Out of Time (2003)

★ 6.4 1h 45m 1,285 votes IMDb
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Matt Lee Whitlock, respected chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida, must solve a vicious double homicide before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.

Out of Time

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Cast

Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington as Matt Lee Whitlock Age 71 · Mount Vernon, New York, USA Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of...
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes as Alex Diaz Whitlock Age 52 · Miami, Florida, USA Eva de la Caridad Méndez (born March 5, 1974), known professionally as Eva Mendes, is an American retired actress. Her acting career began in the late 1990s with a series of roles in films such as Chi...
Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa Lathan as Ann Merai Harrison Age 54 · New York City, New York, USA Sanaa McCoy Lathan (/səˈnɑ/ born September 19, 1971) is an American stage, film, television, and voice actress. She is the daughter of actress Eleanor McCoy and film director Stan Lathan. She earned b...
John Billingsley
John Billingsley as Chae Age 65 · Media, Pennsylvania, USA John Billingsley (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, known for his role as Doctor Phlox on the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. John Billingsley was born in Media, Pennsylvania, and sub...
Dean Cain
Dean Cain as Chris Harrison Age 59 · Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA Dean Cain (born Dean George Tanaka; July 31, 1966) is an American actor. His mother, actress Sharon Thomas, married his adoptive father, director Christopher Cain; when Dean was three. Though he grew...
Alex Carter
Alex Carter as Cabot Age 61 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada Alex Carter (born Alex Apostolopoulos, November 12, 1964) is a Canadian actor best known for his role as LVPD Homicide Detective Lou Vartann on CSI. His television roles have included starring roles...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 7/10 Apr 20, 2014
Would you have given it to me if I slept with you?

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

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