Deja Vu

We finally saw this movie on the shelf at the library. I'd wanted to see it in the theater because I liked what I thought the concept was but I never had the time.

I didn't know it was made post Katrina in New Orleans. If I had known that I would have tried harder to see it because as it supported New Orleans, I'd want to support it.

However, there were no authentic New Orleans accents. So I guess the locals only had bit parts with no speaking lines. That was the biggest disappointment for me.

As it was I only knew it was an action flick, and had a hot guy in it and the title. So I waited until it was free at the library.

It was not what I expected story wise either. There were a few gaffes and it took quite a suspension of disbelief sometimes.

For instance, there was NO ONE around, not ONE person anywhere around a particular girl's apartment in the FRENCH QUARTER??? WTF? There is always someone around in the quarter, there was even during and after Katrina for heaven's sake but in this movie, nope, nada, nobody. LOL.

Anyway, it was a fun movie which was much better than expected. The "how of it" was different from most movies of this type.

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Bleacheddecay

I realize this is past the prime time to discuss the movie, but I finally watched it last night. I enjoyed it overall, but my only complaint would be that it seemed to be drawn out to long in areas, especially for a plot that positioned time as a central element. I thought the acting was great for all people involved, even the minor roles. I really enjoyed the fathers acting and his voice. I don't know whether it was an authentic accent, but I liked it. I also though Val Kilmer did a descent job but looks like he has put on some weight over the years. Oh well. All in all, like the concept, albeit quite far fetched but it's a movie right.

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I wouldn't disagree with you at all.

I'm glad to have company on this thread as well.

This movie bummed me out. Not because it's a bad movie (it's not), but because it could have been so much more.

My girlfriend and I saw this in the theater and expected a half-serious, half-fun thriller with a few mind bending twists. Seemed like a good movie to watch and make prognostics about, so we made all sorts of predictions and tried to figure things out before they happened.

Anyway, by the end of the film, we couldn't entirely make sense of some of the things that had happened, and actually liked our predictions of what might happen far more than what actually took place on screen. For example...


Anyway, I'll have to rent it again and see if I can get a better handle on it, though I walked out of the movie pretty certain that the plot either a) had some serious plot holes, or b) asked us to accept some remarkable coincidences.

All that said, it did have one of the most inventive, interesting chase sequences in movie history. Gotta give it credit for that. The technology was insanely silly, of course, but the chase sequence was good enough that I really didn't mind.

Watched this over the weekend. Once I got past the "Ummm, that wouldn't work" thing, I had fun watching it. I usually HATE T. Scott films, but he managed to over-edit only slightly in this one... Fun, but not great.

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The chase scene cool as in how he was going about it however the annoying thing that popped up in my head as is usually with cops chasing the bad guys in movies nowadays was the total lack of concern for the safety of the other vehicles on the road. Anyone can could have gotten killed there and he's still continuing on like 'eh, just a normal days work' without the least bit worry what had just taken place.

I was going to buy this movie straight out as I had missed it in theatres but I was fortunate to borrow off of a friend of mine before I did that and I won't be doing so now.

It went along fine until they utterly screwed with the normal logic of time travel as we know it.


*Spoilers*

The thought of them making a mess of this logic was just before Denzel was launched back 4 days. He said "I believe I was already there" or something along that line. That's when I said "nooooooo, you're going to ruin it for me if you do what I think you're going to do." And they did of course.

For example, he was the one who crashed the ambulance in that building right. OK got that. And that would be still fine if the chick did die the same way she was supposed to just prior to that. And if not, then when he looked at the ruins while in the future beforehand, wouldn't that also have meant it was he who got her out so there would be nothing to investigate now would there. But she did get her fingers cut off and burned then thrown into the ocean as the killer said. How could he have even did the ambulance thing if that happened.
Now move onto her apartment. Ok, his finger prints are there, and his blood too. Why were they even there in the original time line when she was supposed to have died hence no need of him even going to her place. Same with the phone calls by both her friend and to his place of work when inquiring about him. Those happened in both timelines. Again, why did this evidence show up in the first line if she died before this mess took place. Makes no sense and if they didn't have his being there in both time zones THEN it would have definitely made this films awesome. But they just screwed with it too much.

I don't know how to make peace with it. First I was thinking that there may have been two different paths still continuing side by side of each other yet not touching. But that would be impossible since the second was yet to be made as the first was developing and once made, it should have ceased to exist. Can't have two co existing if the second one's intentions was to make the first change. Then no first but only the second. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg!!

If I could somehow find away to explain away somewhat a possibility of these events I'd recommend this flick. But I can't so I don't.

Interesting points. I didn't think that deeply on the movie but I did enjoy it. I was surprised that I did. The machine for the time travel they used made no scene at all to me. Very few time jump movies are any good at all for me.

The Butterfly Effect was. This was. Frequency was good for me. The Jacket was pretty good too, but most are not my cup of tea even though the idea of time travel interests me.

I saw it at the movies, enjoyed it and promptly forgot about it until now

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I really liked this. There were a couple things that may have just been red herrings such as



but usually movies like this are more fun to think about and try and come up with different explanations after the fact, and then go back to later and see if they make sense... so until I get around to it again I'll just say I had a lot of fun talking about the movie with my brother.

A few questions for those who have seen it:

The Butterfly Effect was ok but I enjoyed Frequency more. It still had some things that were off when it comes to time travel though. I didn't like 'The Jacket' at all.

Yeah, who's body was supposed to be in that anyways? I didnt get that scene.

*Spoilers*

1) They don't show him writing on himself, just taking his clothes off and getting into the machine. I don't remember if he took of his shirt or not when he got in but either way I wonder about this.

I thought they did show him writing on himself before he went in.


2) I also don't remember if they showed them plotting to send him directly to the emergency room. I don't remember the cell phone thing Yoda mentioned but this could tie in somehow.

Yes, he made a comment about making sure he lands in or near a hospital.

I don't know the answer to that.

BTW, Brigadoon is time travel too in a way. That's another one that works for me.

I never heard of that one before but I just did a google and it does sound pretty interesting. How far did they travel back? I see a 'key word' on imdb. is 1700s so was that the century they travelled back to?

I don't think they did show him writing on himself, but they didn't have to. It was just a cinematic thing to show us that element when it would be most effective and interesting to the viewer.

Also, there was an alligator tank? Geez, I just saw this last week, so how did I miss that?

Also also, we're still wondering about that cell phone thing too. I assumed that it definitely wasn't HIM in the bag -- he wasn't calling his own phone, after all. I think he was calling his partner ... and of course, we see that his partner dies in both versions of the past, so I assumed that it was his partner in the body bag but that Denzel didn't know about his death yet and thought the ringing was a coincidence and kept walking.

I definitely agree with the statement above that, if Denzel went back and participated in so many elements of the girl's recent past (bloody clothes, fingerprints, wrecked ambulance), then the rest would have happened as he already is seeing it too.

The way they ended it (with him somehow changing only the last element of the recent past) seems like a third reality...one we never really saw. Seems like just a way to send us way too many red herrings.

Although I like a good happy ending, I would have had more respect for an ending that dared to say, "You can't change the past" and had her dying anyway just as we'd already seen. Or the typical Greek-tragedy-type predictions of making predictions come true while you're actually trying to prevent them.

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It's a musical. It's old. (1954) When I'm really sick it makes me happy. The time is pretty static. It's not a normal time travel movie. There are basically two time periods and that's it.

The village is cursed so that each night is one hundred years later. So they are stuck in the 1700's because to them, last night is last night.

A couple of hunters from New York happen along and in their time it's I dunno, the 1950's or so? One of them falls in love with a village girl after they happen upon the village.

The stars were Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse. If you don't like singing and dancing you won't like this.

Somewhere In Time (1980)is another one I liked eons ago. It's also a love story with Christopher Reeve and Jayne Seymour.

In it a guy uses hypnosis to find a woman from a portrait and falls in love but there is no singing and dancing. It's a lovely film.

The Butterfly effect was a bit silly, and the travel mechanics were ridiculous, but, I did find the film entertaining for some reason. Haven't seen Frequency, I'll give it a go. Hated The Jacket.

I must mention 12 Monkeys, which, to me, is by far my favorite Time Travel piece. It is the only film I have seen that handles time travel in a somewhat believable way. It's not an exact science, and they miss the target time a lot, and more than that, the traveler's mind starts to unravel almost immediately, as the mind should have trouble existing in multiple temporal frames. Of course, 12 Monkeys is one of my favorite sci-fi films ever, so I think the world of it. In a different league than most of the other stuff.

That would make sense.

Yeah. It was right outside that place where the Ambulance crashed.


That is actually bothering me now cause my memory is vague in both scenes involving that cell.


Yeah I'm not sure I like that personally. I suppose it's my own personal beliefs in destiny and what not.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO don't say a musical. I hate musicals.

That's too bad cause it sounds like it could make for a very good non musical flick.

Thats why I told you it was a musical so you'd be warned. Some folks are just not into them.

I know my Dad hated them. Once we were watching The Sound Of Music, one of the characters asked a question about what do you do when . . . my Dad said loud enough for the whole theater to hear, "Well, you sure as hell don't start singing!"

I wanted to sink through the floor.

You know what the characters did though? Yep, they started singing.

LMAO.

The cell phone in the body bag scene was, as I recall, fairly early in the film before you learn any of the stuff about the 4-days-earlier machine. So, it's easy to miss it or just not have any context in which to put it yet.

I did see that early scene and the last one where it either rang again, or he thought it was going to ring (can't recall there) but I don't recall the connection or what they were trying to say there.

I think I remember alligators now. They were at the perps house, near the docks. They ate his partner, right?

I think it was sort of like Multiplicity. At least one version of the lead character did drown in that car, maybe more. Right?

*getting confused*