Deja Vu
The story kicks off with the explosion of a ferry boat that was carrying some off-duty Marines, women and children celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans. ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is called in to investigate the possible terrorist act. He finds some evidence that seems to suggest a bomb triggered the explosion, and later discovers the body of a woman named Claire (Paula Patton) who has washed ashore, and although she was not killed by the explosion, Doug strongly believes that the bombing and Claire's murder are somehow connected. He is soon after approached by an FBI agent named Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), who introduces Doug to an experimental new program the agency is working on where they can literally watch the past unfold on computer screens within a certain limited range and by a four and a half day delay. They can follow Claire, watching her final days alive, and learn of her connection to the bombing, as well as the identity of the perpetrator of both crimes. It's even possible that the technology can affect the past, as they can theoretically send a living being back in time to the events they are witnessing and try to prevent the crime from happening, although this part of the technology has not proved successful so far. As Doug becomes emotionally attached to Claire as he is forced to watch her make the mistakes that will ultimately lead to her murder and the murder of others, he makes a daring decision to actually attempt traveling back into the past and try to change the flow of the future.
Deja Vu is directed by Tony Scott, who is perhaps best known for his overly frantic style of editing and storytelling. (His last film, Domino, was an exercise in near-incomprehension and a total assault on the senses.) He calms down quite a bit in telling this somewhat hard to swallow combination of murder mystery, race against the clock police investigation drama, science fiction, and time travel. Time travel is always a tricky topic to cover in film, as it almost seems to hold the door open to plot holes that can sometimes destroy a film. However, screenwriters Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) and Bill Marsilli are able to avoid most of the traps that can sometimes occur when you mess around with time in your storyline. It's not completely airtight, mind you. I would have liked to have known a little bit more about the history of the project depicted in this film, and the characters seem to completely ignore how their interfering in the past might have unforeseen circumstances. Even if Doug were able to travel back in time, save Claire, and prevent the bombing from happening, what if it somehow opened up a rift, and caused some other disaster to occur? The characters never once really question how risky interfering with past events can be, and just seem to go into the situation at full force, the only thing holding them back being that they have never successfully transported a living thing back into the past.
While the whole time travel aspect does add some new possibilities to the standard "officer hunting down a psychotic killer" thriller, the movie for the most part plays it by the book. The movie features all the required car chases, investigation scenes, women in distress, and suspenseful scenes where the cop and the killer are stalking each other that one has come to expect in a movie of this type. While all of this stuff is more than familiar, it's at least done fairly well, and the action moves along at a fairly brisk pace. While I admire the filmmakers for trying to add some originality with the whole time travel idea, it is ultimately this that winds up bogging down not only the story, but the movie itself. We spend literally the entire middle portion of the movie watching Denzel Washington and a small group of actors sitting in front of a large computer monitor, and watching the past unfold. In other words, we the audience are looking at a screen showing Denzel Washington looking at a screen. The movie does try to throw some ideas during these moments, such as the moment when Washington actually affects the past by pointing a red laser pointer at the screen, and the person on the screen somehow notices it. But, very little is done with this potentially intriguing moment, and it is never really fleshed out so that it can reached its full potential. Deja Vu never quite digs deep enough into its own potential during these moments, and as such, it never quite becomes the movie the filmmakers probably wanted it to be.
In terms of the cast, Denzel Washington has proven himself time and time again to be a versatile actor. He can successfully pull off dramatic characters, as well as action-heavy ones. Here he gets to do a little bit of both, and although his character of Doug is a bit shallow in terms of characterization, he is still likeable enough to carry the movie, thanks mostly to Washington's performance. Paula Patton is a sympathetic presence as the doomed Claire, and I also liked it how the screenplay does not try to turn her into a love interest for Doug. The rest of the outside cast is fairly disposable, as they are either given no real personality to play off of (like Val Kilmer), or they are simply forced to recite fake science dialogue, explaining how the time travel technology works. Aside from the two lead roles, the only performance that gets a reaction is Jim Caviezel, who gives an appropriately chilling and eerie performance as the lead suspect in the investigation. He's a long way from his most famous role in The Passion of the Christ here, and proves that he can give a large variety of successful performances.
I guess the best way I can sum up my reaction to Deja Vu is that I liked a lot of the ideas the movie brought forth, but wasn't always happy with how they were implemented. The movie's not bad, but the entire middle section of the movie slows everything down to a near crawl, and that simply cannot be forgiven. They also could have done a lot more with the whole time travel idea, and the movie just plays it far too safe. Deja Vu may not always work, but I have to give it points for trying something different and for trying. Unfortunately, as much as I want to, I can't give it much more than that.
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