MOVIE - OUT OF TIME - Review Rating $$$$$ $ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING - Denzel Washington (Matt), Sanaa Lathan (Ann), Dean Cain (Chris), Eva Mendes (Det. Alexandra Cole), John Billingsley (Chae), Alex Carter (Dr. Cabbot) & Robert Baker (Tony Dalten).
DIRECTOR - Carl Franklin (One True Thing, One False Move, Devil in a Blue Dress, 1989's Nowhere to Run & High Crimes)
Let's get something straight right off the bat. Out Of Time, though another cop movie starring Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington, is about as diametrically opposite his last cop role, in the movie Training Day, as you can get. Training Day provided Washington the opportunity to demonstrate his mastery of the craft of acting while Out Of Time merely provides him with the opportunity to cash in on his prior, and well-deserved, success.
This murder mystery lacks the essential element of similar films, namely mystery. Out Of Time is not a "Who Done It?" or at least not one that you shouldn't be able to figure out almost immediately. The "fun" aspect of Out Of Time, if you can call it that, is watching Sheriff Matt (Washington) staying one step ahead of an investigation that is about to send him to Florida's electric chair.
The "fun" is limited by the maddeningly straight ahead progress of the "how you investigate a murder 101" investigation. There are only so many times that using the same plot device, Washington working up a sweat as a new clue is about to point to him, before it gets, well, boring.
There is one scene that best epitomizes the quality of the script. Matt and Chae (Billingsley) driving back from deep in the Everglades come across a road sign at a fork in the road. The sign, with no mileage indication on it, has an arrow pointing to Banyan Key and one pointing to Miami International Airport. That degree of blatant obviousness means the writing either isn't too sophisticated, doesn't trust the audience to realize there is an airport in Miami, or some combination of these two factors. Whatever it means it is indicative of the depth of the plot.
If you don't like surprises then Out Of Time is a well acted but very predictable murder mystery.
Running time - 114 minutes
Check out my TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2003 & WORST MOVIES OF 2003 lists.
Alternative Reviews:
Roger Ebert's Review
Peter Travers / Rolling Stone Review
Rotten Tomatoes Reviews
Out Of Time Official Web Site
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2005
David Schwartz.
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2/28/05; 1:47:54 AM.
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