fine whine

So yesterday I mentioned having watched Out of time with Denzel Washington, but I neglected to say whether I'd enjoyed it. I think I might have, but I am not sure. A lot of it was fairly humdrum and a couple actions incomprehensible (would you give somebody a large chunk of money and then expect to meet them later that night? Give them the money that night, duh!) but there were parts that briefly elevated it over the thriller-by-numbers it otherwise, well, is.

I can't imagine not pointing it out as a decent enough movie to watch, so I'll try not to give away too much hereafter. There is a brilliant bit of misdirection near the end that is well done and what is probably meant to be a twist ending that isn't. That misdirection is somewhat important as it can only happen when the film broadens from (Denzel's character) Matt's perspective into ones into which he has no possible view. I'm beginning to really dislike movies that do that sort of thing, but seeing as the vast majority of films are done that way I'll have to grin and bear it, though in this one the non-Matt scenes are very few and probably all the more noticeable because of it.

All of this brings me back to my ongoing procrastination of writing a cheesy film myself. Do I want it to be subjective, showing only what the protagonist could expect to see? Would Bond films be nearly as popular if we only saw Auric Goldfinger or the guy who wants to take over the world (you know, that one) during the final confrontations? The answer to the latter is a likely no, though there's a case to be made for Goldeneye wherein the main villain is basically offscreen until Pierce, er, James stumbles across him in Gorky Park. But what am I to do? Would Night of the living dead have been half as effective if we the audience got to see the outside of the house? I don't think so.