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Films

Deja vu

Directed by Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer

So we've got Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott, Denzel Washington and a time machine, but no Delorean. That's right folks; this isn't the kind of travel-back-in-time movie where the Doc will help out with a bit of comic relief. This is serious stuff. It's all about Denzel saving lives by utilizing top secret government technology that allows him to look back into the past so he can solve a particularly gruesome crime. And he's going to need that kind of help, because the guy who plays his nemesis is most famous for playing Jesus Christ.

Denzel is Alcohol Firearm Tobacco and Explosives (ATF ) Agent Doug Carlin, whose claim to fame is that he had a big hand in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. So when 500-plus people are killed in a ferry bombing, he's the man most likely to crack the case. Recognizing his skills, an FBI operative (Val Kilmer) recruits him into a task force that is using time-bending technology to peer into events that occurred four days previous. Theoretically, the device can also send objects back into the past, so you can connect the dots on that one.

The film also spends a lot of time playing peeping tom into the life of a beautiful victim that Doug insists is a key piece of the puzzle and the bomber who turns out to be a religious nut (Jim Caviezel). Whatever. At its best, this is preposterous escapism asking to be taken seriously. At its worst though, it's completely distasteful, such as the way it references three US national tragedies - including Hurricane Katrina - although none have anything to do with the plot. Shots of a desolate New Orleans are there just to pump up impact, which is a new low for filmmakers not known for their sensitivity.

Ben Davey

Sahara

Directed by Breck Eisner, starring Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz

Ever since his break out turn in A Time to Kill, Matthew McConaughey has been stuck in the action hero waiting room, biding time until he is allowed to sit at the same round table with Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and the rest of the $20-plus-million-dollar-a-movie-men. This very well could have been his ticket into that room: an adaptation of a Clive Cussler novel that sees its star dodge bullets, battle an African warlord and dig for buried treasure. Not content with only following the Indiana Jones route, McConaughey wants a slice of Mission: Impossible, too.

The buff Texan plays an ex-Navy Seal, now treasure diver with the snigger-worthy name of Dirk Pitt. Along with his sidekick Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) and a WHO scientist (Penelope Cruz), Dirk enters war-torn Mali in search of a lost (US) Civil War ship. The scientist is looking for the source of a possible plague but after several run-ins with the local despot, the trio realizes that the things they seek are both connected. Throw in a sub-plot about industrial waste that could potentially trigger a global environmental crisis, and suddenly, Dirk becomes mankind's only hope.

What makes the Indiana Jones movies so fun to watch is their playfulness - a moving comic book with roots in TV serials. Sahara does occasionally wear its tongue in its cheek, but it also strives for moments of earnest social and ecological awareness. The story is more James Bond than An Inconvenient Truth, and director Breck Eisner would have been better served to have his leading man wink knowingly at the camera the moment it looked like things were getting too serious. As for McConaughey, Sahara is not the movie that will see him ushered to that round table.

BD

(China Daily 09/26/2007 page20)