put this much effort into framing someone into the crime. Just dump the body in the old lady's room and send no one there. Let the old girl explain who he is and how he got there, instead of putting a young girl who works for your business all into the mix.

TheLittleSongbird I am a big fan of the Poirot adaptations with David Suchet and of Agatha Christie's books, so of course I was going to see The Clocks. The series has had a few masterpieces(After the Funeral), a number of solid adaptations(Cat Among the Pigeons) and the odd disappointment(Taken at the Flood). I have to say I was very impressed with this adaptation of The Clocks, and put it between the masterpiece and solid categories.My only real complaint of The Clocks was the spy subplot, which came across as rather old-fashioned and predictable. Other than that, it was very well done and highly entertaining right from the beautifully shot prologue to the intriguing final solution. The book wasn't my favourite of The Queen of Crime, but it was a very fun read with a good story and interesting characters.I feel The Clocks is one of the better-directed recent episodes. There are times when the direction is taut when it needs to be, and there are other times when like in the prologue where it is quite elegant. The adaptation as is the case with all the Poirot episodes is very well made, the period recreation is sumptuous and the photography is consistently excellent. I feel often that music helps to enhance the mood in a film, TV adaptation or cartoon, and that's what the music does here. The music here is beautiful and haunting and never feels over-bearing or overly-grandiose.The story is faithful and interesting and it is helped by the solid pacing and the wonderful array of characters, while the dialogue has the odd wry moment while maintaining its thoughtfulness. I was highly impressed by the atmosphere too, in some ways the adaptation is quite dark and suspenseful but there is always room for some humour without it jarring too much. The acting is excellent, David Suchet doesn't just play Poirot, he actually becomes Poirot. He is brilliantly supported by Phil Daniels, Anna Massey and especially Lesley Sharp, and it was nice to see the late John Thaw's daughter Abigail here too.Overall, a solid adaptation and one of the better recent episodes. 9/10 Bethany Cox