A
film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.
Wedding
the phrase Jerry Bruckheimer
production with the words intelligent
screenplay might seem to be an unimaginable mismatch, but it has happened. Deja Vu, the new thriller from
Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott,
impresses with both the complexity of its storyline and its willingness to
allow things to develop at their own pace without interjecting a lot of
needless action scenes into the early proceedings to keep viewers attentive. Deja Vu contains its share of action,
but it comes later in the film. In fact, one could argue that the movie
features one of the most original car chase sequences ever committed to
celluloid.
This
is a time travel movie - sort of. I hesitate to call it science fiction,
because there's little science to go along with the fiction (although the movie
makes a game try to incorporate a few Einstein-based concepts into the
screenplay). Something like Minority
Report is a science fiction thriller; Deja
Vu is more a straightforward thriller that uses time travel as a device. Of
course, with time travel come time travel paradoxes. That's where the fun lies.
If you go back in time, can you alter events or do you become part of them?
Part of Deja Vu's enjoyment is that,
while it doesn't ignore the paradoxes, it doesn't overthink them, either. It
allows the viewer to toy with them in his/her mind, then gives an unambiguous
interpretation. Were he alive, Carl Sagan might not be impressed but, in terms
of allowing audiences to do more than gaze slack-jawed at the screen, this is
light years ahead of anything Bruckheimer has previously attempted.
The
director is Tony Scott, whose resume is so maddeningly inconsistent that it
makes one wonder whether there are two men working under the same name. Deja Vu is the product of the good Scott. He directs in a no-frills
manner, keeping things moving and injecting a fair amount of suspense. There
aren't that many surprises - at least for the viewer who pays attention - and
that's a blessing. Twists in time travel movies are almost always cheesy. The
lack of narrative contortions does little to diminish the movie's impact. More
importantly, Scott curbs his tendencies to exhibit his artistic side by doing all sorts of weird things with the camera.
That part of the director's repertoire is kept in check.
It's
Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, February 2006. The city, still recovering from
Hurricane Katrina, is about to take another blow. A ferry explodes just off
shore, killing more than 500 people, many of them members of the military and
their children. It's identified almost immediately as an act of terrorism.
Enter ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel
Washington), whose initial observations earn him the admiration and
attention of FBI agent Pryzwarra (Val
Kilmer), who runs the elite agency taking the point in the investigation.
Carlin is recruited and soon finds himself looking through a window in time
that gives amazingly clear images of events that occurred exactly four days and
six hours ago. Pryzwarra's explanation is that it's a digital composite of satellite
images, but Carlin doesn't believe him. He thinks it's something else, and he's
determined to find out what. Meanwhile, Carlin discovers a connection between
the ferry bombing and the murder of a young woman, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton). With a Laura-like obsession, Carlin begins to
study everything about Claire, watching her life unfold as time ticks away to
the moment when her life will end.
The
first half of Deja Vu is a police
procedural with a twist. Carlin is investigating the murder and terrorist act,
but he mixes traditional and non-traditional methods. His advantage is the time
window, but it has its drawbacks, as well. Those include a no rewind option and a limited range. The latter leads to the
previously mentioned car chase, which is unlike anything attempted in a movie.
The rest of the first hour relies on the appeal of programs like CSI as Carlin
builds his case against a domestic terrorist (Jim Caviezel), but there are gaping holes and unexplained evidence.
Those
looking for Bruckheimer's trademark action scenes have to be patient. They
arrive but, aside from the car chase, all occur during the second hour. That's
when Deja Vu becomes more routine.
The movie never abandons its premise, but the first hour is more intellectually
engaging than the second. By the time the things shift into high gear for its
last act, we're in familiar action territory. The ending is satisfactory and
satisfying, and it is presented with enough clarity that there won't be much
head scratching.
Denzel
Washington plays Denzel Washington, good cop. This isn't a great performance,
but Washington wasn't brought in to show off his acting chops. He's here to
give the audiences a friendly face they can identify with. Likewise, there's
not much for performers like Val Kilmer, Matt
Craven, and Adam Goldberg to do
except move the narrative forward. The most interesting work belongs to Paula
Patton, who plays a dead woman. It's not hard to understand why Carlin is
haunted by her.
Deja Vu is a little long,
but it covers a lot of ground. It's an imperfect motion picture, but it has
lots to recommend it, and the more egregious flaws don't become apparent until
post-movie ruminations. Whether or not it earns the distinction at the box
office, Deja Vu is being positioned
as the premiere Thanksgiving weekend action movie. It's more flavorful than a
lot of films that have claimed the title over the years, and it's definitely no
turkey. [Berardinelli’s rating: 3 out of 4 stars]
[Blogger’s
note: If you enjoy sci-fi thrillers in which time is not linear, films like: Source Code (2011), Inception (2010), Next (2007)
and Frequency (2000), then you’ll definitely
enjoy Deja Vu.]
Labels:
action, sci-fi, space-time, thriller
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