Deja Vu fun, original ride but lacks character depth

December 4, 2006 —

Deja Vu is a fast-paced action thriller starring Denzel Washington as an agent in the New Orleans bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigating an act of terrorism targeting a ferry filled with members of the Navy and their families.

What is different about the film is its approach. The ferry is blown up at the beginning of the movie, and rather than use evidence to simply find out the identity of the perpetrator, methods are used that play with time and that allow for the act to be prevented, even though it has already occurred.

If that sounds confusing, it's because it is. After some preliminary investigation, Doug Carlin (Washington) is asked by agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) to join a special team. He accepts, and is exposed to technology that is phenomenal and does not seem possible.

Doug is told that, through a system of seven advanced satellites, a virtual stream of information can allow the team to view events from four days ago as they happened, from any angle or distance and even inside buildings. The stream comes and goes in real-time - only four days late - so the chosen angle and focus at any given time is the one the viewer is stuck with. However, Doug becomes suspicious after noticing various inconsistencies, and Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), a victim of the explosion, seems to know she is being watched in the past.

Eventually, it is revealed that the technology is not a satellite system but rather a fold in space and time that was accidentally discovered years ago (the explanation of this also suggests that the discovery was what caused the massive blackout of 2003). At this point, the viewer is exposed to a great deal of technical jargon. In fact, there was so much of it that I could not challenge the validity of the explanation and failed to understand a great deal of it.

Whether or not the science adds up is of little consequence when weighed against whether or not the plot adds up. Some of the best parts of Deja Vu are the ones that involve the unraveling of the mystery that keeps the answers just out of arm's reach. The way everything comes together at the end of the movie left me very satisfied.

The other good aspect of the film is the way it plays with viewing the past using the potentially impossible technology. There is a scene wherein Doug pursues the suspect in the past on a busy highway that is really rather phenomenal in its originality. The camera shows us his viewpoint, half of which is the present and half of which is a lens showing the past, and it is dizzying and thrilling.

Where Deja Vu doesn't work is when it attempts to force some of the emotional aspects of the story. The relationship between Doug and Claire feels very hackneyed and unlikely. Yes, unlikely, even amidst time travel and wormholes. While the movie is interesting and executed with a fair deal of originality, it fails to carry much emotional weight. It is also too long for its own good. Maybe cutting it to less than two hours would make it too frantic, but that would be preferable to it dragging the way it does at times.

To be sure, there is something of value in Deja Vu. I have not seen another movie quite like it all year. Some of the things that occur so unexpectedly shatter the reality the movie creates and are highly entertaining. At the same time, it's hard to care about anything that happens during the movie, or to feel for the plight of the characters. There is much worse to be seen, but much better as well.