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Out Of Time is Denzel Washington's best movie!

"Out Of Time" is Denzel Washington's best movie since and after Antwone Fisher. Denzel stars as Matthias Lee Whitlock, Banyan Key, Florida's chief of police who gets caught up in a insurance scam involving drug money from one of his most recent arrests. Sanaa Lathan stars as Whitlock's former sweetheart, Ann Merai Harrison, who he unfortunately takes the drug money out of his evidence locker to in order to have a operation to save her life and get her away from her abusive former quarterback husband, Chris, played by Dean Cain. Eva Mendes stars as Alex Diaz Whitlock, Matt's soon-to-be ex-wife, who is a detective investigating the double homicide / arson of both Ann and Chris. A witness places Matt, who, unfortunately, was outside of Ann and Chris' house during the incident. Matt, himself, is investigating the crime and has to stay one step ahead of his colleagues in order to get back the money. Denzel is superb as Whitlock, in which, he echoes his Oscar-Winning performance in "Training Day", but, with more style and charisma to his performance in this extremely well made movie. The rest of the cast are intriguing and dynamic, but this is Denzel's show, I'm afraid. Go see this movie after you see "School Of Rock". I haven't seen "School Of Rock" yet, but these are the two movies you need to see this weekend! I enjoyed this movie because it had increasingly amazing twists and turns to its excellent ending. See this movie any time you can see it!

Doubly Excellent. A thrill from start to finish

When I got this movie, I was really looking for MAN OF FIRE, but made a mistake with a very happy ending, which is that I got to see TWO excellent movies, rather than just one.

I absolutely LOVED this film in which there was plenty of thrilling action accompanying fine acting and a good story.

More than most contemporary works, this movie IS what it claims to be, and MORE. An aptly told story with shooting and stuff blowing up, all for some very good reasons. I was glad to see Denzel Washington doing something so far removed from his many other roles.

Keeping in mind all DW's previous roles, which are all very highb row, this film and "MOF" make the very well-timed transitional roles between everything else and TRAINING DAY, which was just totally over the top, in a good way! Perhaps no other actor's catalogue shows such a logical and visible depth and growth and direction.

You MUST SEE this movie. Remember, the later film, Man On Fire, is also extremely good.

A good thriller

Not the greatest thriller in the world, not as good as THE BONE COLLECTOR, but good nonetheless, with some interesting plot twists.
See it for the three main actors, especially Dean Cain who gives a very good performance as Chris, Ann's husband.

Washington & Out of Time

First of all, I respect Denzel Washington fully seeing that he is one of my favorite actors of all time. His talent has made every movie (he has starred in) a classic. However "Out of Time" is a very bad example of this. Don't get me wrong...it's a good movie, however the first hour is just dull. His character is having an affair with a woman...and is caught up with her current husband (who is being very abusive). This continues throughout 75% of the movie. It's great acting but it just had me trying to figure out where it was all headed. Then suddenly the suspense begins! Finally...

From this point on the movie gets very good...in which it continues to pull you in every direction, shocking you when something wrong is about to happen to Denzel's character. I very much enjoyed the final 25% of the movie...that's why it got a 3 Star rating from me. I fully feel that if the first 75% of the movie had been deleted and I was just handed the final part of the movie with no begining...I would be fully satisfied. However I was bored out of mind....praying it would get good soon.

I'm not saying to avoid this movie, instead just watch it if you've seen every movie...except this one. It is a movie that is slow at the begining..very....very...slow. But I promise you that it picks up in the end. Your best bet is to skip a lot of chapters until the end...then enjoy.

Out of Time is not Denzel Washington's finest movie, but a decent one at that. This is a movie to RENT...not to BUY.

IN-DEPTH RATING:
Acting--------4 1/2
Plot----------3
Shots---------3
Cast----------4 3/4
DVD Features--2
Rent or Buy---RENT

FINAL RATING: 3 (...)

Out Of Time Is One Of The Greatest Movies Ever !!!

It amazes me on what movies some people love, and some movies people hate. When I first read a few reviews that were posted it shocked me, since most weren't that great. We'll I'm not to sure what movie they were watching because if they were watching the same "Out Of Time" movie I was watching then they weren't really watching it.

This movie from start to finish keeps you guessing and guessing. Since watching Bad Boys II, I was thinking there wasn't going to be a better movie released last year and this year, well this movie came pretty close.

This movie had everything a movie should have in it. Acting, direction, action, drama, and everything else. Very few movies I've seen in the last few years come close to this movie.

Do not miss out on this movie. This is one movie that will have you stack in your seat waiting to see what's going to happen next.

MC

L.O.L.

Well, this movie starts out a little different than expected. If i didn't know about denzel washington being in it and the credits hadn't of come up, i would have thought i went to the wrong movie.
But, after 30 - 45 minutes we find that mr washington got set up. His "Set ups" went by so fast, to me it seemed like a Straight A student stealing the science teacher's pet hedge hog and all of a sudden there was a mass of evidence against him, but, surely it's not him...for he is a straight A student! After Washington's close friends realize he is up to no good, the movie finally starts to have some interest, until then, y a w n. I wasn't at all impressed, but it gets my 3 stars because it was such rubbish it was amusing. If you are determined to see a movie, check your choices. However, if you want a long, boring movie you don't have to consentrate on, that would help you get to know your date a little better, this flick is a must.

Excellent suspense for a 2-hour movie.

Okay, now this was a great movie. The reason I said it was excellent suspense for a 2-hour movie is because I just came off of a 2 day, season 1 and 2 of a "24 Hours" marathon and I think my heart literally almost stopped beating due to the suspense. This movie is just a suspenseful as 24 Hours and definitely gets my vote for "a movie to purchase". Denzel is dynamic as usual and his actions keep you at the end of your chair and shouting at the screen. Pick this one up today!!!

terrible

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It is painful to watch because the plot is so ridiculous. Do not put yourself through watching this movie.

Out of Time IS JUST THAT !!!!!

I was somewhat disappointed with this movie because it didn't take a whole alot of effort so solve this one, way before the movie ended.

Chief of Police Whitlock (Denzel) is newly separated and is having an affiar with his high school sweetheart Ann Marie.(Lathan) who is currently married to a once hasbeen pro football player(Cain)living in a sleepy florida town.

During a visit to her doctor, Whilock and Anne Marie find out that she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Then she needs alot of money for a special treatmentdone in Europe. Now she has a million dollar policy that she signs over to Whitlock in case she dies. The night before, Whitlock make a drug bust of a half of million dollars.

Well you know what happens next. Annie Marie gets the money, but her and her husband get burnt up in a house fire and guess who's called in to solve the now double homicide case. You guessed it! Whitlock's own wife Alex (Mendes}. Alex moved to Miami and got promoted to detective. So now with all the evidence stacking up and pointing toward Washingtion, he must now play beat the clock and get the money back and find out who killed his girlfriend and her husband.

I loved nathan's and cain's characters, because it was something different than what we are use to seeing them play. As far as Mendes' character, it would have more believeable is she would have pushed a little harder to get her man's attention. But if it was up to me I would have dropped her off at the train station. You wouldnt of missed her either way.

Washington had as much heat in this film as was needed to generate a campfire. I wanted some steamy scenes, some real passion. Sanaa Lathan is hot and exudes sexy. Make me believe it was more than a booty call between her and you! Your in hot ass Florida for God Sakes. Take your shirt off sometimes. Listen here folks! There is not one scene of Washington and Mendes romatically or sexually til the end of the film. You mean to tell me that this man dont at least compare notes mentally especaily with two women like Mendes and Lathan.

Well as far as Im concerned I will see what Denzel comes out with next. He a great actor and I think he just came back from vacation with one. Now he will get back on the ball! Carl Franklin is a good director, but he need to get on the writer's butt to fill in the many gaps in this movie.

An Entertaining Thriller

Denzel Washington gives his usual excellent performance as a Florida sheriff on the verge of divorce. In the meantime he has been having an affair with a married woman. He goes with her to a doctor's appointment and she is told that she has inoperable cancer and will die within a year. She is later told that she can go out the country for an expensive treatment that may give her several additional years. She tells Washington she can't possibly afford the treatment so she will just accept what fate has dealt her.

Washington decides to "give" her a large sum of "evidence" cash that nobody will miss so she can have the experimental treatment. Apparently, the case is over and nobody will look for the cash for a number of years.

Things go totally wrong for Washington after that as the wife and her husband are killed in a "suspicious" house fire of which a neighbor spotted Washington outside the house just before the fire started. Additionally, just prior to her death the woman was changing her life insurance beneficiary to Washington (giving him motive) and then the DEA all of a sudden demands the evidence money because it can be tied to another case. To top it off, Washington's estranged wife is leading the investigation into the two murders so he has to avoid her getting any sense that he might have been involved. To say any more about the movie would be a big spoiler but the movie is loaded with twists and turns.


I would have rated it higher but some of the things that happened seemed to have me shaking my head. There is Washington's friend who seems to know everything but still helps Washington even though he probably thinks he is guilty.

Loved The Colors, Liked The Film

This is one of the few Denzel Washington movies that flopped.....but I liked it. For most, it was just didn't hit a chord with moviegoers, although I'm glad to see a bunch of Amazon reviewers that liked it. For many, though, the film as a whole wasn't up to Washington's standards.

Being someone attracted to good visuals, I loved the colors in this film, set in South Florida. The orange-and-greens were beautiful and I enjoyed the music, too. It all elevated the likability of this modern day film-noir for me. I have to admit at one point I began wondering "when is something violent going to happen?" However, many 1940s film noirs were like this (building up tension until the end) and I'm a fan on those old noirs.

Thus, I still found this DVD pretty interesting most of the way, with a nice twist at the end, too!

If you have the time

This is a good movie, not great, but good. It has a plot where you are wondering how the Chief of Police from a small town of 1800 can get himself into such a big mess and try to cover his tracks while his estranged wife is investigating the supposed murder of the chiefs girl friend.

Chief Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is constantly on the move, whether he is shacking up with his high school sweetheart or running after the money she connived him out of.

There are a few twists in the movie, enough to surprise you. Whitlock attempts to stay one step ahead of his Detective Whitlock (Mendes) and you sometimes are left wondering how he did it. There is interplay with these two characters, she still has feelings for her husband, yet, you are left wondering why she left him in the first place.

There are some interesting plays between characters, Chae, Whitlocks Medical examiner and friend. For some reason, everyone is loyal to Whitlock. You wonder if this is the first time he has been in trouble and what he has done to maintain the loyalty of his friends and co-workers.

I would recommend seeing the Profiles of the Characters before you see the DVD. The profiles are a good introduction to the movie and gives a good foundation to build on.

This movie is worth viewing, however, the scenes between Washington and Lathan were a little too drawn out and could have been aluded to in order to broaden the range of viewers and viewer appeal.

The trailers did not give the story away, so I was surprised at the plot and movie overall. It is a good watch, and worth the time if you want to be entertained.

The DVDs outtakes are weak, only two, and added because they had to be. I wondered if they were staged so they could have outtakes.

In the end, should he keep the money or not?? What would you do?

Exciting and fast moving!

I would have given it a '5' except for a couple of glaring loose-ends in the plot, like how the money miraculously appears at the end. The pace is good, with well timed surprises and plot reversals. However, about 2/3rds into the movie, the conclusion became a little obvious. The dialog could have been a little more sophisticated. Think 'Catch me if you can' but with more style and pace.

Blah!

I love Denzel & everything, but I was not impressed with this movie @ all...actually went to see this in the theaters the first week. Somebody on the radio was mad that it came in @ #2...when it should've been #1{in her opinion} She needs to be happy it was in the top 5.

It only gets 2 stars cause of Denzel & Eva.

Gripping Thriller. Not Washington's Best, but taut drama

`Out of Time', a Denzel Washington thriller showcase directed by Carl Franklin is an object lesson in how to put a character into a bad situation, then turn up the heat until it seems he cannot escape his predicament, and he feels the pressure all the more so because it was created to a great extent through his own mistakes. It is easy to put heroic people into desperate situations, subject to terror and the brink of death, yet their entire predicament is for a just cause. The feeling you have, for example, for Frodo and Samwise on the slopes of Mount Doom surrounded by lava is quite different from the feelings you have for Washington's character. This is true not the least because it is so much easier to associate with a person bound in a web of his own mistakes than it is with a hobbit bound in the web of a giant spider.

This is the stuff that tragedies are made from, except that instead of being destroyed by the situation of his own making; the hero does manage to make it out in the nick of time. The best part of his ultimate liberation is that it is brought about by the help of a very good friend who covers for him on two critical points in the story without even being asked and with an assist from his estranged wife who also happens to be a police officer working on the case which drives the plot.

Washington is the chief of police for a small town on a small Florida key island, very similar to his role in his earlier movie `The Mighty Quinn'. His recently separated wife is a homicide lieutenant in some much larger, overlapping jurisdiction, possibly the Miami / Dade police force. Washington's best friend is the local medical examiner. In the opening of the movie, it is revealed that Washington is having an affair with an extremely attractive local dental technician married to a former NFL football player who is currently employed as a security guard at the local hospital. It is also revealed that Washington has about 450 thousand dollars in cash in his office safe confiscated from a recent drug bust.

The main action of the story is set in motion when Washington's mistress talks Washington to accompany her to her oncologist who reveals that an earlier malignancy has reoccurred and is in an incurable state. After the expected distress, compounded by what is believed to is an abusive husband, the woman signs a 1 million-dollar life insurance policy over to Washington as beneficiary. Washington, thinking the drug money will be tied up in court procedures for months, turns it over to his girlfriend in order to get expensive experimental treatment for cancer. Shortly thereafter, bodies of girlfriend and husband are found in the ruins of their house set on fire by arson shortly after a witness sees Washington running away from the victims' house.

All this easily adds up to evidence against Washington, giving him clear means, motive, and opportunity. The pressure mounts as Washington's wife is assigned the case and sets up shop in the town's little police station, right outside Washington's office. The pressure gets turned up as the head of the Miami DEA office calls Washington for the drug money and wants it `yesterday'. So, the second act is largely Washington desperately working at staying one step ahead of both his wife and the DEA.

The average viewer will figure out part of the mystery with little trouble, but I won't spoil the fun by revealing it here. The full story, however, is not revealed until the very end. And, the construction of the problem for Washington and his being able to resolve it at the very last minute makes great entertainment spiced up by the very believable situation. There is an almost dreamlike quality to Washington's predicament. No matter what he does, things just seem to get worse, without quite catching up to him.

The resolution between Washington and his wife after the case is closed seems a bit improbable, but I can live with that. This is by far the most excitement I have experienced with a PG-13 movie in quite a long time. The writers were even able to keep the body count down, limited to the immediate perps of the crime.

Highly recommended for all with reasonably good nerves.

great fun entertainment

I went to see this after seeing such excellent reviews. I agree with those reviews. Best movie of 2003. Pretty Darn Close. A enjoyable murder mystery. Denzel Washington plays Chief Whitlock an cop who was set up for a murder he did not committ. The search is on for the real suspect. You'll never guess the ending.

Takes Too Long to Get Going, But Fun Movie Nonetheless

'Out of Time' tells the story of a police chief in a small town in Florida. Chief Matt Whitlock, played by Denzel Washington, is in the middle of a divorce and also in the middle of an affair with a married woman stricken with cancer. Whitlock has a pristine reputation, but when his girlfriend's seemingly only chance to beat cancer slips away for financial reasons, he makes a morally questionable and illegal decision to help her. Shortly thereafter, his girlfriend and her husband turn up dead in a house fire, and all signs point to Whitlock as the culprit.

The real strength of the movie comes from the characters and Whitlock's attempt to stay one step ahead of the investigation. Washington, as usual, is excellent. His performance makes the viewer want to like him and pity him for the mess he has gotten himself into. John Billingsly, as Whitlock's sidekick medical investigator, is also excellent. His character is a little more willing to bend the rules, and 100% loyal to Whitlock. Eva Mendes, as Whitlock's estranged wife that is investigating the murders, Sanaa Lathan, as Whitlock's girlfriend, and Dean Cain, and Whitlock's girlfriend's husband, also turn in decent performances.

This is a suspense movie. As Whitlock raced to stay one step ahead of the investigation, I found myself on the edge of seat to see if he could pull it off. Washington really sold the suspense with a wonderful portrayal of a man that was cool and collected, but on the verge of a nervous wreck at the same time. Whitlock's tricks were clever and made sense (you'd probably find yourself doing many of them in a similar situation).

There are a few problems with the movie. One, the setup for the movie takes entirely too long. It takes about thirty to forty minutes to really get into the plot. A few people I watched the movie with had given up on it by then. Second, the movie does seem a little implausible on the whole. The scheme that surrounds the problems Whitlock finds himself in seem overly complicated and elaborate for the scope of the crime. Not to mention, everything pulls together a little too neatly and is wrapped up a little too tightly.

Overall, it is worth a viewing. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars, but since that is not an option, it seems more deserving of 4 than 3. I'd recommend the movie to Denzel Washington fans and those that enjoy a good suspense story. Just be prepared to wait out the opening and to suspend your disbelief.

Good thriller if you can get by the nonsense

I found it odd that Denzel Washington, an actor rarely linked with romance in films, has romantic relationships with two 20-somethings in "Out of Time" and is supposed to play someone in his mid-30s. This was only the first plot twist that fractured my concept of suspended reality in this flick.

To put it more directly, I could not believe much of what was occurring on screen in this film. I enjoyed the movie and agree it is a good thriller, but I cannot lend much credibility to the overall film. I'd like to say this movie is a great work of art, but it isn't. It has many very entertaining moments but its weaknesses outnumber its strengths, in my opinion. The end product is it is not a very memorable film, although it could have been with more appropriate casting and direction.

There were too many coincidences, too many plot twists that could never occur in real life, and too many miscast characters, the first being Washington's wife that was a police investigator but looked and dressed like she was a model throughout the film. Her lipstick and eyebrows were so beautiful and so artistically done that...well, I couldn't believe she was a cop. She exhibited about as much police acumen and investigative imagination as a supermodel, too. This was a ridiculous piece of casting done obviously to show off a beautiful person.

The Amazon review said this movie was, "Partly inspired by 1948's 'The Big Clock' and its nominal 1987 remake 'No Way Out', the Denzel Washington thriller Out of Time is quite enjoyable if you ignore its implausible plotting." That is very generous praise, indeed. I see a relationship between Kevin Costner's remake of "No Way Out" and this film but none between the classic "The Big Clock" with Ray Milland.

If you order those films in terms of their place in Hollywood legend, "The Big Clock" is up among the top 200, "No Way Out" is among the bottom half of the film's of its decade and this movie is even lower than that. So enjoy the action and try not to intellectualize this movie, for their is little to think about that makes sense.

Fast Paced Fun

Though you can see it coming, the trouble the police chief gets himself into and his just ahead of being found out efforts to get out of the jam he's in provides some great entertainment and fast paced fun!

overlooked

It starts out as the typical Denzel Washington playing a macho-hip-cool cop (also seen in Fallen and Man on Fire) and then thankfully gets very unpredictable when he is thrust into the middle of one of his cases. It has a very nice twist toward the end, and a surprisingly good performance by Dean Cain.