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Review #317 of 365
Movie Review of Déjà Vu (2006) [PG-13] 128 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Where Viewed: Harkins Cine Capri at Northfield 18, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 24 November 2006
Time: 10:40 p.m.
Film's Official Website
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Review Dedicated to: Hunter J. of Atlanta, GA
Directed by: Tony Scott (Man on Fire)
Written by: Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Denzel Washington (Inside Man) • Val Kilmer (10th & Wolf) • Paula Patton (Idlewild) • James Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) • Adam Goldberg (Keeping Up with the Steins) • Elden Henson (Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School) • Erika Alexander ("Heist") • Bruce Greenwood (Eight Below)
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
"What if you had to tell someone the most important thing in the world, and you knew they'd never believe you?"—Doug Carlin
"I'd try."—Claire Kuchever
So, I walked up to the fountain by the Harkins Theatre at Northfield, and I noticed it was not bubbling and babbling as it had all summer long. There was no sound of children running and playing nearby. The ticket windows were all filled with patrons rushing to buy tickets on a Friday evening. I used the credit card kiosk to secure my ticket and, therefore, seat to see the new Tony Scott-directed, Denzel Washington picture, Déjà Vu. Clever, but a little too plot-revealing trailers had made this one of the films to see over Thanksgiving holiday. I hadn't planned to see the film were it not for a subtle suggestion planted by a co-worker who had indicated he would also be seeing the film that night after work. I had thought I'd save it, see something else less appealing and sort of get it out of the way. Which I did. Originally, I went in to see For Your Consideration. And, I thought I'd go home after, but instead, as I exited the theatre and walked past the fountain, I turned around and there it was again no bubbling and babbling as it had all summer long. There was no sound of children running and playing nearby. The Ticket windows were all filled with patrons rushing to buy tickets on a Friday evening. I used the credit card kiosk to secure my ticket and, therefore, seat to see the new Tony Scott-directed, Denzel Washington picture, Déjà Vu. And, I thought to myself, is this a trick of my mind, or have I just done this all before? I took my ticket in, and I thought I recognized the little ticket-taking usher. He was shorter than I, with his crisp white dress shirt, suspenders, and blue bow ties which, I guess, is the signature uniform of the Harkins Cinema chain. He tore my ticket and told me my theatre would be to my right just as he had before. Inside the auditorium, I took out my T-Mobile® Sidekick® III and Instant messaged with a few friends during the trivia slides and advertisements. The film finally started rolling.
The film begins with an effervescent crowd of people, sailors and school children mostly, flooding onto a ferry to cross from one side of the Mississippi River delta of a hurricane-battered New Orleans to the other. The lower level is filled with cars and the crowds of people on the upper decks are celebratory and happy. As the boat sets out, a child drops her doll into the water below foreshadowing the impending doom ahead. Approximately 10 minutes after departure, maybe less, the ferry explodes in a ball of fire killing nearly everyone aboard and sinking the boat to the bottom of the delta.
The film begins with an effervescent crowd of people, sailors and school children mostly, flooding onto a ferry to cross from one side of the Mississippi River delta of a hurricane-battered New Orleans to the other. The lower level is filled with cars and the crowds of people on the upper decks are celebratory and happy. As the boat sets out, a child drops her doll into the water below foreshadowing the impending doom ahead. Approximately 10 minutes after departure, maybe less, the ferry explodes in a ball of fire killing nearly everyone aboard and sinking the boat to the bottom of the delta.
Denzel Washington as Agent Doug Carlin
(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
Nearly immediately, local AFT Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is on the scene piecing together the evidence and figuring out the chain of events that led to the boat's devastating destruction. Not long after, he receives a call from a good pal who is a coroner for a local parish and learns that a woman's has washed up on shore badly burned and showing all signs that she is a ferry victim. The problem is that she washed up before the ferry was blown up. Upon meeting with the victim's father, he learns that Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) was supposed to pick her father up at the airport, but instead seems to have gone missing at some point between going out on a blind date and that morning.
Paula Patton as Claire Kuchever
(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
He investigates her home and finds evidence of a blood battle and kidnapping. On the fridge he sees magnetic letters that spell out "You can saver her" but they are of little significance to him at the time. As time goes by, he learns that his partner was killed aboard the ferry, and the FBI offers him little consolation as he continues to investigate the crime while mourning his losses. His investigations lead him to believe that the bomber, for some reason, kidnapped and killed Claire abandoning her in the water but with traces of the accelerants used in the bombing on her so she would seem to be just like any other victim. Only, she washed up on shore too early. So, he correctly ascertains that finding her killer will lead him to the bomber (James Caviezel).
Adam Goldberg as Super Scientist Denny
(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
What he doesn't know, but soon will, is that a team of hot shot scientists led by Denny (Adam Goldberg), Gunnars (Elden Henson), an Shanti (Erika Alexander) who had been working to enhance the resolution of spy satellites in space to permit facial recognition of any geographic area in the USA, accidentally discovered how to create tiny worm holes into the past exactly 4 and ½ backward. They can, therefore, using their technology and massive amounts of energy, look back anywhere they want to point their lens to see the scene of the crime before it's the scene of the crime. Their bosses, Agents Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and McCready (Bruce Greenwood) want Doug Carlin, expert criminologist and native of New Orleans to help them use their technology to spot out the bomber so they can solve his identity and catch him.
Val Kilmer as Agent Pryzwarra
(Click Still Photo to Purchase)
Participating in this top secret new crime investigation intrigues Carlin, but 'spying' on Claire in the past really catches his imagination and, for him, it's practically love at first sight. Quickly, he loses focus and fixates on finding a way to save her just like the magnetic letters on her fridge suggest he can.
"What if you had to tell someone the most important thing in the world, and you knew they'd never believe you?"—Claire Kuchever
"I'd try."—Doug Carlin
Theoretically probable or possible or not, the voyeuristic, time-travel spying makes for an ingenious plot device that grows increasingly complex and intriguing as Doug Carlin gets that much closer to solving the crime and catching the criminal. As no one knows the consequences of the technology, using it to view the past and potentially change the past and therefore the present, Agent McCready gives a lot of latitude to his group, with specific rules in place. He could not foresee, however, the determination of Carlin to not only solve the crime and catch the bomber, but to actually save the ferry boat of people and Claire from their certain death. The Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio script takes a nearly novel approach to this as if they almost didn't know how things would turn out themselves until they wrote it. This allows for surprises and twists that otherwise might have been missed.
"…Tony Scott…has created a film that works so well on many levels…a very welcome way to get this holiday film season rolling."
Director Tony Scott under the leadership of Jerry Bruckheimer, has created a film that works so well on many levels. The love story that emerges across time between Carlin and Kuchever, the determination of the backward-viewing team to establish some safety protocols, and the tension between past, present, and future and how they might overlap kept the adrenalin flowing—maybe not pumping, but flowing. Mr. Washington, again, delivers a very strong performance, but it is Paula Patton's presence that steals the screen. Her captivating beauty combined with a spunky irreverence and great personal strength make her a character worth dying to save. The casting director did the job on this film populating it with great character actors who adapted instantly to their roles. Although the trailer did give away too much of the plot, this new twist on the time-travel film, turned out to be a very welcome way to get this holiday film season rolling. Of course, there will be people, as there always are, who find parts of the film too technical and Agent Carlin's impudent demands that the scientists speak in plain English to explain their technology too contrived. There will be people who find the direction of Tony Scott too gratuitous and the need for no fewer than four major explosions in ever Brukheimer film predictable and gratuitous. And, of course, there will be people who say that now all of Denzel Washington's performances can be put into two categories: empathetic loaner 'cop' who finds a reason to live and shows it with pouty lips (Man on Fire, Inside Man, and now Déjà Vu) or empathetic father-like figure with principles he believes can change the world as demonstrated by his pout lips (John Q and Malcolm X) which may be true, but it doesn't change that he's still a brilliant actor who draws people to his character and makes viewers care. The point is to enjoy this film for what it is rather than for what it is not.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Other Projects Featuring Déjà Vu (2006)
Cast Members
Denzel Washington
• Val Kilmer • Paula PattonJames Caviezel
• Adam Goldberg • Elden HensonErika Alexander
• Bruce Greenwood Director
Tony Scott
Co-Writer
Terry Rossio
| DVD | VHS |
Déjà Vu (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Tony Scott's Déjà Vu begins with an effervescent crowd of sailors and school children flooding a ferry to cross the Mississippi River delta of a hurricane-battered New Orleans. After launching, the ferry explodes in a fireball killing over 500 people. AFT Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) investigates to solve the crime leading him to the connected-some-how death of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton). An FBI team with some fancy, new, backwards time review technology, brings him in to catch the bomber. Under Jerry Bruckheimer's watchful eye, Scott has created a film that works so well on many levels. The love story that emerges across time between Carlin and Kuchever and the tension between past, present, and future kept the adrenalin flowing—maybe not pumping, but flowing. Enjoy this film for what it is rather than for what it's not.
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