Déjà Vu - Wettlauf gegen die Zeit (Déjà Vu)
U.S.A. 2006

Opening 28 Dec 2006

Directed by: Tony Scott
Writing credits: Bill Marsilii, Terry Rossio
Principal actors: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer, James Caviezel, Adam Goldberg

A ferry explodes as it leaves the dock on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. It’s raining men and women and vehicles and ferryboat parts. Heart-rending. Tragic. A spectacular scene that has that uneasy feeling of déjà vu. On the scene is ATF Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) with required dark glasses. He thinks he recognizes a car (déjà vu?) in the wreckage. A partially burned, dead body is pulled from the muddy waters of the Mississippi but she was dead before the ferry exploded. Carlin senses a connection (déjà vu?). His fingerprints are found all over the dead girl’s apartment (déjà vu?). While reviewing what is alleged to be satellite surveillance tapes of the girl’s last days alive, Carlin detects something amiss. The girl feels like she is being watched. She is being watched! Pulling out his standard ATF pocket laser pointer, Carlin aims at the screen. He catches the girl’s attention – before she is murdered! They are watching the past from the present.

Many plot twists are wrong turns, resulting in this disappointment from director Jerry Bruckheimer. And, Denzel Washington must have left the real actor in a parallel time warp during filming, since the corpse (Paula Patton) has more personality than he does. Seems like we’ve been there, done that before. The two stars are for the city of New Orleans, emerging from the waters of Katrina as a vigorous, lively city (déjà vu?). (Mary Nyiri)