Hey folks, Harry here... I don't know about you, but I've been hankering for Denzel Washington to get back to Noir ever since the end credits for DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS back in 1995, personally I still feel that's Denzel's best film. At the very least it is the film of his I watch most. So it delights me to hear that not only is he doing Noir again, but that he's doing the film with Carl Franklin who directed "DEVIL". Seeing Denzel working with Carl is also great for him, because that was the last time Franklin was hitting every swing. This was a very early test screening, as the film isn't scheduled to hit our screens till October 3rd, so we have a while, and it seems they have just enough time to kick the film's ass hard. There are very minor spoilers here, but it does sound like a damn good set up for a Film Noir. Here ya go...
Hey folks:
Surprised to not see a review on Ain't It Cool of director Carl Franklin's terrific crime noir film OUT OF TIME. I saw a test screening given by our National Research Group friends at the Pacific Theaters in El Segundo, CA, two weeks ago.
Denzel Washington plays Marty Walsh, the chief of police of Banyan Keys, Florida, a small sleepy town where nothing much ever happens -- except for the police chief sleeping with Ann Harrison, the wife of local morgue worker Chris Harrison. As the story begins, Walsh is also in the midsts of divorce proceedings with the lovely Alex Cole (played by sultry Latina beauty Eva Mendes, who coincidentally played Washington's wife in TRAINING DAY). Cole is a local detective in the same office with Walsh, and there's good sexual tension (will they or won't they get back together by the end of the film?) between the two in the small police department.
Problem is, Walsh is having a torrid affair with Ann Harrison and has fallen hard for her -- so hard that he takes $750,000 of the Drug Enforcement Agency's money out of his evidence safe and gives it to Ann so she can pay for cancer treatment. But as Walsh discovers, Ann's doctor is a fake and Ann doesn't really have cancer, but by then someone torches her house and she's either dead or gone -- and the D.E.A. wants its money back in a few hours. It appears Walsh has been set up to take the fall for a scheme and he spends the rest of the movie figuring out how to solve this unpleasant situation -- all the while trying to keep himself off the suspect list since he was sleeping with and calling the supposed arson victim (he was seen near the house right before it went up in flames).
I won't give any more of the plot away, but Carl Franklin and writer David Collard (there were no credits on the print I saw, but that's who Imdb.com tells me who wrote the movie) obviously love film noir, and this tale has all the markings of a fun one.
The suspense was good, Washington puts in a great performance here as usual (I really did buy him as the small town chief of police and he grounds the performance with a believability that many A-list Actors couldn't pull off), and the rest of the supporting cast is quite good (of note is Washington's sidekick -- unfortunately, I can't remember the actor's name -- he provided really good comic relief in a real way, not flashy). Also, some really great action sequences. Only gripes: a predictable ending (but I watch a lot of crime movies) and one side-ways leap in plot logic that felt jarring. Still, this is one entertaining flick and I hope MGM markets it right to reach the mature audience it deserves. I love crime and film noir flicks and this one delivers in spades -- I was never bored and there were enough twists and turns in the plot to keep me guessing. I might even pay to see it again in the theaters when it opens.
Cheers,
-Brendon by the Beach
