CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 11/22/06

A Film You Wish You'd Seen Before

By peter clines

When a devastating terrorist attack leaves over 500 people dead, an ATF agent is enlisted in a government project that can actually look back in time - and might help finger the bomber. The four days that follow are a blend of action, sci-fi, and ethical debate that form a truly amazingly and thought-provoking time travel movie.

Déjà Vu

Bill Marsilii & Terry Rossio

When an explosion on a New Orleans ferry leaves hundreds of men, women, and children dead, ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is the man who quickly finds the first few clues, including the body of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), who was apparently killed and mutilated to look like a ferry victim hours before the attack . Carlin is soon inducted into a special project run by FBI agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), who explains that a team of physicists have created a "window" that allows them to peer back in time exactly four days and six hours—and with Carlin's trained eye, maybe they can discover the terrorist's identity. As the hour of the incident draws close again, however, Carlin senses that there might be a chance to stop the tragedy from ever happening…and to save the life of the woman that he has begun to fall in love with.

Déjà Vu is a stylish, tight, and intelligent time travel story that involves surprisingly little time travel, as it's classically considered. Instead, the script by Bill Marsilii (Jingle) and Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) first treats the time window as the ultimate CSI tool, a second chance to view events with perfect clarity and gain insight on past crimes. Every detail can be seen, but only if you know precisely when and where to look. The interesting and well-explained limit, that each moment can only be viewed once before it's gone again, allows for urgency and frustration in scenes with the characters gathered around a table in a small room.

However, it becomes apparent that Claire and the terrorist Oerstadt (Jim Caviezel) are both dimly aware they are being watched. Even when it becomes undeniable that light and sound can both penetrate the threshold, making their time window, to some extent, two-way, Doctor Alexander Denny (Adam Goldberg) and his team strive to ignore the philosophical ramifications of their creation. Carlin finds himself staring through the window at Claire two days before her murder and demands to know "Is she alive, or is she dead?"

This question becomes the crux of the story, because if Claire and the other 500 victims are still alive, aren't Carlin, Pryzwarra, and the others ethically and morally obliged to try to save them from the disaster they know is coming? Story structure like this is the heart of great sci-fi -- introducing a simple device that forces the characters and the audience to ask themselves tough questions. Reversing the classic question about killing baby Hitler, whom do you save when you have only one shot at each second of history? Is the past set in stone, or can it be changed? And how do people deal with the implications of the changes they have made on it?

The action and conflicts that spring from this question are all remarkably motivated, from an attempt to send a warning message to Carlin's self in the past, to a harrowing car chase that literally spans four days. While the story borders on an ensemble piece at times, each character is genuine and individual in their approach and reactions to the events that arise from their efforts. Indeed, it's easy to see how Carlin, a man who was involved with the Oklahoma City bombing, Hurricane Katrina, and now the ferry attack, would become obsessed with the idea that he could stop a tragedy before it happened and risk everything on a chance to save Claire's life.

As the film draws to a close, however, some of the true strengths of the screenplay begin to arise, and it becomes apparent how tight Marsilii and Rossio have woven their story. The various loose threads begin to knit together and old clues take on eerie new meanings. Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of the script, however, is how some of the questions about causality and history are intentionally left unanswered. Can the past be changed within the scope of this story, or only forced onto a new path? These are the questions the audience will be asking after the film, and will almost guarantee it gets a second viewing.

Déjà Vu delivers not only a great action movie, but a very intelligent one as well. Marsilii and Rossio show that good science fiction does not have to involve lasers, spaceships, or CGI monsters, but rather relies upon living, breathing characters trying to deal with the decisions, situations, and moral choices associated with powerful technology forces onto them.

Déjà Vu

Touchstone Pictures
Rated PG-13; 128 min.

Buy tickets now

Peter Clines has had a lifelong love affair with the movies. He grew up in New England, where he studied English literature and education, and now lives and writes somewhere in Southern California. If anyone knows exactly where, he would appreciate a few hints.

Déjà Vu courtesy Touchstone Pictures

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