Can Denzel save a girl who has already been killed?

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2015)

In the opening scenes a massive explosion kills hundreds of ferry passengers, including numerous US Navy personnel, in New Orleans. One of the investigators is our protagonist; ATF Agent Doug Carlin; he quickly establishes that the explosion was no accident. As he goes through the evidence he hears of the discovery of a burnt body on the shoreline; it sounds as though she died in the blast but she was found too soon somebody who knew about the impending explosion clearly wanted it to look as if she was just another victim.
Things now take a turn for the science-fictional when Carlin taken to a facility where he sees what appears to be footage of the scene days before the explosion it turns out there is a government programme that allows the viewer to observe the past to be precise 4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, 14.5 nanoseconds in the past no more no less. They are looking over the ferry but it is impossible to pick out anybody who might be planning to blow it up; Carlin suggests that instead they concentrate on solving the girl's murder; if they can solve that they will also solve the bombing. As he watches the past unfold he realises the doomed girl, Claire Kuchever, is somehow aware that she is being observed. Now he doesn't just want to solve Claire's murder he wants to save her!
This film gets off to a great start with a spectacular explosion and continues nicely as a conventional mystery for the first half hour; so much so that when the sci-fi elements are introduced I was a bit disappointed even though I knew they'd be coming. Once the details of seeing into the past were dealt with things get more interesting again with plenty of good action, as one would expect from director Tony Scott; the most fun being when Carlin dons a special helmet and chases the villain who is four days in the past in an attempt to find where he might be in the present. The story is a bit convoluted and the rules of time travel seem designed to make the story more exciting than anything else still if you don't think about it too much it is a lot of fun. Denzel Washington does a fine job as Agent Carlin and Paula Patton is likable as the apparently doomed Claire. Jim Caviezel was good as the terrorist; it made a nice change that the bad guy wasn't part of some conspiracy. Overall a solid enough film with some great action but not really a must see film.