Deja Vu

Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel, Adam Goldberg

When Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer get together to make a movie you can be pretty sure there's going to be plenty of action, from their first outing together with TOP GUN up to the conspiracy theory thriller, ENEMY OF THE STATE. DÉJÀ VU is their latest collaboration and they've thrown a bit of sci-fi into the mix to make it a more interesting. In this case, the science fiction is that old stalwart, time travel.


Within the first five minutes of the film a New Orleans ferry full of sailors and families is blown up (in a typically spectacular Bruckheimer/Scott way) and ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is brought in to investigate. His investigation takes a new turn when the body of a woman turns up on the shore, apparently a victim of the blast, but who had died before the explosion happened. It's not until the FBI enlist his talents to help with their retrospective surveillance does Carlin suspect something is going on that he is not being told about. When they finally admit what they can do, Carlin wants to use the technology to prevent the bombing and not to capture the perpetrator after the fact.


The approach to the time travel conundrum is initially handled in a very believable way, where the Feds can only see back four days and are not able to deviate from that time frame. This is great for adding tension, as there are no second chances. What is interesting is the actual science behind the time travel, which kept reminding me of Nikola Tesla's experiments – the blacking out of cities, his theories on time (which were contrary to those of Einstein) and the fictional machine featured in THE PRESTIGE – all of which make the conceit all the more plausible.


Of course, there were incongruities that are inevitable with these concepts and don't really bare too much thought. They all stem around the, "but if he did that how come that happened" scenarios, and for those that like to nit-pick there are plenty of things that stretch poetic license but, to the writer's credit, they are generally handled well. And being a Tony Scott there really isn't too much time to give the scenes a lot of scrutiny. The visual style that has become his trademark is fully evident with the constantly mobile camera, colours shift and staccato editing, sets the pace as the story races against the clock.

As far as time travel movies go it's not as much fun as BACK TO THE FUTURE or as baffling as PRIMER but it is good entertainment that is a bit more thought-provoking than your average action blockbuster, with some good humorous moments and a great cast too. Unfortunately the ending is a bit typically contrived Hollywood, but that is only two minutes out of 120. Definitely worth a look, even if it is just to try and figure out the time travel conundrum.

DÉJÀ VU is in cinemas from December 15.

Watch the trailers here.

Apocalypto

Director: Mel Gibson
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Raoul Trujillo, Gerardo Taracena


Prior to its completion there was not a lot known about Mel Gibson's latest movie beyond the fact it was about the fall of the Mayan civilisation and it all the dialogue was in Yucatec, the principle language of the Mayan. Replicating the use of ancient and native languages, as he did with the phenomenally successful The Passion of Christ, is somewhat of a brave move on Gibson's part but one that he again pulls off with aplomb. While many will accuse Gibson of artistic indulgence, or worse sins, it is his drive for authenticity that motivates his decision. Despite winning multiple Oscars for Braveheart Gibson received a lot of flak for its historical inaccuracies in the name of making a good film. With so little known about the fall of the Mayans Apocalypto isn't likely to attract so much fervent criticism. Also, it is not really so much a film about the fall of a civilisation, but the survival of one man and his family.


Jaguar Paw is a hunter with a jungle tribe in what is now the Yucatan area of Mexico. As the film opens we follow him and other hunters from the village as they capture a wild boar, before returning to their idyllic village life. Gibson adds a lot of humour into these opening scenes, usually at the expense of Blunted, another member of the hunting party. But this frivolity is a marked contrast for what ensues, as the village is attacked and those who aren't killed are captured. Jaguar Paw manages to hide his pregnant wife and child before he is captured, but this leaves them alone and vulnerable. The men and women of the village are then taken to one of the Mayan cities, painstakingly recreated by Gibson's production team, to be sold into slavery or sacrificed to appease the gods for the drought and disease that is ravaging the country. When Jaguar Paw manages to escape, he is pursued by his captors as he desperately tries to return to his family. And this is where the movie comes into its own.


The themes of decadence, political power struggles and religious fanatacism that herald the demise of the Mayan civilisation, and others that have come before and after, do serve as a timely warning to Western civilisation, but it is not the driving force behind the film.


What at first appears to be an anthropological historical drama is really just a basic chase movie. From its gentle, humorous beginning through a dramatic and often brutal second act it climaxes with an incredibly energetic and thrilling chase through the jungle as Jaguar Paw races home on foot while systematically killing off his pursuers. Fantastic handheld camerawork further enhances the intensity, while the drama is heightened, for the audience, as the movie cuts to shots of Jaguar Paw's family in peril. It may be clichéd but adrenaline rush is an apt description. The sheer athleticism of lead actor Rudy Youngblood is something to behold as he sprints through the jungle and overcomes both human and non-human obstacles. The whole cast, made up of native Americans from all over the continent, do a very convincing job of both the action and the dialogue.

As a director, this is possibly Gibson's least controversial and therefore most accessible film to date. It has the spectacle and action of classics like Ben Hur, but in a simple and engaging story, shot with stunning and intimate cinematography. The subtitled Yucatec dialogue is minimal and does present any more problems for the viewer than watching any other foreign language film. It should be pointed out that the dialogue was originally written in English and then translated, so the subtitles are what the writers wanted to say and any deviations will be in the spoken word.

This is independent cinema made with passion and big budgets. There is no doubting Gibson's ability as a director, or his attention to detail in the design if not historical accuracy, so if you didn't fancy The Passion of Christ then go and see this one. It also makes a great companion film for Darren Aranofsky's The Fountain, which is released later in January.

Apocalypto opens on January 5 2007.

Visit the official web site.

Watch the trailer

Eragon

Director: Stefen Fangmeier
Cast: Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, Rachel Weisz

Dragon movies haven't been too successful in the past, apart from ENTER THE DRAGON. From PETE'S DRAGON to REIGN OF FIRE to DRAGONHEART, and many more in between, the public have not been enamoured by these fantastic beasts. Although chasing the dragon has always been popular with Hollywood, fantasy films were always a hard sell for the studios, or at least until THE LORD OF THE RINGS gave them new credibility and marketability.


The trouble with the fantasy genre is there is so much badly written and clichéd material out there. That doesn't mean it has a monopoly on tat, as all genres have their fair share of poor storytelling and substandard writing, but fantasy has even more stigma attached to it than sci-fi, with which it is invariably grouped. Most publishers specify in their submissions guidelines, "No fantasy or sci-fi", just to avoid being inundated with the aforementioned, badly scribed manuscripts that are invariably written by young men producing Lord of the Rings clones. Of course, this does mean that in their blanket denial of the genre the publishers miss out on some huge best-sellers, Harry Potter being a case in point. This is also true for Christopher Paolini's Eragon, penned when he was a teenager, and self-published until it was picked up by Knopf, where it went on to sell millions worldwide.


It is a tale of despots and the fall of the dragon-riders. Eragon (Ed Speleers) is a teenage orphan (why do fictional heroes never come from normal, well-adjusted nuclear families?), who lives with his uncle under the tyrannical reign of Galbatorix (John Malkovich) and his enforcer, Durza (Robert Carlyle). A rock is stolen from Galbatorix by Arya (Sienna Guillory), who is hunted down Durza. As she is caught, she magically sends the rock to another place where it is found by Eragon. It turns out the rock is a dragon egg, which promptly hatches, making Eragon Durza's new target. Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, are taken under the wing (so to speak) of Brom (Jeremy Irons), an old dragonrider, as they go to seek out the Varden (a sort of Rebel Alliance).

I've not read the novel because I am not a huge fan of fantasy literature, and because I find so little time to read that I become very selective about what I choose. Seeing the ERAGON movie was my first introduction to the characters and plot, so I had no way judging how faithful it is to the book, which is probably a good thing. However, I suspect it is fairly close because the story does come across as if it was written by a teenager, and I hope my opinion wasn't clouded by the knowledge that it was.

Having said that, the movie is clearly aimed at a teenage audience that enjoyed THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the escape into fantasy realms these films offer. However, I wouldn't call it a family film, in the way that Pixar animations are. ERAGON doesn't really offer enough to keep the adults engrossed. That is not to say that visuals aren't stunning. The dragon is beautifully realised and believable, for a CGI character, which is further helped by Rachel Weisz's voice over characterisation. As she is a pivotal character this is very important. The battle scenes were well-orchestrated and used real people instead of CGI armies, but it was simply another fantasy battle scene that resembles Helm's Deep meets the Triwizard Tournament.


The main interest, especially among teenage girls, is the lead role played by Ed Speleers. He does a commendable job, delivering the often clichéd dialogue, as do the other actors. Malkovich camps it up as the evil ruler and Carlyle seems to be having fun as the heavily made up Durza. In fact he called his role, "playing, not acting".

Whether it falls under the curse of the dragon movies we will see in the coming weeks, but with plenty of eye-candy and plenty of action, along with impressive, and seamless, special effects it will certainly keep the under-twenties entertained during the holidays. And it may even appeal to older fans of LOTR, but Jackson's trilogy is a hard act to follow.

ERAGON is in cinemas from December 15

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View trailer here.