Review of Déjà Vu (2006) by Jesse G — 16 Jan 2010

A really good premise and one very solid action sequence keeps this thriller entertaining enough that you don't think through the logic of the movie too much. Washington delivers a solid if somewhat overly nuanced performance.

Once the main story point is revealed, Washington settles into his man-of-action mode, but a few early scenes are a bit off from the tone of the scene. Kilmer and Goldberg make for a great supporting cast and the movie leaves you wanting to follow those characters into a sequel of some kind.

Tony Scott, known for overindulging in the fast edits and camera filters department keeps it to a fairly coherent level. The Humvee sequence where Washington is following the killer through the present with a window into the past of 4 days ago is the standout sequence of the whole film.

The movie really never recaptures the same perfect synergy of the wild sci-fi idea and the action/thriller genre into which its been meshed with. The movie deftly plays with several of the thriller conventions with its sci-fi twist.

Only the opening of the film, a daring but ultimately overly-long dialogue-less sequence that features the explosion of the ferry, shows itself to be Tony Scott being a bit overbearing with his visual tics.

Also the romantic undertones of the movie come across as a bit overbaked really. It exists only because studio chiefs apparently think that audiences will find it impossible that a girl as pretty Paula Patton could not instantly fall for Denzel.

The score is pretty good with a really winning song from Macy Gray for the end titles.