What I Rented - Deja Vu

Dear Tony Scott

It's time to come clean.

You and I have had a rocky relationship. At times, yes, I have called you the "destroyer of all things cinematic", but remember at times you have made me physically ill with your endless barrage of swishes, zooms, and insane editing tricks.

In the nineties you and I were tight - True Romance, Crimson Tide, heck even The Last Boyscout all have spots in my VHS library, but lately....well....

I strongly disliked your last few movies. Domino gave me a headache, Man on Fire (after a good start) degenerated into a pointless series of stalks and kills more reminiscent of Friday the Thirteenth than a Denzel Washington action flick, and Spy Game is instantly forgettable - in fact aside from starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt I really don't remember that one at all.

You love "style". I get it. I love "character". You don't get it.

But, I'm hoping with Deja Vu we can develop somewhat of a truce. I'm not saying you've made a great film, but it does seem like you are at least making movies again, and not just glorified music videos.

I liked the plot of Deja Vu. A terrorist bombing aboard a ferry kills hundreds of people. Detective Denzel tracks down clues, only to discover that the FBI actually has a time portal that allows them to see four days into the past. So, he tries to track down the killer by looking into the past. That's pretty cool stuff.

Heck, I even liked it when the film went into Back to the Future territory and the plot started folding in on itself. There are some fun, time twisty moments here.

But once again, you don't really provide characters worth knowing. Denzel plays Denzel giving the same performance he gives whenever he plays thinly written characters. You know what I'm talking about? The "I'm smarter than you are" smile mixed with the cold clinical "investigative" mode Denzel. Val Kilmer shows up, looks like he's going to be important to the story, and then disappears. Paula Patton is nice as the girl at the center of the mystery, but she never really comes across as more than just The Victim.

Alright, I know...it sounds like I'm being really negative. I'm not trying to be, but I was frustrated at the end of Deja Vu. I was enjoying the movie all the way through, saying to myself...gee that Tony Scott sure proved me wrong....but then the final moments left me cold.

Maybe it was the plot holes. Maybe it was the undercooked characters. Regardless, this is better than your recent movies, and that's the point I should focus on.

So, truce?

You continue to make movies, using Deja Vu as a starting point, and I will stop calling you names behind your back.

I'm giving you a weary *** out of 4. We'll talk later....