Time-paradox hybrid drama bests them all.

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2008)

DéjàVu is one of those movies that require repetitive viewings to accept. It's internally consistent so long as we're comfortable with time-paradoxes and are prepared to allow two (major) conceits. It's executed extremely well, including its satisfying ending. Above all, this police-procedural-come sci-fi love story is a nod/thank-you to all the cops who've ever wished they could prevent man-made disaster instead of counting the bodybags. With time-travel, if necessary.
Things begin with a "wink". Since studio logos sometimes now herald a movie's plot, Bruckheimer's logo animation performs an act of déjà-vu itself: it rewinds, and restarts to end correctly on the lightning striking the tree.
The action opens mysteriously, portended by music. The eerie score deepens the tension by intercutting the confusing ferry montage with the Beach Boys. The pointed use of "Don't Worry Baby" was a stroke of genius, especially when reprised at the end for a different meaning. Frequency(2000)'s similar musical flourish wasn't as successful. I mention Frequency(2000) for both Jim Caviezel and Brian Greene(V--IMDb)'s dual-duty involvements.
There is careful plot seeding, eg as Agent Minuti(Matt Craven)'s cellphone rings inside a bodybag. The director's commitment to stunt realism is equally impressive; he shows real burning (stunt-)people, trained by the Picernis: both Charlie and son Chuck Jr are "Die Hard" &"Lethal Weapon" mavens. While non-gratuitous, the depicted bombing is tough to watch, but it's vital for our emotional investment. Question: why was the FBI looking for Minuti instead of Doug Carlin, the Oklahoma expert?
Tony Scott again made the right choice having Claire Kuchever's father(Enrique Castillo) imploring Carlin that "I need her to matter to you". The movie needs her to matter to us also. Lacking this connection, Time After Time(1979)'s biggest flaw was that women just couldn't connect to Mary Steenburgen's character, but by BTTF III(1990) she was much more emotionally available.
Despite being horribly brutalised, the perfectly-cast Claire(Paula Patton) turns out to be as brave as the hero. She's very relateable as a 21stC damsel "in need of a vice", especially when her heart is breaking in the rescue boat, realising Doug(Washington)'s sacrifice, then being given a second chance she couldn't explain.
Denzel is again charming and cheeky as the plot veers into technothriller territory. His first contact with the time-portal team is a giggle; his face communicating "YEAH(no sh!t; and) OK!(that you'll look into it)". The romance is pitch-perfect, eg as Doug lovingly puts Claire in his car to warm up.
Jim Caviezel, nicknamed JC "also" for having been "the lead" in Passion of the Christ(2004), is a suitably intense patriot. He sheds a Christlike tear as he tries to explain his deadly commitment, but it's hard to see what Oerstedt's "date with destiny" is. DéjàVu provides a hero-vs-antihero shared destiny within the original universe where the ferry explodes, and presumably it's this struggle that Oerstedt is trying to "win", but why is he experiencing déjà-vu? The logical links of this single element are weak, so we don't "get" the violent patriot. We're left disappointed by his expectation to die in the explosion, too.
The technobabble is a dull roar, yet the "digital recreation" sounds fraudulent. Not only is the time-window computationally prohibitive(impossible), but its POV detail needs an in-situ camera, not "up-to-four satellites". So this reeks of a movie cheat using the cameraman's footage masquerading as technobabble. Carlin's right, the POV(and audiofeed!) remain unexplained. Originally Tony Scott's idea, the writers' insistence on the time-window made it a little more palatable, but not much.
The hysterical and hyped action banter during the Hummer chase scene is the movie's lowest point; it's there to distract us from questioning the total absence of any technological explanation for the goggle-rig whatsoever. It's pure cover-up.
Scientists loathe Denny(Adam Goldberg)'s claim that "Life, like time and space, is not merely a local phenomenon", because that's stolen from What the Bleep--Down the Rabbit Hole(2006), circling the drain of pseudoscience and parapsychology. Later, the plot changes Denny's mind for him with the now hollow-sounding excuse that he's secretly religious.
Granted, as a co-protagonist, Denny's conceit WAS necessary if he was to help Carlin go back to save Claire. Carlin HAD to go back, because that's what completes the causality loop: once he first saw that leading "U can save her" message in Claire's apartment, the loop was set. Such is the nature of plausible(!) time-paradoxes.
However, if it's physically impossible to change the past, then NOTHING physical can go back; not even the piece of paper. Anything/anyone macroscopic(touchable) is just too big. So the creators overrode their own "God's mind is made up about this" assertion with the transported note. This is the central conceit of the plot. They originally also intended hinting that God changed his mind (deleted scene--different weather in the other universe-branch), but this was abandoned as too obvious.
The time-window is supposedly being generated by that particle accelerator, but there aren't (two)black holes surrounding it. They're needed to create an Einstein-Rosen bridge(wormhole) at both ends. Even if from another dimension, we'd still need to gravitationally attenuate such black holes--a science we haven't begun to dream. Black holes in Earth's vicinity (in either dimension) would cause Solar System misalignment, killing the planet and everything on it. So this capability would be much more tragic than just causing an EM-pulse that blacks out the Eastern seaboard. The technology is fanciful--but it sounds almost plausible.
DéjàVu(2006) had to cheat, but we can just about fool ourselves. Happily the movie can be taken on many levels, its universality making it an instant classic. DéjàVu includes everyone except violent "patriots", whose "Hell-in-a-handbasket" destiny is contrary to a universe in which love and compassion crosses space-time. Its ultimate strength is in its wrenching conclusion so perfectly buttoned by the Beach Boys, telegraphing the movie's humanism about disaster. "everything will be alright" because it's a branching universe, not a parallel one: BRIAN GREENE, the screenplay's "God", changed his mind!(9/10).