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Out
of Time
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Director Carl Franklin has had a curious career path. His press kit CV tends to erase his beginnings – three whole features – under the tutelage of schlockmeister Roger Corman, in order to make it seem that the fine One False Move (1992) was his first movie. Since that so-called debut, Franklin has had an awfully hard time recapturing its satisfying mixture of action-thrills, social commentary and in-depth characterisation. His films tend to collapse into mechanical genre pieces, professionally but soullessly mounted, with large but inert pieces of African-American content stuck on, especially in the casting. His previous effort, High Crimes (2002), was an enjoyable exercise with a slight political frisson, but also, alas, as swiftly forgettable as most of his movies. Out of Time is the kind of film you watch to kill time on a long plane trip. It sets up a tense deadline: cop Matt (Denzel Washington) needs to hide from his colleagues the traces of his secret affair with Ann (Sanaa Lathan) after she is found apparently incinerated in her home. A large amount of money, which Matt has taken from the criminal evidence store, is involved behind the scenes. And now he needs those precious seconds of time to launch his own investigation into the anomalies informing this gruesome death of Ann and her abusive husband, Chris (Dean Cain). Franklin works hard to create an atmosphere that is both hot and lazy in its sensuality, in the vein of The Big Easy (1986). As well as the bruised and desiring Ann there is Matt's super-sexy ex-wife on the force, Alex (Eva Mendes). A subplot deadline figures here: their divorce is about to become final unless, of course, they can bring back those old sparks. This formulaic material is unworthy of Franklin's talent. One tires of seeing him embroider banal scripts like this, presumably for the sake of working with star-power like Washington. Too much emphasis is placed on quirky secondary figures, such as Matt's sidekick, Chae (John Billingsly). The Florida setting registers as having more personality than the leading players. Worst of all, the central character intrigue breaks down because it is hard to accept Matt as the essentially good guy driven by decency (and maybe a little lust) to break the law – and then very laboriously to keep breaking it in order to buy himself time. Out of Time only ever comes to life when we watch Matt contorting himself to maintain his cover story, like an unfaithful husband caught in a ridiculous lie. MORE Franklin: One True Thing © Adrian Martin January 2004 |
