This holiday weekend, if you’re looking for entertainment that doesn’t include fighting mall crowds, check out the local non-mall movie theater for Jerry Bruckheimer’s and Tony Scott’s new action thriller, “Déjà Vu,” starring Denzel Washington.
Tony Scott is the director who brought us some action favorites such as “Enemy of the State,” “Crimson Tide,” and “True Romance.”
More recently, his work has shown a lot of experimentation with the camera to make the narrative hyper-visual. Scott’s film “Domino,” starring Keira Knightley, was like a tab of bad acid that made you promise that you’ll never do it again if you just make it through the trip.
Scott goes back to his more familiar style of gritty action storytelling, which really works for this newest film.
Like so many of his previous films he really focuses on the look and editing for aesthetic purposes.
While those elements keep you engaged in the story, be wary of a few moments of exposition that tend to drift toward overkill.
The film, written by Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio (writer of “The Legend of Zorro” and all three of Disney’s “Pirates of the Carribean” films), starts with and centers on an explosion that destroys a passenger ferry along the riverbanks in New Orleans.
Local ATF agent Doug Carlin, played by Denzel Washington (“Man on Fire,” another Tony Scott film), arrives on the scene to investigate the heinous crime.
FBI agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”) joins him at the site of the investigation to help uncover the possible terrorist involvement.
Pryzwarra invites Carlin to be a part of a new secret government team when he sees his ability to sort through the crime scene.
This team uses a sophisticated, and quite cool, technology that basically employs time travel to look at past events to put together crime scenes and catch the bad guys.
Have an extra sip of your favorite caffeinated beverage during a scene in which they try to explain the workings behind that new government toy that warps time and space. It’ll help keep you awake through the word vomit until the story picks up again.
Since there are no other apparent leads, the team follows the life of one victim, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton, “Hitch”), found right before the explosion and who they think the terrorist killed.
During the investigation Carlin becomes attracted to Claire Kuchever, even though she is dead in the present.
His search using her as the focus pays off.
Now, anytime you deal with time travel and the outcomes of both present and past change as the story progresses. It is hard to keep the audience from getting confused.
There are two things, which mess with the timeline that could be potentially confusing.
The first is when Carlin tries to warn his previous self about the crime. He sends a note back in time, his partner follows it instead, and falls victim to the terrorist, Carroll Oerstadt, played by Jim Caviezel (Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”).
The second is when Carlin himself goes back in time, by four days, to stop Oerstadt.
Fortunately, the filmmakers are able to pull it off without confusing anyone.
It never gets mixed up in any sort of paradox that makes you dumb trying to sort it all out in your head.
If you get confused easily, the film may be worth a second viewing.
You might catch something you thought you saw the first time through, but maybe it was just…well, you know.
