You know that a noirish suspense film is in trouble when it begins like a soft-core porn flick as sleepy small-town police chief Matt Whitlock (Denzel Washington) is called by his girlfriend Anne (Sanaa Lathan) on a fake burglary call. The screen heats up as they get closer and closer to going at it until an actual police dispatch calls him away. That’s the first 10 minutes gone and all we have to show for it is the knowledge that Matt has a hot girlfriend. Whoopee.
Pretty soon, we are introduced to Anne’s sleaze ball husband Chris and Matt’s estranged wife Alex (Eva Mendes). We find out that Matt resents Alex’s better position in law enforcement (homicide detective to small-town police chief), that Chris is onto Anne and Matt’s affair, and that Anne has cancer that has not gone into remission. This is all done with the barest of characterization or emotion. We don’t become attached to any character except, perhaps, Alex because they all seem rather stupid. If Matt and Anne are trying to keep their relationship a secret, why are they walking around arm and arm? If Anne’s doctor knows of expensive treatments that may help Anne, why does he tell Matt (posing as her brother) and not her?
Matt decides to steal $500,000 from a recent drug bust to finance Anne’s operation. After the money is given to Anne, she and her husband are found dead in their arson-torched home (an important plot point, but since every trailer has given it away, I have no ethical problem doing so) and the money is gone. And Matt has been named prime beneficiary in Anne’s 1,000,000 life insurance policy. And a neighbor has seen Matt lurking around Anne’s home. All of a sudden, Matt looks like the prime suspect.
Eventually, as all noir-suspense films must, various plot points converge and facts begin to make a 180-degree turn. This would be all right if there were crackling dialogue, or a strong relationship between Anne and Matt (never are we given the idea that Matt cares about her enough to risk $500,000), or interesting characters. But, there aren’t. I cannot fault Washington’s acting, as Matt is little but a low-rent Lothario making stupid choices in a small town. I am now considering writing the academy to stop giving out Academy Awards to good actors because they appear in drivel afterwards. Look at the careers of Angelina Jolie, Halle Beery, Kim Basinger, or Cuba Gooding Jr. if you strongly disagree with this statement. Just about the only interesting character is Alex because we sense she has a lot of pride riding on solving the case. Unfortunately, that just makes us madder at our hero, Matt, for trying to stop her from finding out the real facts. She also makes just as many stupid choices as Matt.
This is also a badly shot film. Slow motion is used a handful of times, every last one of them bad. It’s as if they’re trying to cover up shoddy special effects or reveal surprises in the plot; they come across as belonging in a TV-movie rather than a 50 million dollar flick starring an Academy-Award winning actor. The dialogue is dull and an attempt to throw in pop culture (a joke based on those irritating Cingular ads “Can you hear me now?”) fails. Not a soul in my audience laughed.
Above, if you chose C, would you also rebuild your relationship with a spouse who has lied to you again and again and again? Just asking.