The Good

Denzel Washington has a knack for making movies like this work.

The Bad

Sadly, it becomes very easy to see the ending of this film coming.

Mixing cutting edge technology, theories on time travel and the solid acting chops of Denzel Washington, Deja Vu works because it simply puts across the idea of how time travel might happen. We don't get inundated with information, and when it seems like we might be overloaded, Washington's Doug Carlin finally starts throwing things in an effort to have the science, and the people describing it to him, make more sense.

A ferry in New Orleans blows up and Federal Agent Doug Carlin is on the case. After seeing him in action, he is approached by Agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and asked to be on his special investigative team. Once Carlin says "yes" he is shown a device that they have created that allows people to look back four days into the past. In trying to piece together who pulled the explosion off, Carlin finds himself enamored with Claire (Paula Patton) one of the victim's of the explosion. It soon becomes clear to Carlin that not only is he going to use this device as a time machine to capture the victim, he's also going to try and save Claire's life. This isn't as easy as it seems and he soon realizes that once you know the future, it takes a great deal of precision to alter it.

In the end, Deja Vu works because of the ideas that it puts across. It makes time travel something that audiences can understand, which makes the ending plausible, even though it seems predestined to turn out that way.

Features

"The Surveillance Window"

With a run time of 37 minutes this is an assortment of featurettes with titles like The Ferry Explosion, Cameras of Deja Vu, and First Team: Denzel, Tony & Jerry. In total there are ten of these and they cover various aspects of this movie. We find out how the star, director and producer work together, we see how the effects in the film are pulled off, and we also see how they achieved things like the Split-Time Chase. These sections are little more than EPKs to promote this film but I enjoyed buzzing around through them. I guess I am just amazed that this film didn't cop out. It didn't take a hard to understand subject and confuse it. In Hollywood, that is a feat not to be taken lightly.

Deleted and Extended Scenes

Commentary Track

Present on this track are Tony Scott, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Writer Bill Marsilii. Tony Scott describes what attracted him to this movie, how the writers wanted to involved New Orleans as a character, how Hurricane Katrina effected the production and how they worked around it. He also addresses the fact that 40 minutes of the movie essentially takes place in one spot, and how he wanted as much of Denzel Washington's character to mirror real life agent Jerry Rudden (who Washington's character was based on). The tracks seem to switch off intermittently with Jerry Bruckheimer coming on to discuss such things as his relationship to the actors, and why he felt the need to tell this story. Overall, this track was enjoyable but I didn't find it particularly enlightening.

Video

Widescreen - 2.35:1 - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. This film is very much a Bruckheimer inflected creation. It's got a lot of high-tech scenery, it's filled with big, pounding shots (a Tony Scott trademark), and features scenes of soldiers or planes in slow motion with a pulsating soundtrack. The Standard transfer also looks really sharp and I can only imagine how this would play in one of the next generation formats. Something tells me that it is going to be a big seller because of how "advanced" this film looks. I noticed no dust or grain on the images and considering that Tony Scott uses multiple cameras that is saying something.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. French and Spanish Language Tracks. French and Spanish subtitles. The audio on this film was on par with the picture. Due to the amount of information being put across (especially in The Surveillance Window) I would recommend putting the subtitles on. It's not that it's hard to understand, it's just that a lot of information (that's easy to parse through) is being put across. I found that getting to read the screen allowed me to understand just how the actors in this film were able to look back in time. I didn't have to turn the sound up too loud and, unlike some of Tony Scott's and Jerry Bruckheimer's other films, I didn't think the sound was annoying either.

Package

Denzel Washington, the ferry blowing up and Paula Patton are shown on this bluish green front cover. The back features shots of the other cast member, a well written description of what this movie is about, a Bonus Features/Technical Specs listing and a cast list. There is a cardboard vinyl cover that goes over this amaray case that contains the exact same artwork. Once again, nothing amazing but the Denzel factor should spur DVD sales and rentals.

Final Word

The creators of this film get major points for how the technology has been employed. Looking back into the past is achieved by utilizing a great deal of energy, however the farthest back users can go is four days. Also, they have the ability to look all over, at any one and at any time using any angle, so in a sense it is as if they are watching a movie of the events that have already passed. At first, I will admit that the premise of Deja Vu seemed hokey. It just doesn't seem possible that a device like this could sustain the plot of a movie. As this film wasn't billed as a piece of science fiction (which it is) I could see that throwing some viewers off. Also, the acting in this film is solid enough where it never seems like the players are in over their heads. Yes, this is a Bruckheimer film so it has that Bruckheimer coolness, and those Bruckheimer slow motion shots, but there is enough of a movie here to make everything work well off one another.

If you want a time shifting, sci-fi film, that actually pays off in the mind-bending department, Deja Vu is the film for you.

Deja Vu was released November 22, 2006.