WHEN Matt Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington), chief of police for the small town of Banyan Key, discovers his lover and her husband have been murdered in an arson attack, his life begins to fall apart.

The situation would not be quite as bad except Whitlock has already been a very naughty boy, taking drugs money from a police safe to run off with his girlfriend. Now a second police force wants the money to be returned safely to them and it appears to have vanished.

Whitlock realises someone is trying to frame him for the two murders and what follows is a race against time for the policeman to prove his innocence by finding the guilty party, while desperately trying to conceal his wrongdoings.

This is a fairly run of the mill thriller which is not really aided by the numerous twists which keep rearing their heads, making the plot increasingly confusing.

Washington again does a fine job with a relatively mundane script but even his wonderful acting skills failed to elevate Out of Time from the mundane piece of work it is.

The DVD also includes screen tests, outtakes, a photo gallery and character profiles.

HC