Susan Granger’s review of “DŽjˆ Vu” (Buena Vista/Disney)
Everyone has experienced the inexplicable phenomenon of dŽjˆ vu – that disconcerting feeling of recognition and/or familiarity with a person or place.
It’s dŽjˆ vu that unexpectedly surfaces when a top agent from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington), is summoned to investigate a post-Katrina New Orleans ferry explosion that took place as U.S. Navy families were celebrating Mardi Gras aboard. When the body of beautiful Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) is found among the 543 corpses, Carlin’s convinced that she was thrown into the river in an attempt to pass her off as one of the blast victims. If he can find her killer, he’ll locate the bomber.
FBI agent Agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) takes Carlin to a top-secret Time Window Lab where scientists (Adam Goldberg, Erika Alexander) bend time, using satellite surveillance to scan Claire at home prior to the catastrophe and retrace the past four days. Aside from the voyeurism, Carlin is determined to use a time-travel tunnel to try to rescue her – and hundreds of others – from what would seem to be their fate.
Writers Bill Marshilii & Terry Rossio shrewdly weave a romance-in-reverse into the mystery as they venture onto the edges of modern physics’ understanding of time, while director Tony Scott (“Crimson Tide,” “Man on Fire”) reunites with Denzel Washington. Together, they impart an extraordinary logic and authenticity to the sci-fi whodunit, as Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” emerges as the deeply disturbed, politically zealous prime suspect. And, inevitably, there are several inventive, high-octane car chases. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “DŽjˆ Vu” is an intense, intriguing 8, an action-packed techno-thriller that makes you think.
