A review by Brooks Rich
Tony Scott month is still rolling on and we arrive at one of his most underrated films, Deja Vu. One of his most underrated films, Deja Vu. Ha, see what I did there. I love this movie and I don't get why it doesn't get the love it deserves. It's another team up between Scott and Denzel Washington, one of my all time favorite director and actor team ups in cinema history, and in my opinion this is the second best movie of their's after Crimson Tide. Deja Vu is not only a great action movie it is a high concept science fiction thriller.
Washington is Doug Carlin, an ATF agent investigating the bombing of a ferry in New Orleans. Carlin is approached by an FBI agent, played by Val Kilmer, who asks for his assistance in a top secret program, an experimental program that uses data collected from surveillance to recreate past events. Carlin wants to focus on the life of a woman who he thinks was murdered by the bombers. It is soon discovered it is actually a window in time that allows them to look four days back in the past.
I've spoken about Tony Scott's casts in the past and this one is no different. Of course we have the alpha male himself, Denzel, as Carlin. Val Kilmer like I said plays an FBI agent. Kilmer is a notoriously difficult actor to work with and he probably ruined his A-list career from the '90s with his problematic behavior. Scott always gets a good performance out of him though. Paula Patton, good God she's gorgeous, plays the murdered woman and Jim Caviezel is excellent as the bomber. Bruce Greenwood is the FBI agent in charge of the investigation and Adam Goldberg is the head scientist. It's a stellar cast and everyone does a great job.
So does the time travel concept work here? Absolutely. Time travel is tricky as the rules change for each movie. Deja Vu establishes it's rules and we buy it. I especially love that even with the scientists in the film able to observe the past, they're afraid to push it even farther for fear of what it could do. Even more impressive is how the film is both a time travel film and a crime film. The story of the investigation of the bombing is treated just as seriously as the time travel.
This film looks incredible. Scott has never made an ugly looking film but sometimes his film's just go above and beyond in how they look. Paul Cameron is the director of photography here and he also worked with Scott on Man on Fire. I actually think Deja Vu is Scott's slickest film and props have to be given to Paul Cameron for that. Scott's films always have this pace to them, even when there's not much happening, the camera is always busy and finding different shots. One of the reasons Scott's editing is so insane sometimes. As always, I mean insane in a good way.
Scott only made two more films after this, The Taking of Pelham 123 and Unstoppable. This is an absolute must see if you haven't seen it. It's smart science fiction going along with fantastic action. The car chase in both the present and past is unbelievable. You have to see the movie to find out what I'm talking about. This is one of Scott's films that I consider to be a masterpiece. Please go, hunt down Deja Vu, and give it a watch.
Tony Scott month is still rolling on and we arrive at one of his most underrated films, Deja Vu. One of his most underrated films, Deja Vu. Ha, see what I did there. I love this movie and I don't get why it doesn't get the love it deserves. It's another team up between Scott and Denzel Washington, one of my all time favorite director and actor team ups in cinema history, and in my opinion this is the second best movie of their's after Crimson Tide. Deja Vu is not only a great action movie it is a high concept science fiction thriller.
Washington is Doug Carlin, an ATF agent investigating the bombing of a ferry in New Orleans. Carlin is approached by an FBI agent, played by Val Kilmer, who asks for his assistance in a top secret program, an experimental program that uses data collected from surveillance to recreate past events. Carlin wants to focus on the life of a woman who he thinks was murdered by the bombers. It is soon discovered it is actually a window in time that allows them to look four days back in the past.
I've spoken about Tony Scott's casts in the past and this one is no different. Of course we have the alpha male himself, Denzel, as Carlin. Val Kilmer like I said plays an FBI agent. Kilmer is a notoriously difficult actor to work with and he probably ruined his A-list career from the '90s with his problematic behavior. Scott always gets a good performance out of him though. Paula Patton, good God she's gorgeous, plays the murdered woman and Jim Caviezel is excellent as the bomber. Bruce Greenwood is the FBI agent in charge of the investigation and Adam Goldberg is the head scientist. It's a stellar cast and everyone does a great job.
So does the time travel concept work here? Absolutely. Time travel is tricky as the rules change for each movie. Deja Vu establishes it's rules and we buy it. I especially love that even with the scientists in the film able to observe the past, they're afraid to push it even farther for fear of what it could do. Even more impressive is how the film is both a time travel film and a crime film. The story of the investigation of the bombing is treated just as seriously as the time travel.
This film looks incredible. Scott has never made an ugly looking film but sometimes his film's just go above and beyond in how they look. Paul Cameron is the director of photography here and he also worked with Scott on Man on Fire. I actually think Deja Vu is Scott's slickest film and props have to be given to Paul Cameron for that. Scott's films always have this pace to them, even when there's not much happening, the camera is always busy and finding different shots. One of the reasons Scott's editing is so insane sometimes. As always, I mean insane in a good way.
Scott only made two more films after this, The Taking of Pelham 123 and Unstoppable. This is an absolute must see if you haven't seen it. It's smart science fiction going along with fantastic action. The car chase in both the present and past is unbelievable. You have to see the movie to find out what I'm talking about. This is one of Scott's films that I consider to be a masterpiece. Please go, hunt down Deja Vu, and give it a watch.
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