# 5ive Days to Midnight (2004)

> A physicist learns from a briefcase of postdated evidence that he will die in five days and must unravel the conspiracy behind it.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/14670

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: science fiction, mystery, drama
- Network: Syfy
- Cast: Timothy Hutton, Kari Matchett, Gage Golightly, Randy Quaid, Hamish Linklater, Angus Macfadyen, Nicole De Boer, David McIlwraith
- TMDB rating: 6.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386907/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, paranoid, contemplative, brooding

## What critics say

Audience response to this 2004 miniseries is mixed, with viewers finding its time-loop premise engaging but its execution uneven.

## Synopsis

5ive Days to Midnight (2004) is an American science fiction mystery miniseries created for Syfy, a one-season limited series of five episodes. Timothy Hutton plays physicist J.T. Neumeyer, who discovers a briefcase of postdated documents and evidence indicating he will die five days in the future. Kari Matchett plays Claudia Whitney, a figure drawn into his search, while Randy Quaid, Giancarlo Esposito and Hamish Linklater fill out the supporting cast as the people whose motives and connections he must untangle. The engine of the story is simple and urgent: Neumeyer wants to understand who set the deadline and why, and every episode consumes another day of a fixed clock while suspicion spreads among the people around him. Each installment is built from clue hunting, tense confrontations and attempts to alter events that the evidence insists are already set. Its shape is tight and self contained, a single continuing thread rather than a case of the week. Set in present day America, the series has a grounded, brooking atmosphere of paranoia and dread. Its tone is tense and contemplative, and its themes of fate versus free will and personal responsibility will appeal to viewers who enjoyed the countdown thrillers of 24 and the speculative puzzles of Fringe. Fans of time pressure mysteries will find its compact format rewarding.

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