Entertainment
25+ Great Movies That Have A Ticking Clock
Tick, tock, tick, tock – just the sound of a ticking clock generates anxiety, but when lives are on the line, it creates great entertainment. The top race against the clock movies put characters' lives on the line with the added pressure of meeting a life-or-death deadline. This is a list of countdown movies featuring everything from Labyrinth to Apollo 13 to Back to the Future.
What movies will you find on this list of the best ticking clock films? If you're a fan of action flicks, you might vote Terminator 2: Judgment Day has to the top. In this captivating sequel, the past, present and future converge as the T-800 Terminator protects John Connor from a future enemy. The Running Man – which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger – is another good race against the clock movie. Keanu Reeves faced a ticking clock and a racing bus in the 1994 film Speed. Other good movies featured on this top countdown films list include The Ring, Run Lola Run, and The Manchurian Candidate.
Which countdown movie deserves the top spot on this list? Help us decide by giving your favorites a thumbs up and add any great titles that are missing.
Ranked by
- 1Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover
- Released: 1985
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
In this 1980s sci-fi classic, small-town California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is thrown back into the '50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) ...more - 2Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Jan de Bont
Los Angeles police officer Jack (Keanu Reeves) angers retired bomb squad member Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) by foiling his attempt at taking hostages. In revenge, Payne arms a bus with a bomb that ...more - 3Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Ron Howard
This Hollywood drama is based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission, astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) find everything going according ...more - 4Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: James Cameron
In this sequel set eleven years after "The Terminator," young John Connor (Edward Furlong), the key to civilization's victory over a future robot uprising, is the target of the shape-shifting T-1000 ...more - 5Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
A dangerous airborne virus threatens civilization in this tense thriller. After an African monkey carrying a lethal virus is smuggled into the U.S., an outbreak occurs in a California town. To ...more - 6Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig
- Released: 2015
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
When astronauts blast off from the planet Mars, they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager amount of supplies, the stranded visitor must ...more - 7Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Stephen Herek
Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are high school buddies starting a band. However, they are about to fail their history class, which means Ted would be sent to military school. They receive ...more - 8Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Pierre Morel
Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). Then his worst fears become real when sex slavers abduct Kim and her friend ...more - 9Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Ally Sheedy
- Released: 1983
- Directed by: John Badham
High school student David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) unwittingly hacks into a military supercomputer while searching for new video games. After starting a game of Global Thermonuclear War, Lightman ...more - 10Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Peter Graves
- Released: 1980
- Directed by: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker
This spoof comedy takes shots at the slew of disaster movies that were released in the 70s. When the passengers and crew of a jet are incapacitated due to food poisoning, a rogue pilot with a ...more - 11Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: John Hughes
Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) has an uncanny skill at cutting classes and getting away with it. Intending to make one last duck-out before graduation, Ferris calls in sick, "borrows" a Ferrari, ...more - 12Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Roland Emmerich
After climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is largely ignored by U.N. officials when presenting his environmental concerns, his research proves true when an enormous "superstorm" develops, setting ...more - 13Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief with the rare ability to enter people's dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious. His skill has made him a hot commodity in the world of ...more - 14Kurt Russell, Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau
- Released: 1981
- Directed by: John Carpenter
In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union is concluding, and the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a giant maximum security prison. When Air Force One is ...more - 15Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Keenan Wynn
- Released: 1964
- Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
A film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button -- and it played the situation for laughs. U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely insane, and sends his bomber ...more - 16Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, James Remar
- Released: 1982
- Directed by: Walter Hill
Renegade cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) pulls bank robber Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) from a federal prison on a 48-hour leave to help him capture Hammond's old partner, Albert Ganz (James Remar). ...more - 17Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Paul Michael Glaser
In the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite television program is "The Running Man" -- a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been ...more - 18Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) third year at Hogwarts starts off badly when he learns deranged killer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban prison and is bent on murdering the ...more - 19Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton
- Released: 1950
- Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
With a wicked stepmother (Eleanor Audley) and two jealous stepsisters (Rhoda Williams, Lucille Bliss) who keep her enslaved and in rags, Cinderella (Ilene Woods) stands no chance of attending the ...more - 20Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White
- Released: 1991
- Directed by: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
An arrogant young prince (Robby Benson) and his castle's servants fall under the spell of a wicked enchantress, who turns him into the hideous Beast until he learns to love and be loved in return. ...more - 21Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Traveling back in time isn't simple, as James Cole (Bruce Willis) learns the hard way. Imprisoned in the 2030s, James is recruited for a mission that will send him back to the 1990s. Once there, he's ...more - 22George C. Scott, Susannah York, David Warner
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Clive Donner
A Christmas Carol is a 1984 television film adaptation of Charles Dickens' famous 1843 holiday novella of the same name. The film is directed by Clive Donner who had been an editor of the 1951 film ...more - 23David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: Jim Henson
Teenage Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) journeys through a maze to recover her baby brother (Toby Froud) from a goblin king (David Bowie). - 24Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Duncan Jones
Helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is part of a top-secret military operation that enables him to experience the last few minutes in the life of Sean Fentress, a man who died in a ...more - 25George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Sam Mendes
During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to ...more
