I really like the film Deja Vu. For many reasons, but for a couple of reasons in particular.
Action films are full of dunderheaded action men doing stuff. Shooting stuff, driving fast, blowing shit up, but not taking a lot of time in between to think about things.
In Deja Vu, there's a bit where the FBI agents sit round in a room, and something they tried to do has gone wrong, and they wonder what to do, and they admit that they don't really know what to do next. And normally in films you don't see that. You don't see the heroes sitting around scratching their heads and not really having a clue. And I really like that.
Also, Denzel Washington liked to catch the streetcar rather than drive his car, so he can do some thinking. You don't see many action heroes taking a trip on a streetcar just to have a think. Mostly it's just a blowing-driving-shooting-non-thinkathon out there. They just know what to do and they do it. They don't have to go on public transport to mull stuff over.
Another thing I like about Deja Vu is the scene where Denzel gets angry at the Feds who've been lying to him. I like that ability to get angry in a controlled way that he shows, and it's also why I like Kevin Spacey and Samuel L Jackson in the Negotiator. I like the way they almost lose it, but don't.
I also like the fact that in Deja Vu some of the main characters actually take a bash at explaining some sciency stuff. They don't just slip in an aside that the neutrinos have mutated, like in 2012 and then never mention it again.
I also like Deja Vu because it's a redemption story. It isn't fully explained, but I've chosen to infer that the Denzel character's family were killed in the Oklahoma city bombing, and that's why it becomes so important to him to try and save the woman in the story, because he was powerless to change something in the past, and now he's getting a second chance at redemption. It's also what I liked so much about Another Earth. Seeing someone full of regret grappling with a life-changing event, and trying to grab onto a chance at redemption. Wouldn't we all want a chance of that at some point in our lives? Some harsh words we could take back, or actions we wish we could undo. Or decisions we wish we could un-make?
Deja vu isn't a 100% success story. For example, I don't like the bit at the end, where he takes the murder victim that he's just managed to get un-murdered back to the ferry, just in time to get blown up by the mad bomber. It seems to me, that if you're going to bend the fabric of space-time to save someone from being murdered, it would be best not to immediately take them on a road trip to where the murderer and a big bomb are at. I'm only a simple man, but that would be my advice. Similarly, if you're going to spend an hour getting Sandra Bullock off an exploding bus, don't take her back to where the hostage money is getting dropped off, she might just get abducted again by the mad bomber. What I'd like to see one of these days in an action movie, is an action hero rescuing someone from disaster and then buying her a bus ticket and sending her in the total opposite direction to where the bomb and the bomber are, just for her own safety.
I realise this might make a dull ending to a film, Sandra Bullock sitting on a greyhound bus and getting the hell out of harm's way, but it would certainly be the logical choice, and I think it would be nice once in a while to see an action hero make a rational decision, instead of just blundering around blowing shit up.
That's what I think anyway.
Post Script. I wrote this on Sunday 19th August and later that day the director of the film Tony Scott committed suicide after jumping from a suspension bridge in Los Angeles. I've just read on obituary and I hadn't realised how many other top films he'd made, including Top Gun, Man on Fire, Crimson Tide, Beverley Hills Cop 2 and many others. Very sad news.
Action films are full of dunderheaded action men doing stuff. Shooting stuff, driving fast, blowing shit up, but not taking a lot of time in between to think about things.
In Deja Vu, there's a bit where the FBI agents sit round in a room, and something they tried to do has gone wrong, and they wonder what to do, and they admit that they don't really know what to do next. And normally in films you don't see that. You don't see the heroes sitting around scratching their heads and not really having a clue. And I really like that.
Also, Denzel Washington liked to catch the streetcar rather than drive his car, so he can do some thinking. You don't see many action heroes taking a trip on a streetcar just to have a think. Mostly it's just a blowing-driving-shooting-non-thinkathon out there. They just know what to do and they do it. They don't have to go on public transport to mull stuff over.
Another thing I like about Deja Vu is the scene where Denzel gets angry at the Feds who've been lying to him. I like that ability to get angry in a controlled way that he shows, and it's also why I like Kevin Spacey and Samuel L Jackson in the Negotiator. I like the way they almost lose it, but don't.
I also like the fact that in Deja Vu some of the main characters actually take a bash at explaining some sciency stuff. They don't just slip in an aside that the neutrinos have mutated, like in 2012 and then never mention it again.
I also like Deja Vu because it's a redemption story. It isn't fully explained, but I've chosen to infer that the Denzel character's family were killed in the Oklahoma city bombing, and that's why it becomes so important to him to try and save the woman in the story, because he was powerless to change something in the past, and now he's getting a second chance at redemption. It's also what I liked so much about Another Earth. Seeing someone full of regret grappling with a life-changing event, and trying to grab onto a chance at redemption. Wouldn't we all want a chance of that at some point in our lives? Some harsh words we could take back, or actions we wish we could undo. Or decisions we wish we could un-make?
Deja vu isn't a 100% success story. For example, I don't like the bit at the end, where he takes the murder victim that he's just managed to get un-murdered back to the ferry, just in time to get blown up by the mad bomber. It seems to me, that if you're going to bend the fabric of space-time to save someone from being murdered, it would be best not to immediately take them on a road trip to where the murderer and a big bomb are at. I'm only a simple man, but that would be my advice. Similarly, if you're going to spend an hour getting Sandra Bullock off an exploding bus, don't take her back to where the hostage money is getting dropped off, she might just get abducted again by the mad bomber. What I'd like to see one of these days in an action movie, is an action hero rescuing someone from disaster and then buying her a bus ticket and sending her in the total opposite direction to where the bomb and the bomber are, just for her own safety.
I realise this might make a dull ending to a film, Sandra Bullock sitting on a greyhound bus and getting the hell out of harm's way, but it would certainly be the logical choice, and I think it would be nice once in a while to see an action hero make a rational decision, instead of just blundering around blowing shit up.
That's what I think anyway.
Post Script. I wrote this on Sunday 19th August and later that day the director of the film Tony Scott committed suicide after jumping from a suspension bridge in Los Angeles. I've just read on obituary and I hadn't realised how many other top films he'd made, including Top Gun, Man on Fire, Crimson Tide, Beverley Hills Cop 2 and many others. Very sad news.
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