“Out of Time” (2003) directed by Carl Franklin, starring Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan & Eva Mendes / Z-View

Out of Time (2003)

Director: Carl Franklin

Screenplay: David Collard

Stars: Denzel Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Eva Mendes, Dean Cain, John Billingsley, Robert Baker, Alex Carter,
Antoni Corone, Terry Loughlin, Nora Dunn, Tom Hillmann, Arian Ash and James Murtaugh.

Tagline: How do you solve a murder when all the evidence points to you.

The Plot…

Matt Whitlock (Washington) and his wife, Alex (Mendes) are separated.  He loves her, but realizes she’s moving on.  Their jobs were a big part of the problem.  Matt is Chief of Police in the small town of Banyan Key, Florida.  Alex just was promoted to detective in Miami.

Since the separation Matt has been secretly seeing Ann Merai-Harrison (Lathan).  They were a thing years ago.  Ann’s married to an ex-NFL quarterback named Chris (Cain).  It’s a bad marriage.  Chris has hit Ann more than once.

Things get worse when Matt takes Ann to a doctor’s appointment.  They learn Ann has an aggressive incurable cancer.  Ann’s only hope is an expensive new treatment.  She plans to take a cash payment on her life insurance policy to cover the cost.  Her hopes are dashed when she learns that it will take time to get the money.  Time she doesn’t have.

After some consideration, Matt decides to take the money from the evidence locker. He gives the cash to Ann. Matt made a major bust and had nearly $500,000 in the evidence vault.  The money has to stay put until after the trail and that’s months away.  Ann’s insurance will pay off by then and he’ll replace the cash.  No one will ever know it was missing.

At least that was the plan.

Matt gets a call of a major fire with two fatalities.  The blaze is at Ann’s house.  It appears Ann and Chris were killed before the fire was set.  Matt remembers that Ann had made him the beneficiary of her substantial life insurance.  The money Matt gave Ann is missing.

As the evidence unfolds, Matt realizes that he will be the main suspect.  He was secretly sleeping with the victim and is the beneficiary of her life insurance.  A neighbor saw him sneaking out of her house on at least one occasion.

Matt can’t imagine that this can get any worse.  Then he gets a call that the Feds have another case involving the cash in the vault — the cash Matt gave to Ann that’s now missing — and the Feds are on their way to get it.

Matt needs to find the killer(s), the cash and the clock is ticking.  Soon he will be… Out of Time.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Denzel Washington attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Fl.  It’s the same high school that Vince Carter (and I) attended.  Denzel was there before me and Vince after.

I love the ever increasing tension in this film.

Carl Franklin and Denzel Washington worked together before on Devil in a Blue Dress.  I wish they had done more films together.

The balcony fight scene is a standout.

Denzel Washington and (just the right amount of comedic relief from) John Billingsley made for a great team.

Out of Time (2003) rates 4 of 5 stars.