Deja Vu

Stars: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer, Jim Caviezel, Bruce Greenwood, Adam Goldberg

Director: Tony Scott

What starts explosively, with 543 people killed on a troop-carrying ferry, soon develops into a time-travel thriller with echoes of The Fly, The Lake House and even the 1940s' noir classic Laura.

Doug (Washington), chief investigator for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, soon becomes fascinated with a dead girl (Patton), fished out of nearby water just before the blast. He becomes involved with a top-secret, hi-tech unit (led by Kilmer, who's put on a pound or two) that can literally look back at events four days earlier, and can actually trigger objects back into that time.

Watching the girl's life and remembering her apartment, Doug realises that she holds the key to everything. Can he himself travel back in time to apprehend the bomber and save the girl?

A lot of overkill on scientific mumbo-jumbo makes the movie overlong, but it's exciting enough to hold your attention most of the time, with Washington a welcome human presence at its centre. Lovers of bloopers, however, will rejoice in the scene where he takes his jacket off twice before entering the teleportation chamber.

David Quinlan

USA 2006. UK Distributor: Buena Vista. Technicolor.
126 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: U.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 09 Dec 2006