Deja Vu (2006)

This is the 2006 film Directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington. It's the second of four times that the two would team up (Man on Fire 2004, Deja Vu 2006, The Taking of Pelham 123 2009, and Unstoppable 2010). Of the four films this is the second highest rated on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, though the order of the rest of the four is different on the two sites (It is also rated more favorably on IMDB). In the pantheon of Denzel Washington films this would not make the top 10, but it doesn't mean it's not a decent film, nor that it's a bad film. But it also is not a great film, rather it falls somewhere in the middle. The plot centers around a terrorist bombing of a New Orleans ferry. BATF Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is brought in to help with the investigation. Soon the body of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) is discovered washed up on shore but it's quickly determined that she couldn't have washed up when/where she does unless she'd been killed before the blast. When her connection to a vehicle used in the bombing is determined Agent Carlin settles into the idea that if they can solve her murder they will solve the bombing. Agent Carlin quickly connects to Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and is invited to join his specialized FBI unit. The unit uses new secretive technology to look just over four days into the past. The unit begins surveillance of Claire to try and understand what has taken place. As they conduct this surveillance Agent Carlin begins to ask more and more questions of this technology, which the unit obviously has not fully explained to him. Eventually Agent Carlin figures out the technology can be used to cross this time period and gets the idea to plant things in the past to help solve the case before it happens but this has additional negative effects. Despite this, the team is able to identify the bomber, one Carrol Oerstadt (Jim Caviezel) and effect his arrest but Agent Carlin isn't satisfied. (Spoiler Alerts) Instead Agent Carlin becomes focused on the idea that he can utilize this technology to go back in time, save Claire, and foil the bombing. This is where the film gets controversial for some. After being ordered to stop what they are doing Agent Carlin teams up with Denny (Adam Goldberg) and goes back the four plus days and resumes his investigation in the now present past. As he does so he begins to see that some of what the team has seen in the past has been caused by his actions in the now present, which is the past. Carlin meets up with Claire and manages to save her from Carrol Oerstadt but prevents him from planting the bomb on the ferry. Agent Carlin then must try and prevent Oerstadt from detonating the bomb. Will he succeed? The ending again causes many people to like this film even less. One of the tag lines from the film was, "What if you had to tell someone the most important thing in the world but you knew they'd never believe you?" In answering the paradox of this film it's makers tried to rely simply on the concept of destiny to answer it's numerous unanswered questions. If you buy into this destiny concept with hook, line, and sinker, then the movie works. For many people though, the film doesn't work. I felt that the movie worked reasonably well. It's not perfect, but I felt that it was a pleasant one to watch and I enjoyed it. One funny moment I wanted to share was removed from the film. At one point Agent Carlin is using this secretive government tech to look into the past and track Oerstadt. As he does so there comes a moment where they are looking at each other, as though they can see across this time warp. As they did so in filming Denzel Washington exclaimed "Jesus!" As Jim Caviezel had starred as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ just two years earlier. This caused the audiences in early screenings to laugh. As a result this part of the scene was cut from the film. I give this movie 2 out of 4 stars.