Professor J.T. Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) and his daughter have never fully recovered from the loss of their wife/mother, but try to live a simple life of solitude in suburban Seattle. After 10 years, J.T. is finally seeing a women, who he really likes, and things seem to be going good for the family, until a mysterious briefcase shows up. J.T. opens the case only to find an old police report, dated five days in the future. The file is an unsolved murder case in which the victim is Professor J.T. Neumeyer.5ive Days To Midnight was a very unique and entertaining story, but for some reason, it was given to the SyFy channel and turned into a four part mini-series, rather than a movie. It's problematic, because to fill the extra time, they have to come up with a lot of side stories that never fully resolve themselves. Sometimes with Science Fiction, things are never resolved, because they simply can't be explained and I'm okay with that, but simple things that can be resolved should be, otherwise the story leaves more questions than it answers. That is the case with 5ive Days To Midnight, it's really well written and has an outstanding cast, but being that it's four hours long, there wasn't any reason to leave parts of the story unfinished. The conclusion was therefore the best and worst part of the whole thing. The ending was fast paced and exciting, real edge of your seat type stuff, but as soon as it was over, there was a small two minute conversation, and then that was it. With all the time the writers spent on the back story and the introduction to the characters, to just leave us with a story that basically just abruptly ends, was defiantly disappointing to me.What doesn't disappoint is the other three hours and forty-five minutes of this mini-series. I find that with mini-series, a lot of times the description and preview are actually better than anything else, but that's not the case here. This is a well written mystery, with some great action sequences, mixed with Science Fiction, and there is even a mob element to the whole thing. Timothy Hutton stars as the professor and gives the performance of a life time. How does one investigate their own murder and protect their ten year old daughter at the same time? His character was in a unique situation that really came off well. The whole package is outstanding, which is why the disappointing ending really bothers me more than it probably should.

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

I loved this show. I never knew it existed until my friend brought it home from the video store. We just finished it and I had to share what I thought. THIS DOES INCLUDE SPOILERS!!First of all, yes, the slow motion scenes sucked. Who needs to see a tree that many times and I didn't get why we had to watch the leaf blow into the door window at 'Mandy's' house.Second, I loved the ending. Sure, it didn't explain how the folder changed to 'J.T.' living, but if you can't figure it out that he changed his future, so the file changed, get a clue.Third, during the whole movie, I was thinking..Did he do it? Did she do it? Wait, maybe he did it. I love movies like that.Fourth, Did anyone notice the dog before the movie explained it? It was the dog he almost hit, that belonged to Mandy. Coincidence? Of course not.Fifth, Jesse from the future sent the file. That would make sense. She knew they would be there, and knew her father would figure it out.I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes mystery until the end. Just fast forward through the slow motion shots, lol.If I had to choose one thing I really didn't like, it would be that the DVD didn't explain things about the movie, like the dog. Or the many clocks.Feel free to e-mail me if you wish. I love a good debate.