akshay shah

Akshay Shah Reviews DEJA-VU (2006)

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DÉJÀ VU was a film I was immensely looking forward to finally catching on DVD. With names like Jerry Bruckheimer, Tony Scott and Denzel Washington my expectations were somewhat high, so does the movie live up to them? Well the movie is certainly worth a watch for its interesting premise and the ever-dependable Denzel, as well as being a welcome form from director Tony Scott who lost his way with DOMINO (2005). However DÉJÀ VU too falls short slightly short of expectations mainly due to a “over-smart” screenplay which loses it’s viewers towards the end, and this isn’t a patch on Scott’s action-thrillers like MAN ON FIRE (2004), SPY GAME (2001) and ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998).

In Algiers, New Orleans, after the explosion of a ferry transporting the sailors from the USS Nimitz and their families with 543 casualties, the lonely AFT agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is assigned to investigate the terrorist attack. Without any lead, he is informed by Sheriff Reed about a corpse of a woman that was found one hour before the explosion, but burnt with the same explosive. He is invited by FBI Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer)to join the surveillance team leaded by Jack McCready in the investigations, using a time window and Einstein-Rosen bridge through seven satellites to look back four and half days in time. He discloses the identity of the mysterious dead woman called Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) and decides to follow her last moments trying to find the criminal. Along the surveillance, Doug falls in love for Claire and tries to change destiny, saving her life.

The story by Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio is a complex one, and at the hands of a less competent story-teller this would’ve been a confused mish-mash between a love story, action-thriller and sci-fi time travel film. The film moves at a brisk pace. The initial reels lead us to believe this will be a “one man tracks down terrorists” film, though after the initial disaster the movie swiftly turns in to an investigative police thriller as Denzel get embroiled in to the case of the dead women. From the moment he gets asked to join Pryzwarra’s team and the scenes that follow with the time window satellite dish is a imaginative and inventive piece of writing. The writers have superbly bought to screen a sci-fi fiction film with an element of WHAT IF. Even up to the point where Denzel goes back in time himself to stop the killer from striking is exciting, however it’s towards the final 20 minutes that the movie feels too long and stretched out unnecessary.

As a director Tony Scott is a master of his craft, and the story here allows him to evenly balance his technical wizardry with the base of a thriller. He swiftly merged in the action, serial-killer, thriller and time-travel in to one film and for the most gets it right. One just wishes Scott had been more inspired by in the second half as the movie relies gets entirely predictable right up to the end which is definitely a letdown. The small twist in the climax is predictable. However in saying that there is plenty to enjoy here and I would be inclined to say that Scott is surely more “in form” here than he is not. The beauty of this film is that with multiple timelines being shown parallel to each other, there are many questions that desperately need answering. To credit all involved, they appear to have put themselves in the audience’s shoes and piece-by-piece wrote in a reason for everything. Anything that is seen either in the past, present, or future has a reason for being there and will be intelligently explained and these moments prove to be the most entertaining and interesting.

The performances are stellar. Denzel Washington makes his job look easy, and delivers a restrained and controlled performance. His delivery and expressions are fabulous as always and the actors endearing and enigmatic screen presence is stunning. Val Kilmer is OK in his part; his role isn’t long enough to really leave much of an impact. Bruce Greenwood is effective as always. Paula Patton looks gorgeous and plays her part with eloquence with a natural flair. Jim Cavizel as the main antagonist is an eye-opener and chews up some of the scenes he is in. He makes an extremely convincing villain and springs a huge surprise.

Technically the movie is brilliant as always the case with Tony Scott. Scott and his DOP, Paul Cameron, do fantastic work — every shot is beautifully composed. And all the footage that involves a cast of thousands (meaning the crowd scenes) is masterful work.

Also the editing of this movie is amazing and struck me from the very beginning, particularly when there is so much going on in the opening sequence yet you never get lost.

All in all, DEJA VU makes for an entertaining 2 hours full of action, sci-fi, questions, and mysteries though it’s certainly not Scott, Washington or Jerry’s finest.

Overall Rating=7.0/10.0

A.Shah

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