Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu is the latest film from Ridley’s Scott’s younger brother, Tony (Top Gun, Enemy of the State, Man on Fire). As far as action thrillers go, it’s one of the better ones of the past year or so.

Set in post-Katrina New Orleans (an intriguing choice of location), Denzel Washington plays an ATF agent roped into investigating a horrific terrorist attack. His detective skills catch the attention of Val Kilmer and his team of scientists who are running a top secret project for the government. The goal of this secret project? Solve crimes by looking back 4 days in time, and watching events unfurling. Of course, such a passive, voyeuristic approach is too much for Washington, who has become emotionally invested in the fate of beautiful victim, Paula Patton. Will he risk everything and meddle with past? Will his fiddling change events, or make absolutely no difference?

Déjà Vu has plenty of plot holes, a few draggy parts and perhaps tries too hard to be a brain-boggling mind trip – The Butterfly Effect pulled off the ‘changing the past’ concept a lot better, AND with more emotional resonance.

However, Déjà Vu is probably more audience accessible than Butterfly, or even The Manchurian Candidate remake (also starring Denzel Washington), with some neat visual effects to complement Scott’s usual frenetic filmic style. The film also features a very exhilarating time-split chase sequence – the movie’s highlight. And for attempting to add some complexity to the standard catch-a-killer-before-it’s-too-late formula, Déjà Vu also deserves kudos.

So it’s worth seeing for an entertaining evening.