Movie Review #13: Out of Time

Welcome to another fun filled movie review with Toast! This week: Out of Time (2003) directed by Carl Franklin. This action adventure is starring Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, Sanaa Lathan and Dean Cain.

No surprises here, this is your standard action adventure flick. Denzel Washington plays Matt Whitlock, a small town chief of police for Banyan Key, Florida. He plans to take a vacation with his girlfriend using evidence money that he would replace before the courts need it. But the money disappears, the girlfriend is missing, the courts want it now, oh Matt, what are you going to do?

That’s pretty much it: Matt, what are you going to do. The plot is straight forward with some predictable twists that are probably meant for effect rather than shock. The reason you watch the whole movie is because you want to know how Matt gets out of this impossible situation. The movie is fast paced and exciting and strings you along with believable characters and situations.

Sanaa Lathan plays Ann Merai Harrison, Chief Whitlock’s girlfriend and Chris Harrison’s (played by Dean Cain) wife. The Harrisons are having relationship issues and Ann has an affair with Whitlock that puts her in a bad place with her husband. Both are killed in an explosion along with the large sum of money given to Ann by Matt for their vacation. Meanwhile, Alex Whitlock (Mendes), Matt’s ex-wife, joins the Banyan Key precinct and tries to solve the double homicide/missing money case which Matt is behind and trying to cover up until he can decide what to do. It sounds complicated but it’s not. I’m just not doing a good job explaining it.

Denzel Washington is good in this movie, as he usually is but the rest of the cast’s acting could have been better. Many of the deliveries seemed forced or wooden. If you want to see Washington and Mendes in a better movie, see Training Day. If you want to see Dean Cain act better, watch Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Out of Time, however, is a good fun movie for you to kick back and have a good time. No Oscar winner though.

Gotta go, I’m out of time.

Toast!