Deja Vu Movie Review

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

By Scott Schlimmer, published Dec 05, 2006
Published Content: 94  Total Views: 160,112  Favorited By: 19 CPs
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Rating: 3.2 of 5
 
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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.


 
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Deja Vu Movie Review

Deja Vu Movie

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

Copyright: Buena Vista Pictures

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  • I expected an action movie, but Deja Vu also has a science fiction angle
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Showing Comments 1 - 15 of 15
 
 
i dont get it!!!!!!!!

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Posted on 12/27/2007 at 10:12:24 AM

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

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Posted on 08/21/2007 at 6:08:00 AM

 
I feel the same way about the movie, it was one of the best that I have seen for a very long time. My only problem came at the end as well, if he went in the past saved her and then died in the past how could he come back to the future. A better ending would have been for him to remain dead in the bombing. But I still give the movie two thumbs up. Bravo Jerry Brucheimer,Bravo!!

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Posted on 08/09/2007 at 8:08:00 PM

 
Lee, no need to bash people. This is not a movie that lays everything out so it is easily understood. It's supposed to be confusing and you are supposed to try and figure it out. It is hard to understand so dont always think you know the answers to everything.

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Posted on 08/07/2007 at 1:08:00 PM

 
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?

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Posted on 08/05/2007 at 12:08:00 PM

 
ok i get the whole concept. He changed the way the terrorists act on the ferry and in that case he didn't investigate it the same, but the question i want to ask is if she had died with him in the truck, would he still have came back??

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Posted on 07/27/2007 at 7:07:00 AM

 
I have a hard time understanding the end of the movie also. Why is the music playing on the radio?

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Posted on 06/10/2007 at 7:06:00 PM

 
the storyline still doesnt makes since....she died in the past and lost her fingers....and she was found washed up on shore 8 minutes before the ferry exploded. So if she was found dead before the ferry exploded, she must have died by being murdered, and yet his blood rags were still in her apartment and she told her friend there was someone there and she had to go on the phone? if she was murdered by the bomber why would Doug go to her apartment? and yet she still answered the phone telling her friend someone was there? so how did she loose her fingers and die and still wash up 8 minutes before the ferry exploded but was with him in the apartment in the past because he heard the message....LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IT DOES NOT MAKE SINCE!

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Posted on 06/03/2007 at 8:06:00 PM

 
Answer this question: When he is in the apartment and sees the bloody rags, he realizes nothing yet has been changed becuase he saw all these clues in the future state where she is dead and the ferry blows up. But in a first scenario where she is dead, how could the bloody rags in the apartment coexist?

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Posted on 06/03/2007 at 12:06:00 PM

 
the other theory - what if it was all just a "deja vu?"

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Posted on 05/20/2007 at 8:05:00 PM

 
Let me do my best to explain this, even though it is extremely paradoxical. His 4-days-in-the-future self died in the truck, under the water, in the explosion. His past self arrived at the scene in response to the (now "attempted") terrorist act. He doesn't recognize her then because he hasn't met her yet. But this is where it gets into paradox... Since the ferry crime was changed, he does not investigate it the same way and all the sequence of events that led up to him going back in time in the first place no longer happen. So he doesn't really die. At the ending of the movie, the only person that knows ANYTHING about what happened is her and he didn't really tell her anything, so all she has are some theories about what just happened (remember "divine intervention"?) The scientists won't even know that it was possible for a person to travel into the past, because they never meet Doug who volunteers to do it in this NEW future. So, in the happy ending, he meets her after an atte

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Posted on 05/13/2007 at 11:05:00 PM

 
in any instance, why doesn't he know who she is at the end? he obviously didn't just make it out of the car

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Posted on 05/07/2007 at 6:05:00 PM

 
The future version of him went back to the past and died, and the past version of him was still alive to get out of the car. Geez doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out pay attention to the movie. And the reviewer also didn't get the movie either. He did affect everything. The fact that he went into the past was alternating what he saw in the present for example the ambulance and her room trashed. Are people really this dense? Man doesn't take a PHD to understand a movie.

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Posted on 05/03/2007 at 10:05:00 AM

 
I agree; aside from the confusion at the end, this movie was AMAZING. Definitely one of my favorites.

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Posted on 01/31/2007 at 4:01:00 PM

 
I didnt get that either - if he died in the past how then does he step out of his car at the very end doesnt make sense

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Posted on 12/14/2006 at 7:12:00 PM

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