by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
B- Rated PG-13 128 min
Time and the nature of time is central to the plot of Déjà Vu, but the story isn’t dependent on the gimmick of time travel. What is even more important is the relationships between the characters and the possible tragedy of fate. Denzel Washington plays his stock dedicated law enforcement official, this time as member of the ATF. As Doug Carlin, he investigates the explosion of a ferryboat resulting in the death of hundreds.
The movie opens with slow motion scenes of joyful naval officers reunited with their families on a ferryboat. The happy scene belied by suspenseful music and barely any audio. By the time the bomb goes off, you already know that something horrible will be happening soon.
Carlin steps into the aftermath, investigating the scene with a thoroughness and ingenuity that impresses Agent Pryzwarra (played a tad blandly by Val Kilmer). Pryzwarra brings Carlin to a futuristic government lab that offers a look in the past. More precisely, the lab’s “time team” has a window four days into the past. The view is limited because it only transmits within a certain range and you can’t view multiple locations at the same time.
Doug Carlin decides to use the viewer to watch the beautiful Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) who washed ashore at the wrong time to be victim of the explosion, but was made to seem like a victim of the ferryboat disaster. He’s sure that she holds the key. As he clandestinely watches her, he finds himself falling for a woman he knows will be dead in just a few days. Paula Patton steals all the scenes she’s in, even though she’s not given much to work with in the script. The love story between the two seems incomplete somehow, but it seems to fit with the feel of the film.
The biggest question of all, the one the movie hinges on is: can he change anything, or is he part of the timeline he already knows? After all, he knows that his partner gets killed on the ferry, but the partner gets the lead when they send a note into the past. Instead of giving Carlin the lead, the paper is sent too late and his partner picks it up.
Bending the laws of time and space isn’t simple in this movie, it comes at a price and is fraught with danger. When his partner follows the lead, he is shot by the terrorist. They’ve seen the face of the man who sets the bomb, but the massive time device only has a certain range. So, they use a portable halo device that is worn around the head and boosts the transmission. Carlin puts on the device (which shows the scene four days in the past) while driving in the present. Seeing the road as it was four days ago isn’t particularly good for driving in the present. It’s a new twist on an old theme: the chase. In this case, there’s only one car visible, one massive Hummer causing collateral damage. The other car, driven by the terrorist is four days in the past and he likely has no idea he’s being followed. The innovative chase is definitely worth the price of admission.
When Carlin is determined to visit the past in order to prevent the crime from happening, the lab tech Denny (Adam Goldberg) assists him. As Denny locks Carlin in the device, Denny says: “You don’t have to do this” and Carlin replies, “Maybe I already have.” Which begs the question: Has he been through the device before? Was he unsuccessful in a different timeline, when he left clues for himself?
A chilling performance by Jim Caviezel as the terrorist was clearly cribbed from Timothy McVeigh. He’s polite, answers questions and claims he is a true patriot trying to punish the U.S. government. I found the repetition of the terrorist’s dialogue by Carlin to be a little gimmicky, but only after the fact.
Dialogue repeated by different characters isn’t the only gimmick used to remind us that time is not a solid thing. Director Tony Scott uses his camera work to suggest shifting perspectives and the flow of time. These visual effects were well rendered and part of the story.
I like a movie that makes me think about philosophical questions, like the nature of fate and time. This movie does that, albeit in a rather clumsy fashion. True sci-fi geeks will have fun finding holes in the premise, but most people will just have fun going along for the ride.
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