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Déjà Vu (2006)

Director: Tony Scott

Average user rating

5 reviews

Synopsis

Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer re-team for this all action sci-fi thriller. Denzel Washington plays super agent Doug Carlin, who has come to New Orleans to investigate the explosion of a ferry on the Mississippi that killed over 500 people. Aided by a crack team of government scientists and their high-tech surveillance-cum-time travelling system, Carlin journeys back to before the blast to try and prevent the disaster. An already complex situation is further confused by Carlin’s less than professional infatuation with one of the victims.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Terrorists beware. The finite divisions of time and space are no longer a cloak with which to conceal yourself from the American law enforcement agencies. According to ‘Déjà Vu’, the new soulless morale-booster from Tony Scott, in the near future, your tax dollars will not only enable governments to catch criminals, but they’ll be able to prevent crime from ever happening in the first place.

Roughly two minutes after Jerry Bruckheimer’s name and production insignia have flashed across the opening titles, a New Orleans passenger ferry explodes, killing 500 people. It’s the stock American Tragedy the government has been waiting for to try out a new piece of kit: a time portal that leads four days and seven hours (why?) into the past. Denzel Washington is the charismatic investigator invited on to a special unit (led by a worryingly plump Val Kilmer) to stop patriotic loon Jim Caviezel from teaching the world a lesson with his trusty pick-up truck full of explosives.

Scott’s customary tics and traits are all here, from the washed-out palette to his patented inability to keep the camera still for anything nearing a second (it’s as if he’s directing every shot from the cockpit of a helicopter with half his mind on the controls and the other on his half-lit stogie). Take away a couple of neatly staged action sequences and you’re left with a callously measured slab of US jingoism that deals with the most horrific human tragedies in the most lunk-headed and insulting way possible. But the message is clear: don’t worry, people, the forces of evil have been licked. Thank God for time travel.

Author: David Jenkins 2006-12-12 11:12:38

Time Out London Issue 1895: December 13-20 2006

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User reviews of this film

Matt said...

Posted on Mar 16 2008 10:46 Any one who watches a film about time travel and criticises its lack of integrity can’t have a justifiable opinion. The film is about the age old time travel paradox mixed with a bit of sliding doors wrapped up in an exciting story line acted well by Washington as usual. It is escapism with a plot to make you wonder how it will reconcile its self and realise every ones fantasy to win the day and get the girl. As for the dedication… perhaps some of the profits were given to help the relief effort. If not then it was a bit empty and pointless.

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mr.mike said...

Posted on Jan 05 2008 16:28 Washington carries the film , as usual (he could make just about anything watchable). However strict attention to detail is required - if you go out for a snack you may end up losing track. Also gets less credible as it goes along.

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David said...

Posted on Nov 04 2007 00:05 A feel good film. Although there is an underlying violence it lets us know that as long as someone cares no act of evil will be succsssful. Don't let a work of fantasy be confused with reality, people. Yes, we know these scenarios, but come on, this film uses them well. A nice touch using sailors off the uss Nimitz, which if you recall, went back in time to days before pearl harbour in the film the final count down.(one of my favourites).

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yduric said...

Posted on Sep 01 2007 00:52 Utter crap, which is, moreover, obscene: at its end, the 'film' is dedicated to the courage of New Orleans inhabitants. I think that there is no worse way of insulting these people who, after having suffered from a hurricane, did really not need this display of bad taste and cheap pile of 'patriotic' clichés. Déja Vu, as its French meaning says, is something we have already seen before: in this case, the tricks used in this extraordinarily bad flick havê been already seen a thousand times. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

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yduric said...

Posted on Sep 01 2007 00:51 Utter crap, which is, moreover, obscene: at its end, the 'film' is dedicated to the courage of New Orleans inhabitants. I think that there is no worse way of insulting these people who, after having suffered from a hurricane, did really not need this display of bad taste and cheap pile of 'patriotic' clichés. Déja Vu, as its French meaning says, is something we have already seen before: in this case, the tricks used in this extraordinarily bad flick havê been already seen a thousand times. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Report as inappropriate