Out of Time Review:

Out of Time takes Alfred Hitchcock’s motif of the wrongfully accused man and puts a spin on it. The character of Matt Whitlock is not totally innocent with his actions in this film.

Matt Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is the chief of police in the small town of Banyan Key, Florida that is about an hour from Miami. Going through a rocky divorce with his detective ex-wife Alex (Eva Mendes), Whitlock begins having a heated affair with his old high school flame Ann (Sanaa Lathan). She is married to Chris Harrison (Dean Cain), who is an ex-football player that violently abuses her.

After Ann tells Matt that she is dying of cancer, with about six months left, he gives her $485,000 in seized drug money to pay for her special treatments. Shortly afterwards, Ann and Chris’ home is burnt to the ground with the two of them in it, and all clues point towards Matt as the responsible suspect.

His ex-wife takes on the case, and the thrills begin as Matt quickly tries to stay ahead of his wife, the police, and to figure out what really happened. To make matters worse, the DEA is also on their way to claim the drug money that he gave to Ann.

Director Carl Franklin captures the bright and hot atmosphere of the Florida area brilliantly in this film. There is tension throughout, which keeps the film watchable, but Out of Time is about as predictable as they come. Though it is at times fun to watch Washington out duel the rest of his own force, his every move is nothing surprising. Neither are the twists and turns, which barely shell out in the stale subplots and under developed characters.

As usual, you can not take your eyes off of Denzel Washington in this film, without his craft this film would have really sunk. However, the chemistry between he and Eva Mendes as his wife is lame, and Mendes is really never convincing at all as Alex. Sanaa Lathan is solid and former Superman Dean Cain takes a different turn as an abusive husband.

Though Matt Whitlock is a wrongfully accused character, he is not totally innocent, and the performance of Washington makes you identify more with him than what the script calls for.

Picture & Audio

The visuals of this film are full of bright color choices that are nice to look out on this clearly transferred DVD. The little details, such as sweat, are also transferred without any smudges.

The sound of the disc is presented in Dolby 5.1 for the audio in English, but the other two languages are just in stereo surround. Out of Time has a good soundtrack full of jazz themes that sounds terrifically blended with all of the thrills and action of the film. The hotel scene where Washington is hanging off the balcony is the one action moment that stands out sound wise in the film, with his hard breathing and little pieces of shattered glass being heard throughout the scene.

Extras

Audio Commentary
• Director Carl Franklin

“Out of Time: Crime Scene”
A usual behind the scenes or making of the film feature that contains many interviews with the cast and crew. Franklin talks the most about all the actors and the setting of the film. He felt that the weather and environment of the film were a whole other character. The actors continue on about the Florida heat, in which Eva Mendes states that she really loves the hot heat. Just like with an another feature on the disc, Washington, Lathan, Cain, Mendes all give more detail and understanding to their characters. Mendes conveys more of her motives and why her and Washington are getting a divorce. There are also many on location segments that look into actual production as well.

Profiles
This feature contains interviews with Carl Franklin and writer Dave Collard about each of the film’s characters. More so than with the previous feature, these interviews give more insight to the characters and their actions. Each profile is not that long, but offers more depth to the film’s chess pieces. Profiles include Matt Lee Whitlock, Alex Diaz Whitlock, Ann Meral Harrison, Chris Harrison, and Chae.

Outtakes
Two short outtakes, one calling for laughs when prop gun does not go off. The other takes place in a scene when Cain’s character becomes violent with his wife, but the two cut up due to things not working as planned.

Screen Tests
Screen tests by Dean Cain and Sanaa Lathan, with Lathan having three scenes and Cain two. Lathan trembles through one scene that is extended from the film between her and Washington’s characters about the cancer.

Image Gallery
Just various production stills from the film in a slide show.

Trailers
There is actually a trailer for MGM’s other recent DVD release Jeepers Creepers 2 before the main menu arises. In addition to the theatrical trailer for Out of Time, MGM also has trailers for Antitrust, Barbershop, Dark Blue, Die Another Day, and Barbershop 2 on the disc.

Overall

Out of Time is at times lame, but at key moments the film somewhat works. Denzel Washington and the vast color choices of director Carl Franklin stand above all else in this film. It is kind of disappointing that the interviews in the features from the cast and crew make the actions and characters of the film more interesting. The features overall like the film are a little better than mediocre. There is only one commentary from Franklin, and no deleted scenes, which perhaps could have summed up some of the film's holes. MGM also packs the disc full of trailers of their other recently released DVDs.

The Film: C
Video Quality: A-
Audio Quality : B+
Extra Features: C

DVD as a whole: C

Joseph C. Tucker

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