DEJA VU

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 126 minutes, deleted and extended featurettes, audio commentary and featurettes

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English, Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

STUDIO: Touchstone Pictures/ Jerry Bruckhiemer Films/ Scott Free

RELEASE DATE: 4-24-2007

DEJA VU starts with a ferry boat of military men going out into the river on a quiet New Orleans morning until the ferry blows up. ATF agent Doug Carlin(Denzel Washington) figures out is a terrorist bombing and a murder three hours before the explosion is connected. A FBI agent (Val Kilmer) ahead of a special FBI unit recruits Doug as they use a project called Snow White which can see a little over four days into the past.  they decide to focus on the beautiful female murder victim (which Doug becomes smitten for in true Hollywood fashion).  As they try to affect the past to stop the explosion and find the terrorist, they find out time is very complicated.

I loved the concepts, twits, and clues in DEJA VU. The clues are left out in the open and they all make sense by the last quarter of the film. Director Tony Scott nails it again. He and Denzel are a good team together (this being their third effort together- the other two being CRIMSON TIDE and MAN ON FIRE). New Orleans is front and center while showing the efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina in the background. I do have unanswered questions at the end of DEJA VU as to what happened to one character even though most of the clues points Doug to what he must do. I love Val Kilmer and wish his character had even more time on screen. In a way, DEJA VU is a time travel movie with a twist and a little romance under the surface mixed with action and drama to match the visual direction style of Tony Scott.

SPECIAL FEATURES: The deleted and extended scenes add more character development while the combo audio commentary (by director Tony Scott and screenwriters Bill Marsilli and Terry Rossio) and the nine featurettes (which can be played on their own) are the same type of feature first found on the DVD of brother Ridley Scott's A GOOD YEAR. I'm still not used to the audio commentary branching into featurettes concept even though Tony Scott talks about keeping it science fact as possible while the two screenwriters talk about the story. Definitely worth a listen. I just wish BVHE included the two theatrical trailers for DEJA VU on this DVD (the first trailer is the best). Maybe they can fix that in a special edition release if they ever do one. Note to all studios: please include the original theatrical trailers on your DVDs. A few of you do while others don't (SPHE, BVHE).

FINAL ANALYSIS: DEJA VU is a thrilling action ride with interesting concepts. I love the way the clues were left out in the open and I say you should watch it on DVD now.

this review is (c)4-19-2007 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link to the review). Look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com