It's So Stupid. But So Totally Cool.

Jerry Bruckheimer is king of bringing the silliest, fuckin' worst concepts to the big screen in borderline acceptable ways. Armageddon was just... let's not even go there. The less Ben Affleck movies talked about the better (which prevents me from bringing up Pearl Harbour. Thank me later). Let's go to the archives. Con Air. What a terrible script. The Rock. Horrendous script on all accounts. National Treasure....! Come to think of it, it might be more Nicolas Cage's fault than Bruckheimer's. All those movies were trashy to the max, but they could have been way way WAY worse had it not been for lavishness and competent casting. Even the overly-edited PG-13 sex scenes hold up, somehow. And then came the stoopidest idea yet. Turning Pirates of the Carribean, some ancient attraction from Disneyland whose main hook was automated manniquins rocking back and forth to simulate drunk crooks with parrots on their shoulders, into a full length action adventure. The ride is basically looking at those puppets and listening to that 'Yo Ho, Yo Ho' song for about 2 miles of slow moving waterlogged cable track. Yet somehow, in some way, Jerry Bruckheimer saw success. And by golly, he turned stupidity into money, something he has made quite the living out of.

Deja Vu is his latest production, having taken a break from creating TV crime shows based around every single department of the American police force EVER. And I guess it's no surprise that whenever Jerry Bruckheimer secures a GOOD director to a movie, no matter how stupid the idea, it turns out pretty nicely. Gore Verbinski at the very least established an alright universe for Pirates, and Michael Bay established that he's a shameless tool by making the worst movies of the 90s. This time Tony Scott is at the helm, and we all know what that means. Saturated, grimey and tinged colours. Shaky cams. Black people that actually are the colour black. Frenetic pacing and hysteria all round.

I was really surprised to learn this movie was about time travel. I thought it was just some cop that sees visions or something. Apparently not. Deja Vu is basically Denzel Washington being clued in about the goverment's secret acquirement of technology that allows a first point view into the past. And I guess it plays a big role in figuring out who is responsible for a terrorist attack in the city.
It's farfetched because its a Bruckheimer production. Its got comic relief characters and jokes in an otherwise serious situation, which makes it unmistakably a movie to call his own. But Tony Scott almost looks like he's directing the movie to spite Bruckheimer, giving the half-baked concept some real edge and roughage, something that isnt exactly normal from the usual cliche-laden one-liner fest. Which this probably is.

It looks better than average though. With great looking action scenes (Denzel on a hovercraft and Denzel in a extremely high tech tactical hummer equates to major points) and some really spectacular imagery, I doubt this will be another Bad Company. Or Kangaroo Jack...



Deja Vu - Touchstone Pictures
Anticipation Level: Medium.
Look out for: I'm on the fence about the gimmick in the trailer. It plays the beginning and the end of the trailer twice, to fit in with the whole deja vu angle. I don't think it's that great. The best part of the trailer is actually the ferry explosion. I really like explosions and some really spectacular imagery, I doubt this will be another Bad Company. Or Kangaroo Jack...
US Release date: November 22nd, 2006.
Trailer Source