DVD Movie Guide @ dvdmg.com Awards & Recommendations at Amazon.com.
.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main
MGM

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Carl Franklin
Cast:
Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes, Sanaa Lathan
Writing Credits:
David Collard

Synopsis:
When a small-town Florida woman and her drug-running husband are murdered, the chief of police has to stay two steps ahead of his own detective because all the clues lead to him.

Box Office:
Budget
$50 million.
Opening Weekend
$16,185,316 on 3076 screens.
Domestic Gross
$41,088,845.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Spanish Dolby 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Cantonese
Korean
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 105 min.
Price: $14.98
Release Date: 6/2/2009

Bonus:
• Trailers


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Out Of Time [Blu-Ray] (2003)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (June 20, 2021)

In the short-term after his Oscar win for 2001’s Training Day, Denzel Washington sputtered through some bad movies like 2002’s John Q. 2003’s Out of Time definitely betters that clunker, but it remains in Washington’s “forgettable” file, as it provides an unexceptional thriller.

Set in tropical Banyan Key, Florida, soon-to-be-divorced Chief of Police Matt Whitlock (Denzel Washington) maintains an affair with Ann Merai Harrison (Sanaa Lathan). She’s married to a violent jerk named Chris Harrison (Dean Cain), and we witness obvious dislike between Chris and Matt. Matt recently performed a drug bust that nabbed hundreds of thousands of dollars in dirty money.

According to Dr. Frieland (Alex Carter), Ann has an aggressive form of cancer that will probably kill her within half a year. Matt recommends that she pursue some pricey experimental treatments, but she can’t afford these.

When she finds that Chris changed her life insurance policy from $100,000 to $1,000,000 without her knowledge, she initially pursues selling it to the “Living Gift Foundation”. They become the beneficiary of the policy and will give her a substantial amount of money, but this fails to materialize.

Eventually she makes Matt the beneficiary and plans to leave town. However, Matt steals the drug money and gives it to Ann so they can split together.

When a fire consumes their house, it appears that both Chris and Ann burn to death. This seems suspicious, so homicide detective Alex Diaz-Whitlock – Matt’s estranged wife – takes the lead in the investigation.

She learns of Ann’s affair, so Matt works to take her off his tail. The plot thickens when Matt and Alex visit Ann’s long-time doctor and hear that she didn’t have cancer, contrary to what Dr. Frieland told her. When Matt goes to see the physician, he discovers the Frieland he met was an imposter.

This sets up two concerns for Matt. He needs to make sure Alex doesn’t learn of his involvement with Ann, and he also needs to learn about the intricacy related to the fake Frieland and the apparently inaccurate diagnosis.

To make matters worse, an elderly neighbor of Ann’s tells the police she saw a prowler outside of the Harrison place, and she notes that he looked a lot like Matt. Folks pooh-pooh her statements because she clearly thinks all black men look alike, but this spooks Matt.

In addition, the DEA need to get a hold of the now-missing drug money, so Matt scrambles to deal with that. The rest of the movie follows these various threads.

Out of Time offers a sporadically intriguing thriller, and much of the problem comes from the frequent lack of suspense. Put simply, Time telegraphs far too many of its plot twists.

I won’t claim that I saw all of them coming, but it lets us know what will happen too easily. For example, one scene of exposition grinds the film to a halt to let us know about a GPS system used by the police. This glaringly tells us that the GPS device will eventually come into play, so when it occurs, it feels awfully obvious.

With so many obvious twists, the movie has to work overtime to find surprises, which makes them less effective. We never really trust the movie to play fair.

Time telegraphs lots of elements, so the less predictable bits almost feel like cheats. It ties together acceptably well but never becomes terribly coherent or well integrated.

Part of the problem stems from all the competing plot threads, as these seem meant to communicate all the pressures on Matt, and they should make the film seem tenser. After all, with so many threats against our lead, we should really feel the heat.

Instead, they have the opposite effect, as the pressures come so frequently that they seem almost comical. We don’t feel worried for Matt, as we know he’ll get out of these scrapes.

After all, he’s the lead, and if he gets caught too soon, the movie ends. However, we also don’t really delight in how he escapes these jams, mostly because they turn silly after a while. These attempts at tension actually alleviate those feelings.

We get a typical solid performance from Washington at least. He doesn’t break a sweat, but he adds some class to an otherwise lackluster piece.

Ultimately, Out of Time seems watchable and reasonably entertaining, but it offers nothing more than that. It gives us a competently crafted thriller that nonetheless fails to become anything noteworthy.


The Disc Grades: Picture C+/ Audio B/ Bonus D-

Out of Time appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This seemed like a mediocre presentation.

Sharpness varied. Much of the movie showed reasonably good delineation, but the image could also go soft for no logical reason. As such, we ended up with a film that lacked consistent clarity.

The picture showed no jagged edges or moiré effects, but some light edge haloes popped up periodically. As for print flaws, I saw no specks or marks, but digital noise could be a factor, and some odd stripes occasionally ran on the sides of the frame.

Colors veered toward teal and orange, and like the rest of the image, they varied in quality. At times the hues looked vibrant and full, but they could also seem overbearing – especially oranges, as those overwhelmed complexions at times. In general, colors worked fine, but they lacked consistency and could seem problematic.

Blacks were decent – though a bit inky – and shadows seemed similarly acceptable but unexceptional. While the movie remained watchable, this felt like an erratic image.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix of Out of Time seemed generally subdued, as the soundfield remained mostly anchored in the front realm. The forward channels provided good stereo imaging for music and effects, as sounds appeared in the appropriate locations and blended together efficiently.

Not a lot of movement occurred across the speakers, but the mix seemed reasonably well integrated nonetheless. As for the surrounds, they offered reinforcement of music and effects. A few dynamic scenes – like a fire added some unique information but the back channels didn’t have a ton to do.

Dialogue appeared consistently natural and distinct, with no edginess of other issues. Effects sounded accurate and clean, with reasonable presence and no signs of distortion.

Music worked well, as the percussive score presented good clarity. Highs seemed crisp and bright, while bass was rich and warm. Though never a great mix, the track suited the film.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD? The lossless audio felt a bit broader and richer, while visuals felt a bit better defined.

That said, the picture didn’t offer a substantial step up over the DVD. I suspect both used the same transfer and whatever improvements I saw came from the Blu-ray’s strengths.

The disc opens with ads for Walking Tall, Ronin and The Usual Suspects. We also find the trailer for Out of Time.

The Blu-ray includes no other extras, a step down from the DVD. It wasn’t packed with materials, but it came with a commentary and a few other materials.

A 2018 Blu-ray restored these and gave a Special Edition version of the Blu-ray. I couldn't review it but I wanted to note its existence, and you'll find a link to it on Amazon at the top of this page.

A mediocre thriller, Out of Time suffers from too many predictable elements. It telegraphs many of its twists and fails to become anything more than average at best. The Blu-ray presents good audio as well as mediocre visuals and no bonus materials. This winds up as a bland release for a spotty movie.

To rate this film visit the DVD review of OUT OF TIME

.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main