Review of Out of Time (2003) by Ola G — 08 Jan 2017

Matthias "Matt" Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is the respected Chief of Police of the fictional small town of Banyan Key, Florida. He has recently executed a successful, high-profile drug bust that turned up $550,000 in drug money. Although he enjoys his job, his drinking while on duty is an obvious character flaw, exacerbated by his pending divorce from his wife, homicide detective Alex Diaz Whitlock (Eva Mendes). Matt is currently seeing local resident Anne Merai-Harrison (Sanaa Lathan) - whose husband Chris (Dean Cain), a former professional quarterback turned security guard, abuses her, finds out that Anne has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Anne intends to reward Matt's loyalty to her by making him the sole beneficiary of her $1,000,000 life insurance policy. Matt tries to find a way to give Anne some hope and suggests that she should travel to Switzerland to undergo a newly developed treatment. The problem is that Anne has been living beyond her means and does not have any money. Desperate to help her, Matt bends the rules and lends her the $550,000 so she can make the trip. When the $550,000 goes up in flames in a suspicious house fire that supposedly kills Anne and Chris, Matt finds himself in a great deal of trouble. Not only is the money now gone, but Matt knows that even though he is innocent, circumstantial evidence - such as the insurance policy and the fact that he had been seeing Anne - could make him the prime suspect...

"Out of Time" is an updated attempt to make something similar to the great "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner, but hardly reaches the heights of the latter film. There´s a sense of an homage to film noir in the storyline and vibe serving us an ok neo-noir thriller, and with all the intriguing side plots it keeps you on your toes during the running time. Washington and a stunning Mendes has sparks and both put on a pretty good performance, while Cain and the oh so lovely Lathan not really get that much to work with, but tries to do the best with what they got. The setting of Florida is nice and director Carl Franklin uses it in a convincing and visual way. The balance between being a sort of "intelligent" thriller and action drama is ok. There´s clichés for sure and the ending is not that of a major surprise (like in "No Way Out" when you saw it the first time). "Out of Time" is ok, nothing more nothing less.