Out of Time

In my opinion, this film is a marvel, the plot twists every scene, and it leaves you on the edge of your seat every second. I'll admit, the start might be a little slow, but it is easily made up for by the rest of the film.


It's Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk!   October 7, 2003
MICHAEL ACUNA (Southern California United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Director Carl Franklin's heroes (or heroines, as in Ashley Judd in "High Crimes") are caught up in situations beyond their control. They are good guys involved in bad, bad stuff: they do things that normal good guys wouldn't do but through circumstances, sometimes within their control, they commit crimes.
Denzel Washington is the ultimate Franklin hero: good looking, sexually charged and forthright, capable through his own personal charisma, to illicit confidence in an audience: we like him, we trust him, we know he will figure it out and do the right thing. Washington plays a small Florida town police chief, Matt Whitlock a man with a soon-to-be ex wife, Alex (Eva Mendes) and a girlfriend (Sanaa Lathan) who is married to ex-football jock, Chris Harrison (Dean Cain). From the outset of "Out of Time" you know, because of this quartet of characters and their intimate relationships that there is going to be trouble. And there is, of course...lots of it.
Washington and Lathan are dynamite together: the sparks fly when they are on screen together but Washington and Mendes doesn't really work. Mendes' reading of her lines is flat and without irony and because she has lots to do here, as opposed to being merely window dressing in "Fast and Furious 2," the tension lags when she is around. Dean Cain on the other hand, working against type here, is first rate: his patented good looks have been beat up a little what with his goatee and unkempt hair. Nonetheless, his scenes with Washington sizzle with brute strength and machismo and even when he tries to pull off some charm by smiling that heartbreaking smile of his, it doesn't work as befits his smarmy character.
"Out of Time" is quite beautiful to look at: with the deep blues, yellows and reds of the Florida landscape jumping off the screen and the humidity, suffocating in its omnipresence, drawing us in and making us sweat.


Out of Time - A fairly good suspense/thriller film!   January 21, 2004
K. Wyatt (St. Louis, MO United States)
20 out of 27 found this review helpful

"Out of Time" is a great movie and truthfully, it is a very rare case that Denzel Washington picks a bad script. The only reason I took one star off of this movie is the predictability of the overall plot. Despite that predictability, "Out of Time" is a movie that is well worth your time for the intensity of the suspense factor alone; is he guilty, will he be found out; which way is this going to go, are just some of the things that goes through your mind when watching this wonderful film that is well worth taking the time to watch and enjoy!

Denzel Washington performs brilliantly in this film, as he does with every film he shows up in. This is probably the first film I've watched that had Dean Cain in it and for the role he's in, he does a very good job. I believe the only other film that I've seen Eva Mendes in is "Training Day," another exceptional Denzel Washington film, and her performance was dead on the mark for the role in which she plays. Another newcomer, Sanaa Lathan, an actress whose work I've never seen before, proves with this movie that she's one to look out for in future films. For "Star Trek Enterprise" fans, John Billingsley shows up in this film and performs quite well, in a role that seems extremely befitting for his personality.

This is the first film that I've watched with Carl Franklin as the director and I would definitely have to say that I was impressed with the film, despite the predictability factor and any future work by this director should be looked forward to. The score works perfectly for the film, greatly enhancing the dramatic feel of this thriller.

The Premise:

Welcome to small town America, Banyan Key, Florida where Police Chief Matt Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) finds himself in a sordid relationship with Ann Harrison (Sanaa Lathan), who just happens to be "married" to Chris Harrison (Dean Cain). The intensity of the film heats up pretty soon as there is what "appears" to be a murder and the most likely murderer seems to be the chief of police himself...

What follows from there is a film that is somewhat predictable but still quite intense and enjoyable as you follow Denzel Washington's character going through the motions caused by the situation he's found himself in.

I would definitely recommend this film to any and all who are fans of fairly well scripted, suspenseful thrillers and for the fact that one of Hollywood's best actors in Denzel Washington is in the lead role. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

-Audio Commentary by Director Carl Franklin
-"Out of Time: Crime Scene" Featurette
-Character Profiles
-Outtakes
-Screen Tests: Sanaa Lathan & Dean Cain
-Photo Gallery
_Original Theatrical Trailer


Not worthy of Denzel's presence   October 13, 2003
Samuel McKewon (Lincoln, NE)
20 out of 27 found this review helpful

"Out of Time" is a nice little exercise of the crackerjack plot, an entirely forgettable wrong-guy-accused yarn fit for its day in court some HBO Saturday night. But what is it doing as a big budget thriller? And what is Denzel Washington doing within 100 yards of it?

Not that Washington, now with two Oscars, hasn't slummed before - "Fallen" and "John Q" come to mind - but Dave Collard's script is too thin and Carl Franklin's direction too hurried for the movie to be anything more than a passing thought. And the casting is something else: Washington is forced to play love interest to Sanaa Lathan and Eva Mendes, women 17 and 20 years his junior. Washington has impressive range, but who knew the Ralph Macchio role was part of it?

The plot in a quickie: Washington is Matt Whitlock, a newly separated, small-town Florida cop in an affair with his high school sweetheart Anne Marei (Lathan) whose abusive husband (Dean Cain) is a former quarterback out of cash. During one afternoon tryst, Anne Marei takes Matt to the doctor with her, where he learns she has terminal cancer. After some stomach churning, Matt steals a half-million in confiscated drug money to help her pay for the alternative treatment in Switzerland.

The night she's to pick it up, she doesn't show. The next morning her house has burned down. And Matt's slated as beneficiary to her life insurance policy. Another complication: Matt's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Alex (Mendes), is the lead homicide detective on the case.

"Out of Time" then shifts into a game of Matt eliminating clues that point to his guilt, tracking the source of the setup - a shiny nickel if you can guess that one - and taking an afternoon siesta to reminisce with Alex. Franklin zips through the material in an attempt to gloss over a criminal plan that not only doesn't hold up but never made sense in the first place.

In what is essentially an asexual role, Washington generates no heat with Mendes or Lathan. Mendes is naturally likable and good-looking in a Jennifer Lopez kind of way, but Alex and Matt's marriage is built on moviesphere, nothing more.

Beyond that, when it is ever good to take the smartest guy in the picture and figure him for a mark? If that actor is, say, Nicolas Cage, who can play loose and goose, that one's thing. But Washington sweats smarts, and while "Out of Time" shows Matt as light on his feet, it first must establish him as a dope - and a heel.