A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Deja Vu

Date Viewed: 12/2/06

Details:

Denzel Washington

Val Kilmer

Paula Patton

James Caviezel

Director: Tony Scott

Score: +

The Review: Well-constructed thriller based on a science-fiction twist.

New Orleans. Post-Katrina. A ferry crossing near the Crescent City bridge. A terrorist attack. And an ATF agent (Washington) determined to find out what happened, who stumbles onto an even larger investigation going on right next door. The mystery of the explosion becomes entwined with the puzzle of several investigational clues that don't make any sense, and the enigma of an odd visualization tool that seems to track 4-1/2 days back in time.

Yes, even in the trailers, we're given a glimpse of a gadget that can apparently see backwards in time, in real time, so to speak. But whether we're given a McGuffin or a real tool is left for the viewer to decide as the plot unfolds. The fictional physics gets a bit loopy with some worm-infested logic, but that's nothing compared with a chase scene with time-lag -- negative 4-1/2 days of time-lag! Now that's cool!!

Quibbles? My statement "well-constructed" -- that is, until you closely examine the physical model(s) of time employed by the plot. The first model put forth is conventional, linear, unbranched, monotonic. The second model, derived from some of the observational data and the ramblings of the characters' pseudo-science dialog, seems to admit a monotonic progression with limited causal loop-back, and the possibility of quantum branching universes with an indeterminate prior main branch. The third model, left to the audience to derive, is even more convoluted, if all the evidence is to be explained -- something that seems difficult when the denouement is in hand.

Not bad, though; mind-stretching.

(2-Dec-06)

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