Deja Vu [Blu-ray] [2006] [US Import]

I was drawn to this movie because I really like Denzel Washington and I was not disappointed. He plays an intelligent and likeable ATF Agent keen to do the best for the people around him.There is a certain amount of scientific mumbo-jumbo in the plot, so be prepared to pass over that and just enjoy a good story well told.This story does embed the usual time-travelling paradox but the way the plot loops back on itself is greatly attractive. This movie is well named because of this.I enjoyed this movie a lot.

It's the 28th of February 2006 (Fat Tuesday) and Navy personnel from the USS Nimitz are boarding a New Orleans Car Ferry with their families - bound for a Mardi Gras celebration in their honour at the nearby Canal Street Pier. A diligent schoolteacher takes a head-count of the kids in her class - proud smiling wives pose for photos with their uniformed husbands. But as the brass band plays "When The Saints Go Marching In" - a Ferry employee on the car deck hears a Beach Boys song playing on the radio of a locked Bronco SUV beneath the open passenger decks above. He tries the door - but it's locked. He then looks closer through the dirty windows and sees wires and cylinders. Seconds later - 543 people are victims of a calculated and merciless attack. But who is the terrorist?Arriving after the event is AFT Officer Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) who immediately looks to the Crescent City Bridge nearby - the perfect range for triggering a device. Back at his offices while viewing surveillance footage - Doug spots a lone rider dismounting his motorbike by the walk path - moments before the 10:50 a.m. explosion. On the Crescent City Bridge - Doug crawls over the girders and begins examining the steel structure underneath for bomb blast residue. Whilst there he is approached by FBI Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and asked to join the taskforce that's been drafted in to find the perpetrators.After showing lightning-fast skill in finding answers that eluded others - Doug is driven by Agent Pryzwarra into a gated facility and shown a top-secret Government device called Snow White. Via satellite imaging and reconstruction - it allows an all-angles digital window into the past - exactly 4 days and 6 hours ago. Now the team of computer nerds who run it and the FBI controllers want Doug to watch the footage of the Ferry (four days back) and instinctively see what shouldn't be there - point out clues - possibly even identity the killers.Their search leads them to the French Quarter home of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) - a beautiful young woman whose body was washed up on the river the day of the atrocity - only to have a post mortem examination find she'd been murdered one hour `before' the blast. Doug works out that it was Claire's SVU that was stolen by the killers and she was dumped in the river to look like all the other bomb blast victims to avoid suspicion.But then Doug begins to put things together. The boffins aren't telling him the whole truth about their magical device as they evade his incessant questions. And the more he witnesses Claire's past (he held her hand in the morgue) which is about to become a grizzly murder and another life lost - he longs to catch the monsters 'before' they do something horrible. Soon Doug is sending back a bit of paper to his past-self with a warning message on it - and then working out why he wrote "U Can Save Her" with magnetic plastic letters on Claire's fridge door...Time travel stuff has been done before and there are few of us who can resist it when it comes to movies. But one of the things that make "Deja Vu" so engaging are the brilliant plausible explanations - the folding of space onto itself - the bridge at the end of wormholes. And there's an emotional element too - an officer desperate to save a woman he falls in love with through video footage (when she was alive). It is of course terribly silly in places - but the stunning techno stuff and Tony Scott's trademark speed editing keeps you glued. You also get Jim Caviezel as the loner reject with a grudge against the military - suitably cold and chilling - while the time-boffin team consists of quality support actors like Bruce Greenwood, Adam Goldberg, Elden Hensen and Erika Alexander.The BLU RAY picture quality is exceptional - beautifully filmed - Scott making the absolute most of the picturesque city of New Orleans - the French Quarter during the day and night - the tram cars - even the famous music at funerals. There are Four Bonus Features - Surveillance Window, Deleted Scenes, Extended Scenes and Movie Showcase. Audio is a muscular 5.1 Dolby Digital Mix in English, French and Spanish - while Subtitles include English, English for the Hearing impaired, French, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic and Dutch.Perhaps its just Denzel Washington's natural ability to bring out warmth and humanity in any movie - or the cleverly unfolding script - or the expert and slick Direction by the sadly lost Tony Scott. But "Déjà Vu" is a hugely entertaining film and for a blockbuster - a strangely hopeful watch too."I need her to matter to you..." - a bereaved father says to AFT Agent Doug Carlin of his lost daughter - knowing how the system will simply chalk her up as yet another sad statistic. I suspect you'll feel the same way about "Déjà Vu". You'll care about it - and you won't really know why...PS: Avoid the US BLU RAY issue - it's REGION A LOCKED so won't play on UK machines unless they're chipped for 'all regions BLU RAY' which few are.

Cracking movie

Great D Washington movie as always

Loved this film l have been searching for it. Must have g(

‘Deja Vu’ is definitely a film that you haven’t felt like you’ve seen before *boom boom* - it’s actually as ‘original’ as any modern Hollywood film is going to be. And by that I mean it’s probably quite similar to a few others, but presented differently enough to make it worth a watch. And, if that’s not enough of a recommendation, it has Denzel Washington in it. What more could you want?The ever excellent Denzel plays a cop who has to investigate a domestic terrorism incident where someone blows up a boat full of naval servicemen and their families as it draws into port in New Orleans. However, instead of taking witness statements and making public appeals, he chooses to team up with a shadowy government agency who have invented a machine that can ‘look into the past.’ However, just because they can peek into the past, doesn’t mean they can easily identify the killer. Unfortunately, the machine can only look into the past exactly four and a half days ago – and time is constantly moving forward. Even in the past. Confused? Don’t worry. Denzel will explain it better than I can.Although, it is one of those films where you do have to pay attention. It’s not one where you can check your Instagram account and wander off for a cup of tea. I’m not going to go into how the plot unfolds, as there’s more to it than I’ve mentioned. If you’re slightly put off by the sci-fi element, don’t be. It works on many levels. Obviously, there’s a strong sci-fi feel to it, but nothing too over-the-top and the machine has a ‘real’ look to it, like it could really exist in our world. However, it’s primarily a cop movie where the good guy has to track down the bad guy. So, hopefully it should appeal to more than just fans of the sci-fi genre. And, obviously, you have Denzel. He’ll probably never win any Oscars for his performance here, but it is definitely enough to lift the film to even higher heights.Don’t expect wall-to-wall action. This is definitely not a ‘Transformers’ movie. And it’s all the better for it. Get ready to follow closely and see what the future holds for the war on terror. Or should that be the past?