My Movie Review on Denzel Washington's Deja Vu
Aloha, my good friends.
This is your friendly as always film, TV show, and episode reporter here once again with another review.
And today, I’m gonna be giving you my 104th film analysis by reviewing Denzel Washington’s “Deja Vu”.
Here's the summary of this film:
In the wake of a devastating terrorist attack on a New Orleans ferry, A.T.F special agent Doug Carlin is hired by an experimental top secret government program to find the bomber, as well as solve the mystery of a murdered girl named Claire Kuchever, whom Doug believes was killed by the bomber first.
To find out who the bomber is, the team uses a state-of-the-art technology to see into the past, four days and six hours before their time.
Will they find out who the bomber is and who killed Claire? Or will the case be left uncracked?
I really must confess. When I saw this movie for the first time via Netflix, I didn't know what to make of it. In order to review this movie, I had to see it two more times in order to know precisely what to say about it and what I think of it.
Let me tell you guys something:
The film isn't perfect, but it is fun and worthwhile.
I mean, the only nitpicks I found in the film were that there were some moments where Claire, through the technology that Doug and the others were spying on her with was either in her underwear or naked, which is something that a PG-13 film likely shouldn't contain if I recall correctly. That, and there was a rather crass joke involving the crack of an FBI agent's butt showing.
Other than that, though, the film is honestly pretty underrated.
The performances of the cast, the characters, and character development were 100% awesome! Denzel Washington definitely gave one of his finest performances, and his character of Doug Carlin was an intriguing focus and developed nicely throughout the film. Jim Caviezal had also made some surprisingly amazing use of his screen time and character of Caroll Oerstadt, creating a villain that's not only threatening but accurately human too.
As a plus, the music that was composed by Harry-Gregson Williams was magnificent. I love that Williams was apparently able to throw himself into composing for this motion picture, making it be as emotionally engaging as possible.
Finally, the direction by Tony Scott, and the story by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii, was extremely creative. Admittedly, there were some things about the film that generated questions in my head, such as what happened to Claire's cat before the FBI investigated her house. However, I found the idea of a mystery and time travel story combined together to be something very unique and different, and I can tell that the film was obviously quite creatively inspired by the minds of Scott and the writers. There was even some terrifically-done drama and emotional moments throughout the movie, as well as snippets of wit and humor amongst the characters.
In the end, "Deja Vu" isn't what I'd classify as flawless, and it certainly won't reach the heights of top dogs like Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes movies. But, it's still splendid all on its own, and it neatly delivers as a mystery and thriller film.
So, I rate "Deja Vu" four out of five stars.
