Déjà Vu

Déjà Vu is quite a frustrating film to behold. It’s clearly a more interesting and creative thriller than the general run of the mill genre pictures of late, but it’s just so sporadic, uneven, and ultimately illogical to really be completely recommendable. I actually enjoyed the first half of the film quite a bit. Denzel Washington is a formidable lead in a film like this and he gives a great, kind of offbeat performance here. Tony Scott is also a very talented director who keeps this elaborate sci-fi movie feeling visually fresh and intense from start to finish. More importantly, this is an inventive concept that philosophizes and poses questions not common to lesser contemporary thrillers.

The general plot focuses on a mysterious time bridge that allows the government to look back into the past. Washington is recruited to help find a mass murder using this technique. The film goes to great lengths to set the rules and boundaries of this time bending program. For much of the movie it seems as though it will smartly adhere to the more practical and rigid possibilities outlined in act one. However, like all disappointing thrillers, the film dips at the end. It pretty much goes against everything that has come before and opts for a truly dissatisfying conclusion that seems specifically designed to create a happy ending despite logical inconsistencies. In a film like this, I really expect that the producers take care to uphold the ideology of time travel put forth at the start, but this one just goes off course and quite suddenly starts rewriting the book on what can and cannot be done in the past.

Not since The Village has a film started so promisingly and ended so ridiculously. I can only give this a very hesitant recommendation because it gave me a great feeling of disappointment in the end. I cannot deny that it begins quite thrillingly and with a genuine sense of mystery and intrigue, but this all dissipates in time. Despite its unsatisfying conclusion, this is a movie with a brain and great sense of storytelling. There are so many great quirks and twists in its first half that are really quite refreshing takes on thriller clichés. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car chase happen through two different temporal folds before. The movie also builds strong characters and an emotionally investing story, but by the end of the film logic has been abused so badly that everything within the story just loses credibility. Maybe if you try not to think too hard about the details, this might be enjoyable for you. Sadly, I could only really appreciate parts of it.

Grade: B-