(Carl Franklin, US 2003, 105 min., 35mm)
Re-teaming with Denzel Washington nearly a decade after Devil in a Blue Dress, director Carl Franklin trades in 1940s Los Angeles for the sweaty, post-millennial Florida Keys. Washington plays Chief of Police Matt Whitlock, at once divorcing Alex (Eva Mendes) and sleeping with married Ann (Sanaa Lathan). When Matt discovers that Ann has cancer, he decides to take half a million dollars, evidence from a drug bust, to allow her to travel to Switzerland for treatment. But when the money, Ann, and her husband burn in a house fire, Matt is forced to maneuver his way out of increasingly dangerous situations to clear his name and return his life to normal. Evoking Body Heat as much as the bad-cop noir cycle of the 1950s, this slick thriller updates noir tropes for the new century.