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| Downtime [1998] | ![Downtime [1998]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P2AF47ZFL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Bharat Nalluri
Actors: Paul Mcgann, Susan Lynch, Tom Georgeson, David Roper, Denise Bryson
Studio: Cinema Club
Category: Video
List Price: £5.99
Buy Used: £0.16
You Save: £5.83 (97%)
New (2) from £1.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 24021
Format: Closed-captioned, Pal
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Media: VHS Tape
Running Time: 87 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
EAN: 5032519702439
ASIN: B00004CWSO
Theatrical Release Date: January 27, 1999
Release Date: February 5, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Tested in good working order Any questions please e-mail, only too happy to help. No quibble refund if not completely satisfied. We aim to ship within one working day.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Down Time is a strange attempt to mix concrete Northern social realism and Bruce-Willis-style cliffhanger thrills, with balls of fire billowing up empty lift shafts and so forth. Paul McGann plays an ex-police psychologist, retired through ill health, drafted in to dissuade miserable single mother Chrissy (Susan Lynch) from throwing herself and her child off the top of a tower block. He succeeds, though in so doing betrays some of the problems that caused him to quit his job. He then pursues Chrissy romantically, during the course of which he, she and her little boy become stuck in the tower block lift, which then starts ascending and descending at random when hoodlum squatters break into the control box and mess about with it for an idle laugh. With its bizarre and somewhat improbable scenario, its odd mix of whimsical light romance, grim-up-North-style melodrama and explosive stunt action, Down Time as a whole doesn't really come off. The behaviour of key characters borders on the arbitrary, the "yobs" who cause all the problems go curiously unpunished and the ending barely makes sense. However, the lengthy mid-sequence in which McGann rescues (and is rescued by) Chrissy from the perilously dangling lift is, though predictable in its outcome, gripping enough. --David Stubbs
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| Customer Reviews:
 Action-thriller with unusual premise July 8, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
DOWNTIME (1997)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
DVD soundtrack: Dolby 2.0 stereo
Theatrical soundtrack: Dolby Digital
Set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but filmed in Liverpool after authorities in Newcastle objected to the script's exaggerated depiction of the city's poorest residents, Bharat Nalluri's DOWNTIME represents a curious combination of social drama and Hollywood-style sensationalism, like DIE HARD directed by Ken Loach! Paul McGann (TV's 'The Monocled Mutineer') plays a former police psychologist who saves a young single mother (Susan Lynch) from suicide at the desolate apartment building where she lives with her only child. Whilst visiting her the following day, the two become trapped in an unstable elevator after it's sabotaged by a group of thugs who have been terrorizing the area for months. Forced to climb into the shaft and make their way to safety, they become aware of a fire at the top of the building which threatens to send the elevator crashing down on top of them...
Criticized in some quarters for its patronizing view of working class families (either foul-mouthed and stoic in adversity, or prone to criminal tendencies), this ultra-commercial entry was financed by FilmFour as part of a series of initiatives designed to challenge a widely-held view of the company as purveyors of 'Art-house' fare, though DOWNTIME's modest ambitions and lack of star power probably contributed to its poor showing at the UK box-office. Caspar Berry's fascinating script revolves around three major set-pieces: Lynch's suicide attempt on the upper floors of a high-rise building; the heart-stopping navigation of a crumbling elevator shaft by McGann, Lynch and her young son; and a climactic hospital siege in which Lynch is held at gunpoint by a neighbor (Tom Georgeson) who believes she's responsible for the death of his father (Birdy Sweeney) during the elevator incident. These scenes are genuinely thrilling (and probably accounted for Nalluri's subsequent transfer to Hollywood, where he helmed THE CROW: SALVATION [1999] and worked as 2nd unit director on AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR [2004]), and casual viewers will enjoy the strong performances, tightly-wound plotline and extended scenes of peril. Some of the Tyneside accents are a little wayward, and McGann's romantic pursuit of an impossibly hard-bitten Lynch often borders on absurdity, but these are minor drawbacks in an otherwise fair production.
Downtime...definatly worth a look! June 10, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This story strikes many parallels with the very famous Die Hard, but is more believable. The story is simple but is partrayed well. The characters are very varied. The story starts with a single mother wanting to end it all, but in steps th ever wonderful Paul McGann and saves the day for the time beingat least..it is a nail biting story line, I had little in the way of nails left, I had to scream at the tv a few times in sheer despartion at least twice!! If you are Paul McGann fan you need to see this film...even if you aren't and like a good "edge of seat" kind of film see it anyway, it deserves more praise than it got in my opinion!
 A UK movie that twists into a real shocker... October 1, 2001
YIKES!!! Superb movie.
"Downtime" starts out like any other low budget UK movie, very good but seems quite predictable. THEN wait for the lift scenes.
I screamed out loud and woke up my housemate. Hang on to your setee, DOWNTIME makes Die Hard look like a stroll through Hyde Park on an Autumn Sunday afternoon. Superb....
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