Deja Vu

Despite the unpleasantly fairy-tale ending, the pros prevail. The ultra-sympathetic Denzel Washington, who thinks like all the CSI members put together, the delicious James Caviezel, the likeable and funny scientists... And above all, the unmistakable bombastic direction of Tony Scott. The scene in which a man driving in a car watches a car driving on the same road that he drove on four days earlier is top-notch. Not to mention the introduction. I'm rounding up three and a half for all the entertainment. (25/09/2012)

The first two thirds of this picture are outstanding in all respects, but the nearer it draws toward the ending, the more Déjà Vu suffers from its miserable screenplay which tries to convince you that there is more to it than you think. The subject matter isn’t bad, has considerable potential, even working excellently for quite a while, but the ending trips the whole thing up. Even so, the initial idea could be the makings of a pretty good story perhaps for a series like CSI. What makes it even more of a shame is that otherwise this Tony Scott / Denzel Washington duo collaboration worked out well... Well, almost. This time Scott seems to have taken sedatives and although the directing doubtlessly does have his characteristic idiosyncrasies, compared to his recent movies, you can watch this without risking an epileptic fit. This walks in the footsteps of techno-thrillers such as Enemy of the State, but this has a taste of sci-fi in it and almost zero humor. It’s certainly worth watching, but it might be worth leaving the movie theater when the “operation is called off as successfully solved". That way Déjà Vu could aspire to achieving much higher quality levels and you wouldn’t be left with the feeling that somebody missed a big chance. (23/12/2006)

An incredibly gripping masterpiece in a stylish sci-fi guise that is not marred by the understandably convoluted plot involving time travel. Tony Scott has cut down with the epileptic editing, tamed the frantic camera, and now there is something to watch again. After the visually stunning but narratively unexciting Domino, the technical genius brings us a thrilling story that speaks much more to a wider audience. Even though it’s less action-packed, it’s far more thrilling and dynamic, and above all, there are a lot more emotions, like, simple looks into the eyes. There are a few flaws and the aforementioned narrative tricks and crutches, but they couldn't be avoided. Also, the motive of the killer is somehow bland and unsatisfying. But that does not change the fact that Scott is currently an absolute number one in terms of audiovisuals, and with a skillful screenwriter, it usually results in an interesting cinematic addition. (03/01/2008)

Old masters Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott created a hybrid of Van Damme’s Timecop and Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. The great Denzel Washington heroically shoots his way through the film, which can boast precise filmmaking and a great number of screenwriting ideas, but unfortunately suffers from just as many lapses in logic, including the biggest one, connected to the excessively romantic (but emotionally pleasant) happy ending. Déjà Vu is a pleasant, relaxing film that you shouldn’t overthink. (17/06/2007)

Déjà Vu was a very pleasant surprise. At first I was actually thrilled with the idea and the way it’s executed. By the middle, however, the script takes a turn to Hollywood mainstream, the logic gets lost and my enthusiasm waned. When it comes to time travel, it prefers a “whatever happened happened” approach to a “you can change everything” one, but I still think it’s a very well made film that’s worth watching. (29/08/2010)