Deja Vu Movie Review

An Interesting Mix of Action and Science Fiction, Deja Vu Surprises This Movie Goer

Scott Schlimmer
Movie Spoiler Alert

There will be a spoiler alert in this movie review. Sadly, there's no way around it. If you don't want to know what happens, you can read on. I'll let you know in big bold letters when we get to the spoiler section, and you can stop then.

Deja Vu

I had low expectations of the movie Deja Vu. I'm not a fan of action movies, and I usually find them mindless and uninteresting. My expectations were low, but Deja Vu blew my expectations away.

First, it's not quite fair to call Deja Vu an action movie. Deja Vu begins when a terrorist destroys a party boat in New Orleans, killing 500 people. Denzel Washington stars as an ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms) agent investigating the attack. He is recruited by a special investigation unit that has very special investigation technology. This technology is not very realistic, and this is where the science fiction begins. You will not believe that the technology in the movie is real, nor will you believe that this is a realistic movie. It's not. However, if you can accept a little science fiction, you will enjoy Deja Vu.

If you're a fan of action movies, you might be a bit disappointed. Again I'm not a fan of action movies, so it wasn't a problem for me, but I'd say the action was very average. The story line, however, is quite interesting, making Deja Vu a very good movie in my opinion. I actually thought of Deja Vu most similar to 12 Monkeys, so if you liked that movie, you'll definitely like Deja Vu.

If you don't want to spoil the movie, stop reading now.

DEJA VU SPOILER ALERT

If you don't want to spoil the movie, stop reading now.

My biggest criticism of the Deja Vu movie was with the ending. Denzell Washington goes back in time to try and change history, but finds that every action he takes seems to lead to things that happened originally. He was affecting the past, but the present already included his actions. The movie seemed to follow a fate theme - You can't change what's happened. Deja Vu would have been perfect if only Denzel's time traveling character had died in the past, completing the loop where nothing changes.

Unfortunately, Deja Vu has a Hollywood happy ending, which ruined the story in my opinion. With a better ending, this movie would have been great.

Published by Scott Schlimmer

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23 Comments

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  • Elizabeth Binkowski 4/15/2010

    this is tied for my favorite movie with Inside Man.

  • gene 1/2/2010

    imagine if he'd escaped out of the car. There would've been two Doug Carlins. What happens when one meets the other. I imagine if they shook hands everything would be normal except for the fact that people would trip out cause there's two of them. Claire would have to figure out which one she wanted to marry. he he

  • gene 1/2/2010

    he went back in time. changed the past then died, leaving his older self. His older self doesn't experience the ferry bombing. It's as if the people on the ferry never died and the necessity for his older self to go back in time is expunged. What I didn't like about the end was that there wasn't enough dialogue between him and claire. I would've loved to have heard another 5 minutes of dialogue where she tries to explain to him something she knows he'll never believe.

  • TUBBS 12/7/2008

    the denzel at the end is the one of the past (ie that is the start of the film...) the one that died was denzel 4 days later (the future denzel who time travelled back)

    problem i have is if denzel had to go back in time to stop it from happening then surely he still hs to go back in time again to make sure it still stops, otherwise it would be as if he never went back, ie the first branch would come back, or more likely a rift in time would occur destroying everything o.O

    good movie but the end is defo a copout

  • Habib 11/23/2008

    This movie is complicated but watchin it over and over again ur get it.. he did already travel in the past. because even the terrorist mention that he better have some divine machine and who ever trys to stop it will die. The movie changes because he was meant to meet her and the more infomation he gathered after the bombing the more he changed the past by going back knowing whats havent been changed.

    I believe when she was locked up in the car and denzel got up and to talk to the bomber he had a bullet in the gun because thats where he was suppost to die then the bomber wuld take the girl out of the car and jumped in the water. then after she died kill her and leave her where they found the body in the beginning. notice why the time was different when the told him on the phone fist it was before then after.. watch it again ur see wat i mean

  • Rich 11/18/2008

    The storyline is quite simple once you understand the time travelling aspect. Firstly, he has ALREADY been back in time using the 'Snow White' machine before the film starts and obviously dies somehow (but we don't see this) because he has left the bloody rags and fridge magnets saying 'You Can Save Her'-he had done this to warn himself if he failed to stop the terrorist. This is also clear when he says about going back in time "What if I already have" as he gets into the 'Snow White' machine. He then goes back in time for a SECOND time and stops the bomb exploding on the ferry, but ends up dying himself. The reason why he then appears again is because he has gone back in time to before the ferry bombing and when he, Claire Kutchover and all the people on the ferry were still alive! (In theory, if he hadn't have died when the truck exploded in the river, there would have been 2 Doug Carlins alive at the same time!!!)

  • iansabaw@yahoo.com 8/27/2008

    please answer this question previously posted:
    " Ok so in the very end of this movie when Claire says "What if you had to tell someone the most important thing in the world but you knew they'd never believe you", and Denzel replies "I'd try....................nah" and he just smiles back at her. Does he remember her becasue of the song and that question? "

  • dfgfd 8/4/2008

    hgfjgfhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddtttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

  • Deeeeezzz 12/27/2007

    i dont get it!!!!!!!!

  • smart aussy 8/21/2007

    denzel is in the bodybag at the start of the film. case closed

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