Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22640 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Denzel Washington thriller Out of Time is quite enjoyable if you ignore its implausible plotting. Partly inspired by 1948's The Big Clock and its nominal 1987 remake No Way Out, this reunion of Washington and his Devil in a Blue Dress director Carl Franklin is about a man--in this case the police chief (Washington) of sleepy Banyan Key, Florida--who falls into a trap set by others, sinks into legal quicksand of his own making, and must race the clock to extricate himself from a series of incriminating setbacks. The Florida setting adds welcome character to the pot-boiler plot, and Washington's screen credibility makes it easy to overlook the absurdities of rookie writer David Collard's screenplay. Eva Mendes is sharp and sensible as Washington's estranged wife (do you think they'll reconcile for a happy ending?), and the talented John Billingsley--whose portrayal of Dr Phlox on TV's Enterprise is vastly underrated--is a constant delight as Washington's medical examiner, beer buddy and wily co-conspirator. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
Suppose everything you knew – everything you trusted – became a lie. For Matt Lee Whitlock, that nightmare has become a reality. Academy Award winner Denzel Washington plays Whitlock, chief of police in small Banyan Key, Florida. He’s respected by his peers and loved by his community. But when Banyan Key is shocked by a double homicide, everything Matt Lee thought he knew starts to unravel and he finds himself in a race against time to solve the murders before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone else he’s trusted in order to find out the truth.

Special Features

• Audio commentary
  
• Out of Time: Crime Scene
  
• Out-takes
  
• Character profiles
  
• Screen tests: Sanaa Lathan, Dean Cain
  
• Photo gallery
  
• Theatrical trailer

Customer Reviews

Well done movie with a formulaic plot
After the basic setting for the movie is presented one is afraid that it will become predictable and boring. Nevertheless, it succeeds in providing enough suspense and subtle plot twists that keep the rhythm going and the interest of the audience alive.

Denzel Washington plays Matt Whitlock, a police chief in Banyan Keys, FL who has been abandoned by his wife recently and is involved in a relationship with Ann, a married woman. Everything goes well until Matt finds out that Ann has cancer, which was in remission but has come back with a vengeance and she has only six months left to live. The only option to prevent this is to try experimental procedures that are extremely expensive. In the meantime, Ann finds out that her husband has increased the life policy they had bought for her to $1,000,000. The final piece of the story is that Matt made a bust of a drug dealer and has $485,000 sequestered for evidence in the safe in his office.

In this setting, one imagines that the story will develop according to one of the usual formulas, and it surely does. The movie, however, is very well done, with passages of high intensity and great performances, which compensate in part for the plot "defects". One final aspect that I liked is the photography; I usually do not expect to find high quality in this area in a thriller, but in this case the scenery makes this task easy to accomplish. Evidently, this movie is not a masterpiece, but it will serve it purpose if you are looking to relax and have a good time.

Pesky libido gets cop into hot water
OUT OF TIME illustrates a predicament familiar to most men, i.e. when good sense is subverted by the promise of genital happiness with a pretty woman.

Denzel Washington is Matt Whitlock, Sheriff of Banyon Key, FL. His wife Alexandra (Eva Mendes), a Miami homicide gumshoe, has moved out and is getting the divorce papers processed. In the meantime, the sheriff finds solace in the bed of Ann (Sanaa Lathan), the abused wife of jealous Chris (Dean Cain), a local morgue security guard. Paradise begins to unravel when Ann reveals that she has terminal cancer and six months to live. After an unsuccessful attempt to convert a million dollar life insurance policy into the cash needed to fund experimental cancer treatment in Switzerland, Ann makes Matt the beneficiary, and the latter "loans" her five-hundred grand in impounded drug money, evidence in a stalled criminal investigation, that's currently on ice in the sheriff's safe. The night after Ann takes possession of the swag, she and her husband are apparently murdered in their home, which is then torched. Alexandra is assigned to the case. Meanwhile, the cash has disappeared; Matt is identified by a non-reliable witness as the suspicious person skulking outside his paramour's home the night of the crime; and the local DEA chief has phoned to say that he's sending two of his heavies over to take possession of the drug money. Fancy dancing is in order if Matt is to stay out of Deep Bandini.

The plot becomes more incredible with a compressed time frame that demands that Matt extricate himself from his mess over two 8-hour work shifts. Alexandra doesn't even have the time to change out of a gloriously short and tight miniskirt and high heels, in which outfit she manages to kick down a locked door. (At that point, my wife leaned over to whisper, "Do you know what would happen if one really tried that?" Perhaps she has a secret life I don't know about?)

This isn't Washington's most memorable performance. But, since Denzel is one of Hollywood's most appealing actors, who cares? Matt spends the entire latter half of the film looking like a deer mesmerized by approaching highbeams while teetering on the edge of an abyss. Alexandra is constantly giving him that hard look familiar to guilty husbands everywhere that implies the question, "Is there something you want to tell me?" The Final Confrontation, which takes place in the familiar milieux of rain, darkness, and a creepy abandoned structure, does benefit from a satisfying plot twist.

OUT OF TIME is a better than average entertainment vehicle.

Good viewing
In 'Out of Time', Denzel Washington teams up again with Training Day partner Eva Mendes in another cop drama. It doesn't come anywhere close to the aforementioned movie, but is a good film in itself anyhow.

We follow Washington who plays Police Chief Whitlock, who is having an affair with a married woman. Soon it becomes clear that this woman is terminally ill, and Whitlock quickly becomes the life insurance benificiary. But he is determined to help his girlfriend, and tries to do so by using police-confiscated drug money to finance the expensive medical treatment. But when the girl goes missing with the money, it becomes clear that it was all a set-up, and the Chief Whitlock is the only and prime suspect for murder when bodies are found. The race is on...Whitlock must solve the case whilst putting his colleagues onto the false track.

Although in real life this would never ever occur, and Washington's character would be in a whole lot of trouble, it definitely makes for good viewing, and I could think of worse ways to spend 90 mins of movie time.