The star billing along for Nick of Time earns major points: Johnny Depp (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), Christopher Walken (creepy guy extraordinaire) and Charles S. Dutton (from “Roc,” the only decent Fox TV show in a long time) make for a fabulous cast that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The plot leaps every boundary of filmmaking known to adventure storywriters: Gene Watson (Depp, with cropped hair and wire glasses) and his daughter Lynn (played by the adorable Courtney Chase) are accosted by two people posing as cops right outside L.A.’s Union Station (Walken and Roma Maffia).

It turns out that these are no men in blue: they hand Watson a gun and tell him to shoot the governor by 1:30 p.m., or his daughter is a goner. That’s a little over an hour to find the head of California and shoot her. What’s a guy to do?

Amazingly, the movie follows the actual time allotted Watson pretty accurately, give or take a few minutes. This makes for some intense scenes, and I am embarrassed to say that I gnawed on my fingernails throughout the whole thing.

Walken is the ideal ruthless villain; he threatens and kills without a second thought. And Depp is great: for those who think he’s nothing more than a pretty face (and Gilbert Grape didn’t change your mind), you’ll be interested to know that he looks his most lackluster in this movie: sweaty, worried and rumpled, just like a father should look when his daughter’s life is in danger. Woo hoo!

Dutton doesn’t disappoint with his performance as Huey, a shoe-shiner who ends up helping Watson in his battle for his daughter. He’s so down-to-earth and real that you just wanna sit down for coffee with the guy.

Watch for an absolutely breathtaking stunt where Depp plunges a couple hundred feet into a fountain. You’ll also notice that clocks are every goddam place in this movie — you might think it’s kind of appropriate at first, but it gets to be a little too much. But such a slight flaw is easy to overlook. *** 1/2

North Grand Mall Theatres, 7:10 & 9:10