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.
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.
posted by Chris Patmore at 3:01 PM
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