Tony Scott's films are so poorly received it's criminal. Critics and audiences get too hung up on the plausibility of things that happen in his films, or the level of violence or style that Scott ascends to. Such is true from a really entertaining film of his, MAN ON FIRE, which, according to most reviews, descends into an unrealistic and insane level of violence. In DEJA VU though, there's a lot that's open to nitpicking. Hell, the film has time travel in it, and that's one of the easiest things to dissect as utter bullshit. But that's not the point of a Tony Scott film. The essence of his films to allow yourself to be taken on a ride. All of his films are extremely entertaining, but especially the ones existing in the digital age, are extremely specific. They're filled with small moments, small fancies of editing that work dastardly well in the moment, and even, I think, on the bigger scale. Like a mosaic, it's made up of a lot of little perfections, but when you step back, it still makes for a pretty damn good picture. DEJA VU centers on a device that allows Denzel Washington's ATF agent, Doug, to look back into the future four and a half days. Through an odd little suited made up of multiple monitors and a few geeks, Doug falls in love with a victim of a ferry bombing. Attempting to use the technology to discover the bomber, Doug becomes obsessed with the victim, a 30 year old woman burned alive named Claire (Paula Patton). Doug knows that Claire is doomed, but becomes obsessed with the idea that she may not be. The way that Scott creates literally multiple planes of action, one in the past and one in the future, is astounding. There's one great scene where he has to use special goggles to track the bomber in the past, but also has to use one of his eyes to drive in traffic. DEJA VU is a hell of a lot of fun, a masterful action film.
★★★★ out of Five
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