SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

morrison-dylan-fan With a poll soon to be held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best titles of 2003,I started to search round for an 03 Neo-Noir title to view for the year.Struggleing to find any interesting sounding Neo-Noirs from 03,I suddenly remembered a wonderful review that I had recently read on IMDb's Film Noir board,which led to me discovering,that I was thankfully not out of time,to view a Neo-Noir from 2003.The plot:Celebrating a successful arrest which led to a large gangs dirty money being captured,small town cop Matt Whitlock decides to mark the occasion,by spending time with his mistress Ann Merai Harrison.Stopping any sense of fun for either of them,Harrison is told that she has cancer,and that she only has 5 months to live.Originally planning to use her medical insurance to fund the only medicine that the doctor says may save her life,Harrison is left in shock,when she finds out that her husband (Chris) has changed the insurance,so that the only way anyone can get to the cash in Ann's name,is if she dies.Furious by the corner which his lover has been placed in,Whitlock decides to take the only option on the table:stealing the dirty money from the police station,and giving it to Harrison so that she can afford her medicine.Along with her medicine cash,Whitlock also arranges for Harrison to change the details on her insurance,so that Whitlock can get hold of the cash and give it to Harrison,behind her husband's back.Arranging to meet up with Harrison later that night, (in order to sort out the insurance details) Whitlock instead receives an emergency call about Harrison's house being on fire.Rushing to the scene,Whitlock discovers that he has signed up for a far from risk-free insurance,when the remains of the burnt out house reveal no sign of the Harrison's or the dirty money.View on the film:For the screenplay of the movie,writer Dave Collard combines Neo-Noir with crime caper elements,with the Neo-Noir smoke being scatted as Whitlock begins to relies about what murky dealings he has got himself involved in.Despite the plot having a number of clear flaws, (how did none of the other cops spot the phone number!) Collard uses the movies crime caper side to give the title a delightfully playfully edge,with Whitlock having to go from dodging eyewitnesses to jumping out of windows,in the hope of keeping the Harrison's disappearance and the dirty money loss under wraps.Shooting on location in Miami,director Carl Franklin (who would not direct a film again for 10 years!) perfectly matches Collard's tones by soaking the movie in warm pastor tones which gradually darken as Whitlock sinks deeper into the Neo-Noir world.Along with the eye- catching colours,Franklin also uses sharp whip-pans to superbly show the desperation that is starting to take a hold on Whitlock.Smashing his Clark Kent glasses to the ground,Dean Cain gives an excellent performance as Chris Harrison,with Cain splattering a wide smirk across Harrison's face,as he becomes increasingly suspicious over his wife and Whitlock's activities.Joining a wonderfully smooth Denzel Washington,John Billingsley delivers a fantastic performance as the only cop who will try to stop time running out for Whitlock.

FlashCallahan Matt Whitlock, the police chief of a small town near Florida, is separated from his wife, Alex, a detective also based in Florida. He's been having an affair with Ann Harrison, a woman who's wants to escape from her husband.Ann also has terminal cancer. When her doctor tells her of a new treatment that's too expensive, he gives her nearly half a million dollars that he seized from some drug dealers. When she turns up dead, all the evidence points to Whitlock. He tries to figure out what's going on but it appears he's been set up...Denzel has a knack of always releasing a movie in the first few months of the year here in the UK, and whilst sometimes they are not groundbreaking, he always manages to raise the bar on the averageness of the whole thing.The Book Of Eli, Safe House, and the Bone Collector are a few, and this is another one of those cases.While you watch the film, you get lost in the ridiculousness of it all, and its tense to boot, but after, when you are thinking about the movie, it does get you thinking 'hang on? He got away with what?'.So despite the plot holes and the silly narrative, its exciting in a cheap Hitchcock rip off style. The locations are great, supporting cast good, and there are a couple of tense moments, particularly when Matt tries to cover up the phone calls and tracking down someone in a hotel.It just shows how classy an actor such as Washington, can bring the mundane into something very interesting.It's nothing remarkable, but it entertains while it lasts...

elshikh4 This is a well-made feel-good cash-in Hollywood thriller, nothing more. In other times, or with other makers, that could have meant "arty" along the way, but this time it couldn't. There isn't anything highly special about it, so I don't think of re-watching it. Even (Eva Mendes)'s beauty won't convince me not ! However, the sole special thing about it remains in the way I look at it. I mean I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love it for having (Denzel Washington)'s presence, (Dean Cain)'s performance, cool landscapes, fresh colors, nice chase sequence, and very tight pace. Sure it managed to be watchable entertainment for 105 minutes.Nevertheless, I have to hate it in the same time. Aside from an ugly sex scene that disgusted me, the movie was so predictable since the first 10 minutes. For the Noir lovers, who watched Double Indemnity (1944) along with its hundred clones through the years, it's too easy to foretell the whole story since the matter of the mistress's dangerous sickness. The movie only abbreviated the intros, turned the dark image of nightly gloomy streets into more colorful scene of diurnal tropical beaches, and focused on the hectic race with time, making a "hot" Noir thriller, but with an obvious story !The endless complications are solved yet more easily at the end. It provoked me utterly seeing the lead getting rid of everything bothered him, just like that, getting all the money, just like that, and getting the girl, good girl, just like that as well, all while sitting still on his boat ! But it's common in Hollywood dreams, and bedtime stories told by hasty parent, to wrap things up naively, cheer the recipient up even if illogically, and end anyhow happily ! Since the get go, (Denzel Washington) smartly designed his career as a cycle of a commercial popcorn flick, followed by a serious Oscar-material film. So after Ricochet (1991) he made Malcolm X (1992), after The Pelican Brief (1993) he made Philadelphia (1993), after Fallen (1998) he made He Got Game (1998), after The Bone Collector (1999) he made The Hurricane (1999), and after John Q (2002) he made as a star, producer, and director Antwone Fisher (2002). That balance insured him more than 2 decades as star and actor, achieving the love of the audience and the respect of the critics. Well, it's axiomatic to figure out to which team (Out of Time) belongs !Here, (Washington) was doing absolutely nothing. You could replace him with a young (Johnny Cash) and not much would happen ! Yes, he's a proficient actor and load of charisma, but he merely did his job, exactly like the movie. I believe that the character he played didn't add anything to him unless more of the commercial presence. Director (Carl Franklin) used to make good movies that deliver the goods. Mostly his lead is worried of searching a lost truth, like in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), with (Denzel Washington) also, and High Crimes (2002). But while being glossily executed, Out of Time remains the least interesting compared to those previous movies. It is an old Noir yet in sunny atmosphere and bright clothes. None of it was great, ending up as predictable, usual and diverting crap. Yet, half of that, namely being a "diverting crap", was a goal the producers planned for and carried out perfectly. As you see, I have to hate-love, love-hate this movie. It hit the mark, while being not a mark itself. But it hit a mark anyway; hence I can't hate it completely. Hmmm, for a final verdict I may say "neat product" or "another thriller". Well, "fair" is always a fair word for a case like this !

Spikeopath Out of Time is directed by Carl Franklin and written by David Collard. It stars Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, Sanaa Lathan, Dean Cain and John Billingsley. Music is by Graeme Revell and cinematography by Theo Van de Sande.Matthias Whitlock (Washington) is chief of police in little Banyan Key, Florida. Respected for his work and basically honest in the line of duty. Away from work, however, his marriage to Alex (Mendes) has failed, he's having an affair with an abused wife and he likes a little drink on duty. So when his lover Anne Harrison (Lathan) springs on him the shocking news that she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, it naturally shakes his world. But this news is merely the start of something bigger, for pretty soon Matt will be in the unusual situation of having to stay one step of his own kind or face dire consequences.It's a film proudly wearing a badge of homage to film noir of the 40s. In fact it very much plays out as a contemporary riff on John Farrow's excellent Ray Milland starrer of 1948, The Big Clock. But that's fine, especially when you have some knowing craft in front and behind the camera in the shape of Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) and Washington (take your pick here really!). Yet as great as Franklin and Washington's work is, they all owe a debt to Collard's screenplay. Inventive in how it plays out as a plot, with it's many tight situations laid down for Washington's duped law enforcer to try and get out of, the screenplay has a knack for deft humour, often sly, which is something that even some of the hardest of noirs from the golden era are tinted with. The secret is being able to blend the humour with quality moments of suspense, and this picture manages to do that with some interest.Film also benefits greatly from the tight atmosphere created by photographer de Sande. Sweaty Florida in daylight doesn't cry out as being a good starting point for an offshoot of film noir (real Florida locations were thankfully used), but the scenic beauty is never realised during the drama sequences, colours are toned down, even for a stunning red sky, and this perfectly becomes at one with a near frantic Washington as the tricksters of Banyan Key start to close in on him. It's nice too see, also, interracial couples forming the core of the story, while the dominance of sexuality is firmly given a shrewd work over by director and writer. There's good thought gone in to making this, enough to steer it away from charges of just being a faux neo-noir production.Problems? Yes, a few. Inevitability of outcome is hard to shake off whilst viewing it, especially for those well versed in the genre (sub-genre). Clichés and contrivances are stacked up like a pile of cop thriller 101 books, and Franklin goes smug (daft) by dropping in a couple of slow frame sequences that the film clearly didn't need. While the big showdown in the finale lacks a gut punch. But this is a good viewing, sexy at times and always eye catching, it also pleasingly chooses perky dialogue over action to make its dramatic point. The cast around Washington enhance the quality: Lathan in the tricky role shows a number of layered gears, Cain is imposing as a bully boy husband (where did this Cain go?) and Billingsley almost sneaks in and steals the movie as the loyal and stoic comedy side-kick.So pesky flaws aside, this is a good recommendation as a night in movie for those with a kink for contemporary neo-noir. 7/10