Re Vu

Rating: 8/10 (14 September 2007)

It's hard not to spoil the key aspect "Déjà Vu" is hiding from its audience in its trailers, but rest assured the movie is assuredly the most conceptually ambitious and science fiction-tinged film Denzel Washington has starred in in quite some time, and maybe even his career.
Taking place in a post-Katrina New Orleans where Washington plays Doug Carlin, an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) investigator looking into a ferry's explosion that killed over 500, he's brought into the fold by FBI agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), who introduces him to a top secret, mind-boggling technology that a good portion of the movie invests its plot in.
Because of "Déjà Vu"'s heavy dependency on the technology's far-reaching concept, a little mental compromise is required on our part, but it pays off fairly well in the end. In a sense there's definitely flavors from other modern works here: namely "Minority Report," "Enemy of the State" (which producer Jerry Bruckheimer also anchored) and "Frequency," the last of which co-star Jim Caviezel also starred in, albeit as 'The Good Guy' then (he plays Carroll Oerstadt, a patriotically confused terrorist, here).
Paula Patton plays the confused damsel in distress in Claire Kuchever, who becomes the object of Carlin's desire early in the movie. She's nothing to write home about, but her role is crucial and delivered adequately.
Washington does fall victim to several clichés, one being his formerly frowned upon typecast / now pleasingly expected role reprisal of a keen-eyed city detective. The other is the clichéd "intrigued outsider looking to push the limits of a technology he knows nothing about much to the chagrin of the technology's creators" deal. What the candid Washington does he does well, however, injecting his usual flair of charm and humor to overcome the film's banalities.
"Déjà Vu" manages to nod towards a number of genres and still make for a compelling two hours that never seem to drift too far outside the lines of reasoning. Despite a number of concepts and details vividly and vaguely familiar, it's a careful mix that quite often works.