Out of Time

This is yet another cops and robbers whodunit movie. The movie features solid performances by Denzel Washington (as Matt Lee Whitlock) and Eva Menedes (as Alex Diaz Whitlock) playing the separated couple each working their own angle on the crime that occurs. With excellent supporting work by John Billingsley (as Chae, the medical examiner), Dean Cain (as Chris Harrison), and Sanaa Lathan (as Ann Merai Harrison) this movie keeps you guessing until the end.

There are some interesting plot twists at the end of the movie which you may or may not figure out by the end. I think the climax of the movie could have been a little more fluid, but it works and I think its satisfying to the viewers. I found this movie to be above average compared to much of the standard fare that has been offered in 2003, especially, because I didn't look at my watch once during the entire film.

I was expecting some cheesy half-baked effort on all parts, but then again, the film itself took on some twists of its own. Sure, a couple of the twists could be seen a mile away, but it was the way the scenes were cleanly executed to the point where you had to wonder "How is he getting out of this?" While some of the reviews are over the top, this is certainly one of those popcorn movies that I wouldn't mind spending a little dough on. Watch for Denzel and Eva Mendes, enjoy for the tension and the great musical score.

Matt Lee Whitlock is the chief of police in a town in Florida. He has an ex-wife on the job and a girlfriend dieing of cancer. When Ann tells him that her husband has changed the details of her life insurance policy, Matt agrees to be named the new beneficiary in order to keep any payout safe. Meanwhile, under pressure to help her treatment, Matt takes drug money from the police safe however, when Ann and her husband are both killed in an arson attack on their home a murder investigation is launched – with Matt's ex-wife Alex heading it up. Initially quick to cover all links between him and Ann, Matt soon finds that all the clues are starting to point to him and realises that he is being framed.

Despite a solid (and sexy) cast, this looked too much like an average crime thriller to bother me to go to the cinema. However on DVD I decided to give it a go over the weekend as it seemed more suited to the small screen. Indeed the plot is no great shakes and is essentially a series of little set pieces on the way to a twist that was so apparent that the film doesn't even really deliver it with any great effort. However this is not to say it is no good, but just that it is nothing particularly special. The direction is good and it really helps the film keep a good sense of pace in the way the camera spins around in even the office environment but really it is the cast that make this stand out from the many other crime thrillers that never make it to the cinema.

Washington may well be slumming it here (he criticised it because he said all he did was run) but he holds the attention really well. His character doesn't really act like he should do and sometimes he is just plain wrong but Washington is suitably frantic and sweaty like a man hemmed in on all sides. Mendes is enjoyable even if she has no real character to speak of either, while Lathan rounds out the sex appeal with an OK performance but hardly the femme fatale that she should have been. Cain does better than he usually does and credit to him that he does manage to hold his own with Washington. Generally none of the lead three really act at the level that they can but their presence makes it more interesting.

Overall, my (and most viewers) assumptions were mostly right – it is an enjoyable little thriller but not one that is really worth hunting down. The big name cast are sexy and do reasonably well with the little they are given and director Franklin injects more pace that it probably deserved and the end result is a solid enough little film but not one that really does anything special.

While staying in a motel in Bandon, Oregon (on the southern coast) over the past weekend, I noticed that the room had a number of DVDs, including "Out of Time". I decided to kill some time watching it, not expecting very much. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

I should identify that the movie has nothing to do with the Rolling Stones' song. Denzel Washington plays Matt Whitlock, a cop in a small Florida town. He's been having an affair with a certain Ann (Sanaa Lathan). Since she's dying of cancer, she's made him the beneficiary of her will. But when she and her husband die in a fire, all evidence points to Matt (you'll understand what I mean if you see the movie). So arises the quandary of how he's going to solve the case and clear his name before it's too late, especially given that his ex-wife Alex (Eva Mendes) is absolutely intent on solving the case.

The movie's real strength lies in the twists and turns that they throw in from time to time. I think that probably the coolest scene is the whole sequence in the police station about halfway through the movie; I would have never imagined any movie having a whole sequence like that! But I actually considered Matt's friend Chae (John Billingsley) to be the best character in the movie; I mean, some of those monologues were so great.

All in all, it's not any kind of masterpiece. But it's better than your average man-on-the-run-has-to-clear-himself story. And if I may say so, Eva Mendes looked mighty fine in some of those outfits!

Out of Time is directed by Carl Franklin and written by David Collard. It stars Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, Sanaa Lathan, Dean Cain and John Billingsley. Music is by Graeme Revell and cinematography by Theo Van de Sande.

Matthias Whitlock (Washington) is chief of police in little Banyan Key, Florida. Respected for his work and basically honest in the line of duty. Away from work, however, his marriage to Alex (Mendes) has failed, he's having an affair with an abused wife and he likes a little drink on duty. So when his lover Anne Harrison (Lathan) springs on him the shocking news that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, it naturally shakes his world. But this news is merely the start of something bigger, for pretty soon Matt will be in the unusual situation of having to stay one step of his own kind or face dire consequences.

It's a film proudly wearing a badge of homage to film noir of the 40s. In fact it very much plays out as a contemporary riff on John Farrow's excellent Ray Milland starrer of 1948, The Big Clock. But that's fine, especially when you have some knowing craft in front and behind the camera in the shape of Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) and Washington (take your pick here really!). Yet as great as Franklin and Washington's work is, they all owe a debt to Collard's screenplay. Inventive in how it plays out as a plot, with it's many tight situations laid down for Washington's duped law enforcer to try and get out of, the screenplay has a knack for deft humour, often sly, which is something that even some of the hardest of noirs from the golden era are tinted with. The secret is being able to blend the humour with quality moments of suspense, and this picture manages to do that with some interest.

Film also benefits greatly from the tight atmosphere created by photographer de Sande. Sweaty Florida in daylight doesn't cry out as being a good starting point for an offshoot of film noir (real Florida locations were thankfully used), but the scenic beauty is never realised during the drama sequences, colours are toned down, even for a stunning red sky, and this perfectly becomes at one with a near frantic Washington as the tricksters of Banyan Key start to close in on him. It's nice too see, also, interracial couples forming the core of the story, while the dominance of sexuality is firmly given a shrewd work over by director and writer. There's good thought gone in to making this, enough to steer it away from charges of just being a faux neo-noir production.

Problems? Yes, a few. Inevitability of outcome is hard to shake off whilst viewing it, especially for those well versed in the genre (sub-genre). Clichés and contrivances are stacked up like a pile of cop thriller 101 books, and Franklin goes smug (daft) by dropping in a couple of slow frame sequences that the film clearly didn't need. While the big showdown in the finale lacks a gut punch. But this is a good viewing, sexy at times and always eye catching, it also pleasingly chooses perky dialogue over action to make its dramatic point. The cast around Washington enhance the quality: Lathan in the tricky role shows a number of layered gears, Cain is imposing as a bully boy husband (where did this Cain go?) and Billingsley almost sneaks in and steals the movie as the loyal and stoic comedy side-kick.

So pesky flaws aside, this is a good recommendation as a night in movie for those with a kink for contemporary neo-noir. 7/10