Deja Vu (2006)

3.5 out of 5 stars.

This movie has two things I like in movies: Denzel Washington and time travel. I figured it wasn't a can't miss. Indeed, the movie itself is quite entertaining. Denzel plays an ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) officer who is brought into to help investigate a bombing. He is introduced to some very high tech government surveillance which turns out to be a bit of a time-warp/travel mechanism. Needless to say, high jinx ensue and everyone has a good time.

This movie would have received a 4 out of 5 rating but the time travel elements bothered me. They just didn't work. They even tried to go over time travel theories in the movie, including the parallel universe theory first introduced to me in Back to the Future. Back to the Future had it down to a science, but I think this movie gets it wrong. When Denzel starts investigating the case, he comes across clues that are there only because he has already altered the past. But these clues should only appear in the parallel universe in which the past is altered. This may have been plausible if they stuck with the "non-parallel universe" theory, but it didn't work because eventually they do stop the bombing (not a big giveaway), which diverges from the non-parallel universe. To put it in Back to the Future terms, it would be like Marty was living in the altered 1985 in which he had confident, capable parents before he went back to 1955 to take the actions that caused them to be confident and capable people.

But still some pretty good entertainment. A little violent though.