As the city of New Orleans continues to rebuild after Katrina, they are devastated by another tragic event. Someone blows up a ferry boat, killing over 500 people. When ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) arrives on the scene, he is met by FBI agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) who quickly recruits him for the special project of solving this crime and trying to decipher who is responsible for blowing up the boat. A short time later, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) washes up on shore. Her body burned and broken, they assume she was on the boat yet Carlin is not convinced. Her body had been covered by the same chemical used in the explosion, and through forensic tests, they find out that her body was burned approximately 2 hours before the boat blew up. “Solve her murder, solve the explosion”

Déjà vu is directed by Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Domino) who teams up with Washington once again. As always Denzel puts on a flawless performance in what may just be his most questionable movie. The film starts out with a bang and does everything it can to pull the audience in, but it quickly turns into a science fiction thriller, that will leave you feeling not fulfilled and wanting more. To many questions get raised and you are required to fill in the blanks for yourself.

After Carlin agrees to take on this special assignment, he is taken to some back-room video surveillance lab. It is explained that the government has stumbled upon some wormhole in time that allows them, using satellites, to view exactly 4 days and 6 hours into the past. Not only can they view the past, but with some new equipment that they have (although not really explained how it works) they can send very small objects back to that point in time as well. Though humans are not supposed to be objects that can go, we find Carlin to be a willing volunteer. His mission is to not only solve the explosion and stop it from happening, but to save the life of Claire, the dead woman he loves.

Déjà vu does its very best to explain that it’s not just a weird feeling that one feels, but you may feel déjà vu because you actually lived through this once before. Where most time travel movies fail, either because they are a comedy, or just poorly done, Déjà vu succeeds. It gives you a real life feel for time travel but will ultimately leave you feeling less than satisfied by the end. Déjà vu takes place in present time, where this kind of science isn’t supposed to exist yet. They do their best to explain this, but ultimately fail.

Although the story seems week, and unbelievable at best, Tony Scott once again shows what a talented director he is. Fans of his work, especially Man on Fire, will be very satisfied with this visually stunning film.