Deja Vu

IMDB

Netflix

Being in possession of a physics degree will make a movie look intriguing. The name of the film and the mention of blackouts by the science guy in the previews makes it obvious that large amounts of electricity will be used to meddle with the time-space continuum, with an emphasis on the time part. That’s right kids – a time travel film! With Denzel Washington, no less!

The cast actually has some other folks of mention too, including Val Kilmer (the Ice Man has returned, but looking a little more – um – solid). Adam Goldberg is there playing the science geek (you may remember him from A Beautiful Mind playing another geek, or maybe even The Hebrew Hammer as well, the Hammer). James Caviezel (most notably playing Jesus lately) also shows up towards the end. The people behind the camera warrant mention too – Tony Scott directed (he also did Top Gun and Enemy of the State, which is interesting because the camera work of Enemy of the State is similar, and Val Kilmer was a high billing actor in Top Gun as well). Jerry Bruckheimer was the producer – it is interesting that he pulled himself away from television to do some film work again. This film is also of note, because it is the first one filmed in New Orleans since the tragedy of Katrina.

So with big name talent and the attraction of messing with time, how can things go wrong? The idea of the film is that a ferry explodes in New Orleans, and ATF agent Doug Carlin (Washington) is investigating the scene. As the investigation proceeds, FBI agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Kilmer) approaches Doug and asks him to join his special team, which has some new equipment that is able to do some very special surveillance on the scene. Investigation of a lady who was found dead at the scene leads Doug to finding out more about the ferry explosion. The more that Doug learns about the mysterious lady and the project that he has joined, the more drastic his measures become.

I think that the story deserves credit for being fairly original, if a little predictable at times. There are the usual subpar explanations of the science behind things done to explain things to Doug (and hence the audience, how convenient). The limitations of the hardware that the team is using are explained to be one thing when first shown, and later on seem to have capabilities expanded purely as a plot device. I know that it is just a story but it does kill the suspension of disbelief a little. As does the magic HumVee that is driven around – I feel that it was included to add some action to things, but the plausibility of it is a little lacking in my opinion. One minute they are claiming that their technology can take out half of the United States in a blackout, and the next they have a portable version, first in a car and then in a backpack. The ending of the film is also a little too convenient. If and when you see the film, you will see what I mean. It wraps things up too nicely for my liking.

The strangest inconsistency is at a time where Doug is supposedly in a hurry to go somewhere, and stops at somebody’s house to clean up. Once inside the house, the sense of urgency is completely lost. The people in the house don’t look in a hurry at all – totally at odds to what they looked a few minutes ago on film. Either something changed after they filmed the scene, or somebody did not remind the people on camera how urgently they should be acting. It actually really blew the feeling of urgency that I had as an audience, which was dissappointing.

 Despite these nits the film is actually quite well done. The production is excellent – the atmosphere of post Katrina New Orleans is captured nicely, they show the city in sunshine and in rain, in night and day – which makes for some nice variety. There is even a scene that involves a SWAT raid on a house in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, which cemented the locale in a very solid way. The style of the shooting is very well done, but not so elaborate that you lose a sense of what is going on. There is very little in the way of chase scenes or gun fights – this is much more of a suspense film than an action one.

All in all, for all of my complaining about some of the story elements, this was a very good film. The acting was great, and the story is very intriguing, making you interested in what will happen next. I think that you can enjoy this whether time travel is interesting to you or not.