Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu (Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Adam Goldberg, Paula Patton) – Forget the gimmick that serves as a plot device and focus on the taut cop drama about the race to stop the bombing of a ferry.  With lots of references to Oklahoma City, the setting is New Orleans where a crazed terrorist is hell-bent on killing lots of people in the name of patriotism.  Jim Caviezel, who has played Jesus, golf legend Bobby Jones and a few other notable characters, is the former Marine turned nut case.  It’s ATF agent Doug Carlin, played by Denzel Washington, who’s in the race against the clock.  Viewed this way, you’ve seen the movie before (think of it as Déjà vu all over again) so the plot is familiar, the outcome pre-ordained, and the hero established.  Does he save the girl?  Does he live or die?  How many cars will get smashed up?  These are the questions whose answer you’re not sure about while you sit on the edge of your seat.  This alone is enough for you to enjoy the movie.  Add the typical Jerry Bruckheimer/Tony Scott touches and you have plenty of action, blood and angst. But then there’s the sci-fi element of the story.  A special surveillance unit of the FBI, led by Jack McCready (actor Bruce Greenwood of Thirteen Days and Eight Below), has the secret ability to look back four days in time, seemingly without the ability to change the past but the ability to see almost anything that any surveillance camera in existence can record.  It’s really, really lame.  So the way the Bruckheimer/Scott/Washington team makes it work is to start the movie with blow-up of the ferry, find the risky way or sending our hero back in time, and play it by ear by making sure there’s no time to spare.  The good news is that the gimmick doesn’t ruin the action, but it makes the story less formulaic.  If you’re a Denzel fan (and who isn’t?) you will enjoy it even as you say to yourself “that can’t happen!”

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