Out of Time – Review

A-list celebrities are not automatically immune from being involved in disappointing movies. From time to time a film comes out that just kind of leaves you wondering why certain people decided to get involved with a project. They usually come back out of it just fine and go on to make more decent films, but you still just wonder what happened. Out of Time is a good example of this.

Now don’t get me wrong, the film isn’t terrible. It’s mildly entertaining in the made for television type of way. Is Eva Mendes an A-lister? I wouldn’t say so, yet I was surprised to see her in a film like this. However, surely Denzel is an A-lister and I have no idea what this guy was thinking. This is the type of project that surely must have looked much better on paper.

So there’s really only 5 main characters in the film: Denzel, his former wife, the woman he’s sleeping with also happens to be Dean Cain’s wife, Dean Cain, and Denzel’s sidekick/co-worker. Let’s start with Dean Cain, or should I say Superman. He’s not particularly terrible but not particularly great either. The point is that he is just a distraction. Imagine watching a movie only to find out that the villain is Corey Matthews from Boy Meets World. It doesn’t work for him and it doesn’t work for Superman either.

Eva Mendez and Denzel’s sidekick are both fine enough but they are both pretty one-dimensional. The woman Denzel is sleeping with is just a mess of a character. She is the ever so special combo of poor acting and a poor character which just leaves you with a mess. The ending is utterly predictable and not only does this person need to be recast but the story should have been rewritten in such a way that she would be much different.

And then there is Denzel’s character who is not impressive at all. I think the best way to describe him is as a lucky and happenstance hero. He manages to get through all the various tight situations not by skill or smarts or even anything of his own doing but rather by luck. He is an extremely lucky character and that seems to be the only reason why he is able to get things done while staying out of trouble.

So in the end you have a heavily predictable plot and flawed characters. With that being said the movie is still mildly entertaining. You probably won’t be excitedly telling all your friends about it afterwards but it does have some worthwhile moments.