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Out Of Time
R2 - United Kingdom - Momentum Pictures Review written by and copyright: Mathew Buck (6th June 2004). |
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The Film
 In the days where supernatural thrillers and epic summer blockbusters dominate the marketplace, each time re-hashing another past movie, it is nice for a change to see an old style, cliche ridden thriller that seems to of disappeared from the post-2000 Hollywood. And you know what? The formula still works. **POSSIBLE SPOILERS - Skip next pargraph if you want** Chief Whitlock (Denzel Washington) has made a recent drug bust and is holding the money for the D.E.A. to collect. He is also in the middle of a divorce with his wife Alex (Eva Mendes) and having an affair with Ann Harrision (Sanaa Lathan). When Ann finds that her cancer has come back, Whitlock offers her the drugs money to pay for a special treatment. The night he does this, Ann's house burns down, with her and her abusive husband Chris inside. Matt then tries to stop his homicide detective wife from finding out he had an affair, cover evidence pointing to him and find out who set him up. The movie is fun. Okay, more description. The tension in the situation above is the perfect set-up and obviously thought through very well. Okay, you probably get the idea that this film is cliched but at least it is well written, tenious and, above all, enjoyable. Washington looks like he knows this type of film too well, but is still good, and Mendes does make an attempt to be more than a sexy looking homicide officer, but has little to do except being 5 minutes behind Washington.
Video
A bit of controversy here when Momentum sent review copies. The review copies were presented in 1.78:1 cropped from 2.40:1. Many forum members at other DVD sites complained and the finished retail article is a significant improvment. In 2.40:1 anamorphic PAL, the bright colours in the daylight scenes are well presented. There are no moments of over-saturation. The only problem is alising, most noticable at the very end of the film on the iron house roof in a closing pan shot.
Audio
A lone English Dolby Digital 5.1 track. This is a surprisingly dialouge based movie but the surrounds do come in for the few action scenes there are. Subtitles are provided in English.
Extras
Director Carl Franklin phones in an interesting but boring commentary that seems to get a bit dry late in the picture. "'Out Of Time': Crime Scene" is the usual EPK featurette with all the trimmings including a pointless segment where they explain the weather is supposed to be sexy and warm (?). 2 outtakes that aren't funny follow, and don't watch these before seeing the feature as they are full of spoilers (including the second outtake that gives away the twist ending) and some decent screen tests for Sanaa Lathan and Dean Cain. With Cast and Crew Biographies with Franklin explaining why the cast members were picked (this is explained in more detail in the commetary). A photo gallery (yawn) and a spoiler filled trailer (bigger yawn) round off the extras.
Overall
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