Disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2006)

A terrorist act starts the movie off with a bang and in the earlier stages we were entertained with some fine forensic work. Jerry Bruckheimer brought CSI to the big screen perhaps.
In the acting department, there were also some solid performances from Denzel Washington, Adam Goldberg, Val Kilmer and Jim Calviezel.
The initial science fiction element was a treat for fans of multi-dimensional time observation and travel, and it also provided us with some interesting paradoxes.
Unfortunately, we then get into the last third of the movie. It's predictability was an unwelcome jolt to enjoyment I was getting from the film up to that time. The man goes back in time to rescue the beautiful damsel in distress and he succeeds admirably. I'm sure that the two of them will live out their days together in nirvana.
It seemed that the actual prevention of the terrorist act was secondary compared to the developing relationship between Denzel and his damsel.
This last part of film in my opinion spoiled what in many ways could have been one of the industry's better thrillers.
The changing the past element of the movie could have been handled more effectively without the falling in love element. It begs the obvious question - If the damsel-in-distress wasn't so stunning and beautiful, how quickly would Denzel's character offered to transport his body on a 50-50 do or die mission to go back into the past to rescue her. Would he have gone back just to prevent the bombing?
Oh for the days of "Quantum Leap" and "7 Days".