Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with one of three reviews I'm trying to pound out tonight. Forgive me if they feel a little rushed, but this Friday is sneaking up awful quick and I need to knock these out... I'm going to first talk about DEJA VU, because I've seen that one more recently than the other two.
Out of the way... I like Tony Scott... I even liked DOMINO. I know. I'm the one. Sure, the style was batshit insane, but I thought it fit the story he was telling more than the same style fit MAN ON FIRE, which, as a film, I liked much more than DOMINO, but was a little more off-put by the Avid-Farts (TM Vern) than in DOMINO... maybe just because I saw a great movie being smothered by a thick layer of Scott's acid flash-backs whereas in DOMINO I saw a crazy acid flash-back movie shot with that fitting filter.
But even I was tiring of his insane style... just because I felt it getting in the way of the substance of the stories he was telling. So, it was with great relief that I heard his newest, DEJA VU, was a tamer Tony Scott.
And it is.
The film follows a New Orleans detective (Denzel Washington) as he investigates the bombing of a ferry carrying hundreds of Navy men as well as the murder of a young woman, who died before the explosion, but her body was thrown into the river in an attempt to pass her off as one of the ferry victims. His intuition and inventive detective work catches the eye of an FBI man (Val Kilmer) who invites Washington to be a part of a team that uses a "new surveillance program" that can look at events 4 days and 6 hours in the past.
He's told it's all satellite government spy stuff, but it becomes quickly apparent (especially if you've seen the trailer) that what they really have is a device that lets them see anything in the past, but only 4 days and 6 hours ago, to the second.
If they're looking in the wrong place and miss something crucial they have no option to go back.
That's an aspect I loved about the movie. The time bending technology is new, no one knows exactly how everything works, but they know their broad restrictions. They have a limited space they can view (due to power restrictions and the nature of the wormhole)... in short, they gave themselves some great restrictions that curb the god-like power of being able to pull information from the past.
The first 2/3rds of the movie are tight, intense and just plain old great. You feel the characters struggling against their restrictions, coming up with inventive solutions around them... and you see some great layering come into play... stuff planted in the first act that ties into the past and the future. It's very smart and engaging.
Then the third act starts. And it starts great, but quickly they find themselves falling into the same trappings as most time travel movies do. There are things that don't make a damn bit of sense, that break continuity and just doesn't seem to give a damn that it doesn't make any sense.
I'm being as vague as possible to not spoil anything, but there's a moment where the characters don't use the information they have... in order to have a quiet moment... the clock is ticking, hundreds of lives are on the line and our characters have all the puzzle pieces, but don't do anything with them. It's a little frustrating.
So, on the whole, DEJA VU is 2/3rds a smart, entertaining and perfectly executed play on the typical time travel story, then the last third is so full of holes you can damn near see through it.
Great acting across the board, but a sad capper to a great beginning.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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