“Out Of Time” (MGM)
Just as in his Oscar winning role in “Training Day,” in his new film “Out Of Time” Denzel Washington plays a man on the right side of the law who does some wrong things. The locale of the plot is the hot Florida Keys and Denzel and his cast heat up the screen.
In Banyan Key, Florida, Police Chief Matt Whitlock (Washington) is the law. But Matt is not a straight and narrow kind of guy. He has an ex-wife (Eva Mendes) who is also a cop, and a married woman named Ann Merai (Sanaa Lathan) with whom he is having a torrid affair. Ann Merai’s husband Chris (Dean Cain) acts like he is on to them.
Because of his involvement with Ann Merai, Matt steals some drug money his office had been holding. He also gets involved in a double homicide and ends up a possible suspect there. To add to his troubles his ex-wife is investigating the murder cases. What he has to do is solve the case himself before his wife realizes his involvement, and somehow get the drug money back too. That’s a lot to get done and he is running “out of time.”
Washington is good at playing dumb in this movie, so good that he makes you not like the Chief very much at all. And if you aren’t rooting for him, then you aren’t going to be rooting for the movie.
Lathan is sultry and suspicious as the woman the Chief is playing around with. Cain has some good moments as the bad guy in this movie, while Mendes just looks beautiful and that is all. You never for one moment buy her as a homicide investigator.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
The plot has too many holes that can’t be overlooked. Director Carl Franklin seems to think if he keeps the plot moving fast enough then the audience won’t notice the inconsistencies in the story. It doesn’t work that way. Even if the audience doesn’t notice them while the film is going on, they think about them after they leave the theater.
Denzel Washington is worth seeing in any movie, but “Out of Time” isn’t one of his best. It is a so so movie that entertains but doesn’t satisfy.
I scored “Out Of Time” a tardy 5 out of 10.
