Déjà Vu (12A)

Film

Thrillers

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<strong>Rating: </strong>3/5
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Time Out says

Tue Dec 12 2006

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

5

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Release details

Rated:

12A

UK release:

Fri Dec 15 2006

Duration:

126 mins

Cast and crew

Director:

Tony Scott

Production Designer:

Chris Seagers

Editor:

Chris Lebenzon, Jason Hellmann

Cinematography:

Paul Cameron

Music:

Harry Gregson-Williams

Screenwriter:

Terry Rossio, Bill Marsilii

Producer:

Jerry Bruckheimer

Cast:

Adam Goldberg, Jim Caviezel, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton, Denzel Washington

Art Director:

Gary Diamond

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Comments & ratings

Rated as: 3/5 (2 ratings)

  • 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.

    Matt Sun Mar 16 2008
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  • 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.

    mr.mike Sat Jan 5 2008
    Rated as: 4/5
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  • 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).

    David Sun Nov 4 2007
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  • 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!

    yduric Fri Aug 31 2007
    Rated as: 1/5
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  • 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!

    yduric Fri Aug 31 2007
    Report
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