Review of Déjà Vu (2006) by Ben B — 23 Apr 2012
Confusing science fiction thriller which tries to blend elements of The Terminator and Minority Report but ends up as a rather implausible mess.
Like Minority Report, this movie centers around using a piece of radical technology, this time to see into the past to help solve crimes. Denzel Washington is on no nonsense detective duty once more, trying to back track the process of a plot to blow up a New Orleans ferry, aided by a wasted, and very bored, Val Kilmer who looks as though he ate the parts of script which would have made it all make sense.
Deja Vu starts well enough, the ferry explosion packs the necessary punch that a thriller opener should do and the initial investigation and dropping of clues (messages left on answer phones etc) are well set up. Then it all begins to run away with itself and before the film knows where it is, it's leaving plot holes all over the place.
The film contradicts itself very badly in it's final sprint to the finish and the science fiction elements ask a little too much of the audience to suspend their disbelief. Had the film been set in the future, this may not have been such an issue but set as it is in the present, the feeling of "Oh come off it!" is all too apparent.
Washington and Kilmer do nothing to keep the film alive and the ending opts for happy rather than a bleaker option. It doesn't seem to matter that this renders the whole movie senseless and a bit of a waste of time.
Deja Vu starts out as an intriguing and thoughtful sci-fi mystery but ends as a generic police drama where everyone goes home smiling.....apart from the person having just watched it.
This review of Déjà Vu (2006) was written by Ben B on 23 Apr 2012.
Déjà Vu has generally received positive reviews.
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