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An MGM release. Written by Dave Collard; directed by Carl Franklin; starring Denzel Washington and Eva Mendes. Released to DVD on January 6, 2004.  Director Carl Franklin's Out of Time is a film noir, like the proverbial younger brother, that desperately wants the respect and admiration of its genre mates and creators. Stealing the plot structure and character set-ups from the pulpiest Jim Thompson novella, utilizing a striking star in Denzel Washington and making the most of cinematographer Theo van de Sande's gorgeous presentations of the hottest and sweatiest days in the Florida Keys, Out of Time lives up to its billing as a dark thriller on paper. As the film progresses however, Franklin's ever-so-carefully manicured proceedings began to lose their luster as bouts of poor acting, unbelievable decision making and laughably bad screenwriting came to a head. Washington stars in Out of Time as Matt Whitlock, the chief of police for Banyan Key. Separated from his wife and fellow officer of the law, Alex (Eva Mendes), Whitlock is carrying on a steamy and passionate affair with Anne Harrison (Sanaa Lathan). When Whitlock learns that Harrison has (nearly) uncureable cancer and would need a sizable amount of money to try an extremely experimental procedure, he reaches into the Banyan Key vault and loans Harrison nearly half a million dollars in cash that he recently seized in a drug bust. When Harrison and her husband turn up dead and the money has vanished, Whitlock quickly becomes the main suspect.  The idea of having the detective investigating the crime be the same person who committed the crime is interesting and an intriguing spin on the normally familiar noir plot lines. Making that story working on screen for two hours is an entirely different proposition though, especially with rookie writer Dave Collard's awful pacing; Out of Time takes nearly 45 minutes to introduce the audience to the characters and situations at hand. However, as bad as the pacing in Out of Time is, it doesn't begin to compare to the unbelievable on-screen action. Whitlock spends much of his time trying to mislead the other detectives on his case. He snatches faxes before they can get to them, he plays dumb and, when push comes to shove, lies about his involvement through a jovial smile. The trouble though is Whitlock never has to do these things. Honesty would work. And given that the main detective he is stonewalling is his estranged wife, I began to wonder why Whitlock wouldn't level with her and gain an ally; Alex declares her love for Whitlock any number of times throughout the film anyway. Washington gives a solid performance in a movie that doesn't deserve the half of it. Very heavy on style and supremely short on (believable) substance, Out of Time is a project that just doesn't hold up under any amount of scrutiny. It's to Franklin's credit that he was able to disguise this mess so very well for as long as he did. | |||||
