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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Out of Time (2003/I)
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| Author |
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| Robin Clifford |
 Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:36 pm |
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"Out of Time"
Mathias Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is the chief
of police of Banyan Key, FL, a sleepy little hamlet
where the local excitement, recently, was a big time
drug bust that included a cool $485000 in cash, now
secured in the safe at the chief's station. When Matt
learns that his girlfriend, a married woman, has an
all but incurable cancer, he decides that the drug
money can go to better use to get her the only
treatment that can possibly save her life. But, his
kind action opens a can of worms that the chief must
control, or else, before he runs "Out of Time."
Matt thinks that, what with the way the wheels of
justice turn so slowly, he can "borrow" the 485 grand
and not have to worry about it for quite a while. At
least, that's the plan. Then, two things happen: Ann,
who has survived an abusive marriage with her husband
Chris (Dean Cain), disappears with the cash; and,
Agent Stark (Terry Laughlin) of the DEA informs Chief
Whitlock that the government is ready to take the drug
loot to prosecute an even bigger case. To complicate
matters, Mathias, out of uniform, stops by Ann's
now-deserted house that night and is seen by a curious
neighbor. He then learns, the next morning, the house
went up in flames - leaving the charred corpses of two
people. Suddenly, the top policeman in town is a
suspect to murder and Mat has to do some fast thinking
really quick if he wants to keep from losing
everything, especially his freedom.
Chief Whitlock has yet another problem when he learns
that his former wife and colleague, Alex Diaz Whitlock
(Eva Mendez), is now a homicide detective assigned to
head the case of the double murders. He not only has
to find Ann and the money before the Feds find out the
truth and arrest him for stealing evidence, he has to
stay ahead of the murder investigation led by the one
person who knows him best. It's a cat-and-mouse game
that could end with Mat doing a whole lot of time in
prison.
Helmer Carl Franklin has worked with Denzel Washington
before ("Devil in the Blue Dress") and directs his
star in a thriller that is mostly entertaining despite
numerous holes in the busy plot by scripter Dave
Collard. Things start out with the chief getting
called out, late one night, to investigate a break in
at the home of Ann Harrison (Sanaa Lathan), a very
pretty and sexy young housewife. As she describes the
crime and the perpetrator, you realize that there is
more going on here (wink, wink) than a crime scene and
their relationship is much more personal than
professional. It's a cliched opening but the players
are attractive and it is nicely shot (as is the whole
film) by Theo Van de Sande.
As the plot thickens, a bit obviously but the energy
and variety of the twists and turns help to temper
this, things rev up as circumstances start to get out
of the chief's control. He has to juggle his own,
secret investigation of where the heck the money and
Ann are. He has to keep the arrogant and impatient
Agent Stark and the Feds at bay. And, he has to hold
off being implicated in murder by his earnest,
resourceful detective wife. Franklin keeps this all
very fast paced and intricately woven despite a stitch
being dropped here and there.
The numerous story inconsistencies but are mostly the
nit-picky kind, like how Alex, who we learn just got
the job of detective, is suddenly the head of a
big-deal murder investigation in charge of some
unknown number of her "boys," as she calls them. Also,
Mat and Ann are seen carrying on a pretty public
affair even though her husband, Chris, is a violent
loose cannon with a rep for abusing his wife for the
tiniest infraction.
There is a warm sultriness to the production that
befits the Florida Keys locale. Van de Sande's camera
catches the humid warmth of the town on Banyan Key
using the softness of the sunshine to give the film an
almost sepia tone at times. Night shoots have a crisp
clarity that keeps everything sharply in focus.
Denzel Washington does a solid job as a man who is a
victim of circumstance, even though he lit the fuse of
the explosives that threatens to engulf him. The actor
does a good intelligent everyman caught in a web of
his own making who must call upon all of his resources
to make things right. Sanaa Lathan, who made such a
splash in her debut film, "Love and Basketball," has
matured into a striking looking young lady and lends
the right vulnerability to her character, Ann. Eva
Mendez isn't quite believable as the gung ho homicide
detective - she seems like she is reading her lines
when she barks out orders to her "boys" - but is
definitely an asset with her good looks and gorgeous
figure. Dean Cain gives his Chris the right note of
sinister sleaziness. Stealing the show is John
Billingsley as Chae, the Banyan Key coroner and loyal
friend to Mathias. The actor is used as the comic
relief for what could have been an extremely dour film
noire and Billingsley is a riot in the role of the
scheming, chain-smoking buddy.
"Out of Time," with a more experience scripter to fix
the implausible bits and pieces and plug up the plot
holes, could have been a top-notch thriller. Still, it
is a well-made, well-acted and entertaining suspense
story that works more often than not. I give it a B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com
laura@reelingreviews.com
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X-RAMR-ID: 36010
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1206821
X-RT-TitleID: 1126096
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: B- |
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