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Massawyrm Experiences DEJA VU!! Massawyrm Experiences DEJA VU!!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
God, I love me some Tony Scott. Over the years the man has simply become one of my favorite working filmmakers. But it wasn’t until recently that I began to realize just what the hell he’s up to. Now, just having seen his most recent effort Déjà vu, it’s become quite clear. Tony Scott is making experimental action films, with Hollywood budgets, somehow managing to convince the suits (probably with his long string of hit films) to put such lavish budgets into ideas that few other filmmakers could get away with.
I mean, with Man on Fire, he made a tightly edited 70’s style revenge film that still feels very modern – and is ultimately a love story between an 8 year old girl and a forty-something year old man. And it kicks seven different kinds of ass. He had screenwriter Brian Helgeland adapt a long forgotten, mediocre 1980’s film and just turned him loose – turning out one of the greatest films of both men’s careers. And what makes it so great is just how far it goes, going places Hollywood films most often refuse to go. Up to and including its both nihilistic and hopeful ending. No Hollywood film ends like this one did. What would have happened if the suits were in charge would have been a massive, explosion filled shoot out followed by Denzel carrying Dakota out with the burning carnage behind them. But that ain’t the ending.
Then with Domino, he made a highly inaccessible film that you either loved or you hated. As many of you may remember (and often remind me that I owe you 7 bucks) I loved the hell out of it. The idea of an action film told by a character still tripping on Mescaline played to me perfectly. That’s the kind of film I enjoy watching – something that just goes all out giving me something I’ve never seen before. And at the same time, ole’ Tony had the huevos to parody one of his own films in its climax. It was a fun, and highly entertaining piece of experimental cinema that just wasn’t for everybody.
The big complaint about both of these films, however, is that too many people feel that Tony has gotten too happy with his editing kit. Which brings us to Déjà vu. That kit is gone, locked away in the toybox, presumably (looking at his upcoming slate of films) gone for a while, if not forever. People complained and Tony seemed to get the message. Déjà vu is a return to straight forward editing that is guaranteed not to induce seizures in any way. No jittering camera work, no repeated dialog, nothing. It is exactly what you’ve been asking for.
But that’s not to say that it isn’t a gorgeous film – because it is. All of the hallmarks of Scott’s brilliant visual style are here, reuniting him with DoP Paul Cameron (Man on Fire, Beat the Devil) who together give us that crystal clear yet gritty look that Scott’s films have had over the last decade or so.
But how is the film? Fucking awesome. Seriously fucking awesome. I simply love how deceptive the trailers have been. They don’t lie – they’re not selling you something they don’t deliver. Instead, they just haven’t prepared you for what you are about to see. Because this, my friends, is a geek film. Yes, a GEEK FILM.
Frankly, it boggles the mind how Tony got another one through the Hollywood system. This script is dense, it’s heavy and it requires an above average IQ just to wrap your mind completely around it. Déjà vu is a Time Travel film – one which actually deals with the concept of time travel. Not one in which some magical machine is invented by a genius named Principle Exposition who sets out all the rules and sends our heroes off on some adventure in the past. No, this is something that a couple of geniuses accidentally stumbled upon while trying to do something else (one of the hallmarks of the scientific method) and don’t actually fully understand what they’ve created.
Which leads to the heavy, dense part. Because they TRY to explain it – or rather, argue it. This is a Time Travel film for people who love the ever-loving shit out of Time Travel fiction. Every conversation you’ve had about time travel, every theory you’ve heard or tried to rationalize – they’re all here, presented in some rapid fire scenes of geek/nerd blissful banter that will cause many of you to dive in head first while others (like the woman sitting behind me who couldn’t stop muttering “I just don’t get this. What the hell are they saying? Time is like a river? What? Are you following this?”) to scratch their confused skulls until they bleed.
And what’s even cooler than this being a time travel film, is the way it is structured. Each act is a different movement, in fact each act is almost an entirely different film. It opens with the first act being something akin to a ramped up, really good episode of CSI, if CSI dealt terrorist attacks. Then we move into the second act, which introduces us to the time travel phenomenon and becomes a bizarre surveillance/stakeout film. Then, in the third act, it becomes a real, honest to god Time Travel movie. And the progression, the exposition, the argument of the films internal logic – it all feels very organic, very authentic. You’re never sitting there waiting for the next part to happen. It just progresses very naturally.
Because all the while, Scott is giving you some of those amazing, inventive set pieces that he is so well known for. There is one scene in particular that is so fucking cool, so never been done, that even if for some reason you end up hating this, you’ll walk out saying “Well the chase scene was pretty fucking awesome.” Because it is. It’s the scene this movie will become known for. I can say with complete certainty that A) it is absolutely unlike anything you ever seen and B) it is absolutely worth seeing this film for, if nothing else.
And thematically, this is an interesting companion film to Scott’s Enemy of the State which argued against Government intrusion with domestic surveillance. This time, Scott has made a film that is clearly a Post 9/11 answer to his earlier work, making an argument for a certain level of necessary surveillance – but never once gets as heavy handed as Enemy of the State was. Interestingly enough, this film has scenes that echo the earlier film’s great Jack Black/Seth Green stake out sequences, this time giving us the playful banter of an Adam Goldberg led crew of snarky post grads, each and every one of whom seem to have their own theory on time travel.
Virtually every aspect of this film works perfectly. Save one. The Time Travel logic. Now here’s the point that will become most divisive among folks out there – because there are three levels to this. There’s the surface level, which most average movie goers are going to fall into which follows along with the films “Look, we have no idea how this thing works” logic. And as a film, there is zero reason to question the logic. But then there are those who are going to observe it and say “Now wait a second – that doesn’t follow through with what he did here.” And to a certain extent, those folks are right. Taking the pieces of this film at face value and believing that the film has actually set up a definite internal logic of how the time travel works will definitely cause an argument or two amongst your friends. However, the third and presumably final level is going a step further and saying “Wait a second, there’s no definitive rules here. So how does this work?” That’s where I fell in. And I honestly believe the logic works. I love the puzzling nature and enjoyed putting all the pieces together. But I know some folks that disagreed.
Hell, my roommate completely disagreed with me. We argued time travel logic for an hour after this (be prepared for that – it’s that kind of a film that you geeks are gonna want to debate) and could never convince the other that our logic was the most solvent. So I asked him after all was said and done “So, you didn’t like it?” He shook his head and said “No, I loved it. I just wish the time travel made a little more sense.” It’s that kind of a film. It really is good enough that even if the logic of the films ending doesn’t satisfy you, the rest of it will.
This is a thinking mans action film. A tense, thrilling science fiction wonderland that feels like Jerry Bruckheimer got some wild hair up his ass to adapt an unknown Phillip K. Dick novel, and then had the tenacity to say “Fuck ‘em if they don’t get it. Those folks will love all the pretty explosions.” It’s a damn fine film, and easily one of the best Time travel films ever made.
Let’s face it. NO ONE knows how time travel works, but everyone has their theory. All of us do. There isn’t a person out there that hasn’t contemplated how great time travel would be at some point in their life. But, you know, since it DOESN’T ACTUALLY EXIST, there’s no way of knowing who’s right when we argue about it. This is the first film I’ve seen that pretty much comes out and admits that. And then proceeds to play with that fact. Part of the films tension stems from not knowing what actions are going to have what effect on the timestream – and it is pure, nerdy joy.
So, to recap, it’s another experimental Tony Scott film with everything you love about Scott and nothing that you don’t. This is quality, heady Sci-fi at its finest. And it comes Highly Recommended. I honestly feel that even those of you who take issue with Scott are gonna dig this on one level or another.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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I wasn't paying much attention to this one, but I will definitely check it now. -
Then the trailers have been cut by someone other than Scott.
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This movie looks like Groundhog Day but funnier.
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damn you Massa!
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I hope this is gonna be good.... I may support The Fountain opening weekend though... Mr. Bruckheimer doesn't need anymore money...
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i had to ask.
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Damn I HATE people that talk during movies. You truly are not a movie fan if you talk during one. How can you possibly immerse yourself in something like this with fooking talkers.
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I Thought Einstein's Theories supported the possibility of time travel, forwards at least, through the use of wormholes.
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I was on the other side of the river when they blew up the Boat that you see in the trailer. It looked sweet.
Gonna go see this movie for no other reason than it's filmed in NOLA.
And I got arrested on the set of Van Damme's "'Til Death" in NOLA over the summer... The director was a douche bag. -
By what mechanism does the time travel in this movie work? Anyone know?
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The cast will be the reason I'll see this. Denzel, Kilmer, Caviezel, Goldberg. Scott's flicks are always kinda washed-out color-wise which makes my eyes hurt sometimes. But it's in keeping with the techno-thriller, nihilistic tenor in a lot of them. And I'm a sucker for sci-fi, scifi done smartly, not for its own sake but to tell a deeper human story, which i hope this one does.
that's all. -
...Happens all the time, every day, at the quantum level. Quantum entanglement is the term for how 2 particles seperated by ANY amount of space automatically and without intermening temporal accumulation transfer "state" information. We could time travel, if we could just figure out how to exist in a quantum-mechanical state. In fact, quantum mechanics points strongly to the idea that just the perception of time is a form of time travel, as given in the Sum over Histories theories of the Late, Great, Richard Feinman.
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The fucked up overly washed out colors, the choppy editing, the loquacious spider-monkey holding the camera...it's all too distracting.
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..into the future!
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that allows you to go back four days, but people have been experiencing Deja Vu for hundreds of years?
Color me Confused in California!
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His over-used shakey-cam style and extreme close-ups are unbearable, not to mention his films are cut like someone high on coke. I think he still believes he's doing television commercials, not experimental films. He has no respect for the viewer whatsoever.
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Separating Scott from the argument for the moment, what's with "geeks" never really liking anything to do with cops, urban action, hip-hop, clubs, midriffs, coke, guns, drugs, boats, etc, in American films, yet they're ALL OVER the SAME SUBJECT MATTER when it emnates from Hong Kong. And really, what's with the hatred of quick cuts and "MTV Style" (as if MTV were still relevant or applicable to this argument?) Do you guys seriously WANT to be geeks, happy little Frodos lost in your special world of adventure with superheroes and misunderstood nerds learning about "their purpose in life"? How quaint, but also, how dorky. SCARFACE and MIAMI VICE should be the template for your lives-- root for WINNERS, for BAD-ASSES, not the underdogs. Christ, Peckinpah wouldn't have made a comic book movie. Guys on message boards who don't like Bruckheimer, Scott, and Bay are the male nerd equivalent of the fat cows on Television Without Pity who just HAVE to hate all the good-looking, pretty people.
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I mean I love SCARFACE as much as any famous rapper does, and if you're talking about the movie MIAMI VICE I liked that too. I'm down with Peckinpah, I read Richard Stark novels, I'll watch anything with Clint, Lee Marvin or Charles Bronson. I not only enjoy the films of badass cinema, they are my specialty.
But I still hate all three of the dipshits you just listed there that I am supposedly supposed to like unless I'm a nerd. If you are seriously going to compare a hollow AT&T commercial with guns like (name any Michael Bay movie) to Scarface or Peckinpah then you must be looking for something other than what I'm looking for in those movies. These are braindead pretty boy directors who seem like they never worked a day in their life or met a human being and who focus primarily on camera movements and product placement of sports cars and military hardware, not on genuine badassness or especially on storytelling. If you were to compare the DNA of BAD BOYS 2 to, say, THE GETAWAY, you would find that they are not only not related, they are not even of the same species. Let Michael Bay make his stupid robot movies, at least then he is working with machines so he can relate to the characters.
See, I DO like most of the movie elements you listed, I am looking for that type of movie, but you gotta actually do it GOOD still. Just because they filled out a checklist doesn't mean they made a good movie. Man, I thought MAN ON FIRE was a done deal. Revenge story, Denzel Washington, a script by Brian Helgeland, that classic badass poster of Denzel standing protectively in front of the little girl, his hand held out in front of her to keep her back, nothing but fire behind them. You would have to be some kind of inbred basement freak not to make at least a halfway entertaining movie with that setup, and Tony Scott fuckin struck out. After DOMINO (which is WAY worse) I am done with that fucker forever. (TRUE ROMANCE was pretty good though, and he made a couple other okay ones years back.)
If Tony Scott really is listening to us as Massawyrm says, then he should listen to this: DO NOT GO THROUGH WITH REMAKING THE WARRIORS. This is not negotiable. -
all this talk of gangsters, boats, midrifs and Scarface makes me wanna go watch Hype William's BELLY. A beautifuly shot, poorly acted, mostly improvised two hour rap video that despite its incoherence, is still head and shoulders better than any movie Tony Scott has ever made. The fact that he lucked into having a Tarantino script for True Romance makes for his only decent film.
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the first time I saw Man On Fire, I did find the editing a but distracting, but really got into it after awhile. I found it exciting, like I was there, not just watching the story like a lump. But Domino kicked my ass six ways to Sunday. I can't imagine doing that script in a straightforward manner. THe more frentic and crazy it git, the more I got sucked into it. I thought it was a beautiful piece of cinema. Very underrated in my book. Frankly, I'll take Tony Scott at his slickest and most chaotic than some visually inert snorefest made by most of the hacks working today.
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...the man has simply become one of my favorite working filmmakers."
I didn't see any point in reading past that. Sorry. -
... and the notion of time presupposes the subject-object dichotomy, a duality which itself sustains the modern historicist and scientific view that knowledge is intrinsically rational (Spinoza). But the absolutization of reason (Hegel) itself derives, in its original liberal antagonisms (Hobbes), from Biblical tensions (man versus nature; Machiavelli). Hence, nowadays we base our view of time on the assumption that it is situated in a linear time-line (past-present-future; a view that developed from historical chronology vis a vis Biblical myths), despite the fact that no such moment can be empirically affirmed (http://tinyurl.com/6x6gj). This is because the tools modernity is based upon - sustained by the belief in progress - has reached its limitation because of contemporary society's unwillingness to think through the basis of its most cherished beliefs and opinions, and as such, plunging us further within a second Platonic cave (Strauss. In other words, the 'problem of time' (rational knowledge is universal vs. only God is eternal) is correlated to the 'problem of liberalism' (nature of man is based on universal human rights [freedom] or divine duties [obedience]). No reason to panic though, struggles are nature's way of surviving. Everyone is free to choose their vessel of salvation. [Paradoxes are illuminating on many levels.]
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...and I mean, he LOATHED it; he went at that film as if it killed his dog and ate his wife (or the other way around). I've loved Harlan's writing for years, both his fiction and his essays--but I still think highly of all three BTTFs; to me they're well-produced pieces of harmless fun. I was puzzled at first by his disdain; after reading through everything, it seemed to me that what he hated was that the concept of time-travel was dealt with in such a cavalier fashion, as if the hundreds of stories that had come before were utterly ignored. I thought Steve King's The Langoliers (the novel, NOT the tv-movie) dealt very well with the notion; certainly it was something I'D never considered before. It would be interesting to hear or read what Ellison's take on Deja Vu is...all indications are that it's a winner; and after Domino (20 minutes of story gussied up with two hours of drug-addled editing that made Natural Born Killers look like a Merchant Ivory film), he needs one! By the way, everything Dr. Otto Octaveaeon wrote up there makes me widdle head hurt...but it's a nice change from the DAMN YOU MICHAEL BAY stuff, ain't it?
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Seriously...who thought that was clever?
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Seriously...who thought that was clever?
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Sorry 'bout the double. Or triple, now.
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I don't recall the exact phrasing but at one point the chick in the movie says to Denzel, "What if told you blah blah blah. Would you believe me?" and he replies, "I'd try." Then later on Denzel says to the chick, "What if I told you blah blah blah. Would you believe me?" and she, of course, says, "I'd try". I love how that shows up in almost every friggin unoriginal Hollywood movie. Somebody says something "profound" and then it invariably comes back around by the end of the movie (or gets thrown back in their face). OMG! Please stop! You're blowing my mind!
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Seems ironic, doesn't it?
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"Somebody says something "profound" and then it invariably comes back around by the end of the movie (or gets thrown back in their face). OMG! Please stop! You're blowing my mind!"
LMAO! That's so damn true. What kills me is the subtlety of a sledgehammer that they use when exhibiting this moment of smugness in movies and TV.
It's fall-out-of-your-seat cheesy, but its done all the time. I'm kind of interested in seeing this movie. I liked Man on Fire, but didn't make it through Domino (I laughed at the bits I saw though) but I think I'll like this. I'm sure I'll like it a lot more than Deja Vu: The Series aka Daybreak. Taye Diggs' acting >>> your life! -
Hotel minibars are time travel machines - they show you prices 20 years in the future
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