Movie:
Disc:
This
2000 time travel story has all the potential to be a bona fide science fiction
classic, but somehow manages to squander its opportunities along the way . .
.
One shouldn’t apply too much plot logic to any time travel stories – all
those time travel paradoxes will really fry your brain as a character says
in the trailer for the upcoming
Looper
– but Frequency really throws out all logic out the window for its
action finale, which just makes no damned sense whatsoever! The filmmakers
probably thought it looked cool visually even though it is patently
ludicrous.
A pity. It starts off promisingly with a pre-Passion of the Christ
Jim Caviezel discovering in 1999 that he can somehow communicate with his
dead father (Dennis Quaid) via ham radio. Most of us just somehow deal with
absent father figures, but not Hollywood movie characters. Yup, Caviezel has
“daddy issues.” His father, who was a fireman, tragically died while saving
someone from a burning old warehouse and Caviezel however manages to warn
his father of the impending accident and thus change history in the process.
There are however unintended consequences as any sci-fi reader will tell
you. Quaid’s character instead dies of lung cancer years later for instance
(did Camel pay for product placement in this movie?). That, and a serial
killer who were supposed to have died of doctor negligence in the hospital
where Caviezel’s mum works lives on to kill more people. Soon history is
being changed in real time as father and son are both attacked by a serial
killer who the police knew to be a killer, but somehow still allowed to stay
on as police detective because . . . aaarghhhh! See what we mean by lapses
in plot logic?
THE DISC: Image transfer is pristine as one would expect. Special
features include commentary by director Gregory Hoblit as well as by writer
/ producer / actor Toby Emmerich. There is a featurette titled “The Science
& Technology Behind Frequency.” You also get four animated solar galleries,
a music-only track with commentary by composer Michael Kamen plus deleted
scenes and the theatrical trailer.
WORTH IT? With some minor rewrites
Frequency could have been a true classic, but it squanders audience
goodwill with its plot logic issues and predictability. What also counts
against it are some real schmaltzy bits that will have diabetes sufferers
running for their insulin shots.
RECOMMENDATION: If you’re willing to forgive Frequency’s plot
issues and inconsistent storytelling then it makes an evening’s passable
entertainment.
NOTE: Part of the plot involves a character regretting that he didn’t
buy any shares in Yahoo. That was in 1999. I’d bet that the same character
is regretting that decision today and wishing he’d invested in Google
instead.
