Déjà Vu (2006)

Directed by Tony Scott. Starring Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Adam Goldberg, Jim Caviezel, Paula Patton, Erika Alexander, Elden Henson, Bruce Greenwood, Mark Phinney, Enrique Castillo, Matt Craven. [PG-13]

While investigating a ferry bombing, Washington’s ATF agent is recruited to help a specialized detective unit that employs an experimental surveillance program that can see into the past; doing so leads to him becoming obsessed with a victim (Patton) who he thinks is the key to rooting out the terrorist…and since you don’t get “melancholy yearning” from a Tony Scott action picture, it’s only a matter of time before the hero discovers a way to use the program to jump back in time to try and save her life. Silly, shallow and flashy in nearly equal shares, all it really has is premise, sheen, and another reliable old-pro performance from Denzel, who never seems to be slumming even when he is, although he does little to separate this character from a dozen others like it littering his résumé. The script, credited to Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio, clumsily inserts obvious “clues” that Washington’s character has already “lived through” events he initially hadn’t, and then ceases to make sense not long after introducing the technology gimmick—the writers blame Scott’s interference, insisting their original story contained no plot holes at all, which would would have been quite the miracle considering that time travel fiction can’t possibly be airtight—and instead of peaking during the final act, the film peters out and succumbs to routine standoffs, melodrama, and defying physics (and its own shaky rules) at every turn. Might have worked better if Patton’s character was developed as anything more significant than a sympathetic prop, but alas… Shot in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, but the dedication to the city at the end is more peculiar than meaningful. A very young Elle Fanning has a bit part.

43/100