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A Major Disappointment

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

My wife and I love Denzel, but his choice to do this script? Inexplicable.The premise is this. Denzel, an ATF agent, is recruited to join a very special, experimental unit on their first case. Using unimaginable technology, this group is able to put together surveillance data from four satellites (and one would have to presume other sources as well) and, four days later, present it essentially as a movie. The preposterous (I know, I know, "Sci-Fi") part of it is they are able to swoop down to ground level and show video looking not only inside a building, but even a close-up of its occupants. Using the latest "heat technology," they can not only show the outline of a body, they can present how many hairs in an eyebrow, eye color, even expressions the person in view made that many days in the past. What's more, they can, even from space mind you, display non-heat producing objects like pictures on a wall! Yep, they can! But get this. With all this technology, they have no ability to record/save any of what they see! Fire the guy that forgot that element. So...The current issue is a bombing that took 500+ lives and the determination to discover the "terrorist" responsible. "As luck would have it," a body washes up on shore appearing to be a victim of the bombing, but Denzel's character notices something that makes him dig deeper. Though intended to appear as just another victim, this person, we discover, was dead before the incident, but it is clear the bomber was in fact responsible for the woman's death. Denzel's take? Find the murderer, find the bomber.Introduced now to this investigative team and their tools (even Denzel can't believe it, but of course the script told him to "suspend disbelief" so he does after only a few questions), he encourages turning the focus to this woman victim and track her life for those four days. Maybe, though the team is adamant "we can't change the past," they can see enough to track down the culprit. I will stop there.Just, and spoilers begin right here, along with the omniscience necessary to go anywhere at any time from "four satellites," voices can be heard, notes can be read, and with heat sensor technology (?) even phone displays can be represented in 1080p. (I don't think 4k existed then. Maybe in the sequel.) The result of all this is indeed the capture of the bomber, not a Muslim of course, that would offend the PC's out there, but a fruit-loop "doing God's work." And then the fun really begins.Afraid of exposing their technology, the investigative team leader calls everything off, but that doesn't stop Denzel. Instead he enters (you had to see this coming) a "time capsule" and goes back in time four days to try to stop the incident. (Anybody remember, "We can't change the past"?) But preposterous wouldn't be preposterous without, well, more "preposterosity"! (I just made that word up and I like it!)Getting there "just in time" (after being revived in a hospital like a heart attack patient), Denzel rescues the girl but, himself is blown into little tiny pieces when the bomb, this time, goes off under water. No problem. Because somehow he was split in two and, in real time, though in real time he entered the capsule and went backward, he also didn't. That's right, up walks Denzel to investigate a different crime scene, only minutes after he was destroyed. Thank goodness there won't be big enough chunks of what was his other self to cause him to wonder, "Am I dead? Or am I really, really dead?"I give. If you can suspend disbelief this much you're a better man, or woman, than I! I would give it 1 star, but there is Denzel, and face it. He is about as good as it gets at his profession. This was simply not the vehicle to prove it.

There are plenty of SF movies as implausible as this that I can get around and love, that's not the problem. Nor is the cast, the acting, most of the script, the set decoration and art direction, the very good use of locations, much of the photography, even the sound design and VFX.What sucks is the direction. The editing that chops half the scenes into mayhem. The added mayhem in general. Too many car crashes when a near miss would do. Cars flying through the air when a simply collision would do. Oh my god the rescue scene, with helicopters so low they are about to run into boats, and boats speed through the water apparently to chop up survivors. Don't even get me started on the explosion. So filmy fire laden, unlike anything real and not at all like the very, very, very specific description and diagrams of the explosion shown on screen! Music is also overbearing all the time, ruining most scenes with any emotional content by yelling at the audience THIS IS TOUCHING! THIS SCENE IS ALL FORESHADOWING! Really disappointing, as the story is quite interesting and maybe was even filmed enough someone could edit it into a good movie. But this is a total hack job. Urgh.

Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington as a federal agent looking for clues in the aftermath of a bombing. Washington is convinced that one victim (Paula Patton) is linked to the villain, but he's not sure how. Washington's character is invited to become part of a new investigative team (along with Val Kilmer) that uses experimental technology. As he attempts to solve a crime, our protagonist ends up falling for and stumbles across an unusual solution to finding a killer. The film is well written, and has a lot of material that we rarely see in such high profile blockbuster films in this day and age.Throughout the film, it is quite fairly biblical in its themes of redemption and resurrection. The story is a stretch, to be sure, but the storytelling is crisp and engaging. What makes Deja Vu a great popcorn film, is not only the acting from Denzel, but the overall storytelling of the film. It is entertaining throughout, there are many hidden clues and most importantly the film us unpredictable.

Perhaps it's just Washington's presence, an actor who's always only somewhat serious about himself and about the characters he plays. Anyway, the movie as a whole doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, too. Therefore, in spite of several loopholes and inconsistencies, it provides good fun without getting too heavy or self- important. Points to Scott for that, and let's hope for more entertaining stuff by the Washington-Scott duo. What begins as a seemingly ordinary disaster film turns into a geek-pseudo-sci-fi high-action and even slightly romantic drama. When moving through time is introduced, it is done organically and, again, the movie doesn't make too much of a big deal about it, and - thank the gods - doesn't try to over-explain it. It remains, above all, a good show that's fun to watch.