Categories: Books

Déjà Vu: Movie Review

Greetings and Salutations! This is Michael Wyatt, that same movie reviewer you keep reading over and over again. Or maybe you just get a feeling that you’ve read me before. You know… that feeling you can only describe in French? You know the feeling. You might think you recognize someone you’ve never met or feel as though you’ve been somewhere before on your first visit. Could there be more to those feelings?

If you’ve seen the trailer for Déjà Vu you already know this movie is going to test that old time travel theory of branching realities and altered past. You can watch the past, but can you change it? Or do those changes you make to the past actually change anything… or did they already happen?

Greetings and Salutations! This is a movie review for Déjà Vu starring Denzel Washington. You know… that actor that played in Glory, Malcolm X, Virtuosity, The Bone Collector, Training Day, and John Q, just to name a few. This time around Denzel is an ATF agent investigating the aftermath of an apparent terrorist attack on a New Orleans ferryboat. It’s not much of a reach for Denzel. He seems to be made to fit into the handsome investigative action-oriented but ultra-realistic mold. He keeps playing it over and over, but it works well for him.

There are some surprises in store for you in Déjà Vu. My favorite surprise was relative newcomer, Paula Patton. You may have seen her before on Idlewild, London or Hitch. Even if you have, you probably will get a French feeling if she reminds you of Aaliyah with her soft beauty, intense eyes and expressive lips. I sincerely hope she can stay on the big screen for a while because she was an absolute pleasure to watch, and several of the characters in the movie would definitely agree with me on that!

There are some surprises in store for you in Déjà Vu. Another favorite surprise was James Caviezel. He seems to be another one of those chameleon actors because it took me quite some time to recognize him… and then Jesus Christ!!! That’s Jesus Christ! James played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. I knew that I knew that pretty face from somewhere. He’s no newcomer, though. He was also in Frequency and Highwaymen, and he knows how to play intense.

There are some surprises in store for you in Déjà Vu. My favorite surprise was the Real Genius, Val Kilmer. After seeing him all Navy-muscle in Top Gun twenty years ago and again as the only actor that could play Batman (Batman Forever) without a shirt eleven years ago, it was weird seeing him so heavy in Déjà Vu. That was one thing I don’t think I’ve seen before. It was more of a jamais vu than déjà vu! I do wish Val could have had more screen time in this outing. His character was interesting but peripheral.

I really enjoyed Déjà Vu, but I don’t think it’s for the average American market. I don’t mean to sound elitist, but there were a lot of confused people in nearby rows at the preview. Maybe it’s because I loved Terminator and Back to the Future when I was a kid, but this movie wasn’t a reach at all. There was even a moment of Déjà Vu when one of the characters explains time travel theory almost exactly how Doc Brown did for Marty in Back to the Future. This movie requires no where near as much thought as Donnie Darko, and since I do my best not to include spoilers in my reviews I will not discuss potential time theory plot holes any further than to advise you to look for them. You’ll find at least one major hole. If you’re as geeky as me, you might have a bit of fun by reading up on time travel theory before going to see Déjà Vu. It’s just a refresher. No reason to feel you’ve done it before.

I had mixed feelings about the post-Katrina New Orleans setting of the movie while in the theater, but I have since read that production of Déjà Vu started before the hurricane hit. Production almost moved to another city, but ended up staying in New Orleans and giving the local economy a big boost by hiring hundreds of locals to work on the movie. That made me happy.

My usual warning for parents: There are moments of violence and gore, including on-screen deaths. While they are not gratuitous, they did seem a bit intense and realistic. There was a realistic explosion that implied the deaths of hundreds of people including children. There is a scene including an autopsy, but it is not any more intense than an average episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. There were gunfights with on-screen deaths of police officers and military personnel. I do not believe most children under ten to thirteen will understand most of what is going on with the time travel theory plot, so they are not as likely to enjoy the movie. I’d advise you to leave the young ones at home with a babysitter for this movie. You’ll enjoy it more without them anyway. Even those of you with older teens should be advised that there is a very brief bit of on-screen nudity.

Go see Déjà Vu on November 22nd! You may even want to go ahead and buy a pair of tickets so you can see it twice. Until next time, this is Michael Wyatt, your repetitive reviewer saying, “Greetings and Salutations! This is Michael Wyatt, that same movie reviewer you keep reading over and over again.”