Corporate Line: When the police chief (Washington) of a small Florida town “borrows” money from the evidence room so he can run away with a woman (Lathan) he’s always been in love with, she quickly betrays him, revealing that she only began having an affair with him as a way to seek revenge… Now, with his reputation and career on the line, an otherwise good cop must resolve his life before he runs out of time.
The Good: Denzel Washington gives a Herculean effort to make this film better than it would have been. He is surrounded by a good cast, most notably John Billingsley who seems to always get rain on his parade. Denzel’s character, chief, wants to be portrayed as a good guy with a big heart – but this is where the train wreck begins.
The Bad: Chief is sleeping with a married woman. Then he does everything wrong from there supposedly because he has a big heart. I see it another way. He does it for the sex. How can we see this character as a hero? He’s not martyring himself for some giant cause and it really only goes down from there.
The entire film revolves around implausible strokes of luck for the entire film to work. If one thing falls the movie collapses like a house of cards. There is no real sense of panic as you watch because as the film goes on you know Chief is going to get lucky over and over again. It’s ridiculous. One time and it’s luck, twenty times and it’s down right stupid. The most obscured is how he takes a fax, scans it, and deletes his numbers like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Has anyone tried to do any work like that? It’s not a one-minute job. This is one example in the line of a whole lot of dumb.
Frankly: How far has Denzel fallen? Out of Time will make money but it’s not a good movie.
+ Charlie Craine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.