Solid first half

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2009)

I gave DEJA VU 7 stars because of a slam-bang, tension-filled first half. The second half detracts from the score, as the movie goes off in the wrong direction and comes to an implausible finish, even for a science fiction movie (and make no mistake, this is a science fiction flick). Washington stars as a cop investigating the bombing of a ferry that kills hundreds, including many servicemen. The mystery of the event deepens with the discovery of a woman's charred body miles downstream. A bunch of mad scientists working in a big, expensive lab show DW using their newly developed wayback machine a way to view the immediate past, in an effort to figure out the who and why and when of things leading up to the explosion. OK so far. But then, the movie shifts into time travel, and other than Jim Cavaziel popping up as the mad bomber, interest quickly wanes. Sort of like the second half of EVENT HORIZON, when Sam Neil becomes Pinhead. Not one of DW's best, for sure. You have to see him in his undies, curled up in a tiny box, being flung into the past via the mad scientists' wayback machine. I'd like to say, what was he thinking? But God only know how many millions he was paid for this semi-turkey. Plus, he apparently enjoys working with Tony Scott.