Deja VU

After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.

Director: Tony Scott

Writers: Bill Marsilii, Terry Rossio

Stars: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel




On Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, the ferry Sen. Alvin T. Stumpf is carrying hundreds of U.S. Navy sailors and their families across the Mississippi River from their base to the city. Suddenly, the ferry explodes and sinks, killing 543 passengers and crew. Special Agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF) is sent to investigate and discovers evidence of a bomb planted by a domestic terrorist. He meets with local investigators and FBI Special Agent Paul Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), and informs them of his findings. He is called to examine a charred body pulled from the river before the explosion, identified as Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton). He concludes she was murdered and made to appear as a victim of the explosion..

Pryzwarra is impressed with Doug's detective expertise, and asks him to join a newly formed governmental detective unit whose first case is to investigate the bombing. Led by Dr. Alexander Denny (Adam Goldberg), they investigate the events leading up to the explosion by using a program called "Snow White", which according to Pryzwarra enables them to look into the past (4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, 14.5 nanoseconds) in detail by using several satellites to form a triangulated image of events. The system is limited in that they can only see past events once; there is no fast forwarding or rewinding, although they can record everything. Convinced that Claire is a vital link, Doug persuades them to focus on her. They discover Claire's connection to the case when the bomber calls her to buy the SUV she has for sale so he can use it for the bomb. Although he doesn't buy her car, the "Snow White" team now knows exactly where and when the terrorist was during the call.

Doug finds out "Snow White" is actually a time window, and can send inanimate objects into the past. Despite Denny's protests against tampering with the past, Doug has the team send a note back to his past self with the time and place to stop the ferry bomber. Instead, his partner Larry Minuti gets the note and while following up on it he confronts the terrorist, who shoots him. The team attempts to follow the terrorist, who takes Minuti with him, but he moves outside of "Snow White"'s range. Doug is able to follow him in the present using a truck equipped with a "Snow White" mobile unit that increases the system's range, and tracks him to his now-deserted home. The "Snow White" team watches in the past time line as Minuti regains consciousness, is killed and then burned by the terrorist. Still needing a vehicle big enough to hold the bomb (and is not riddled with bullet holes) the terrorist goes to Claire's address, kidnaps her and takes her car.

Using face recognition technology, the ferry bomber is identified and taken into custody. He turns out to be Carroll Oerstadt, who is angry at the military after being turned down by both Marines and Army because their psychological profiling showed he was overcommitted and unstable. Considering the case now closed, the government shuts down the "Snow White" investigation. Despite the killer being caught, Claire and the ferry victims remain dead, which unsettles Doug since the "Snow White" team can actually alter history. Doug persuades Denny to send him into the past to save Claire and stop the bombing. The procedure is risky, but Doug survives the trip, since Denny sent him back to a hospital emergency room able to revive him. He then stops Claire from being murdered at Oerstadt's house.



Doug then goes to the ferry where, with Claire's help, he kills Oerstadt, but is unable to disarm the bomb. To save everyone, Doug and Claire purposely drive the bomb laden SUV off the end of the ferry just before it explodes. Claire escapes, but Doug is unable to get out and he dies in the underwater explosion. As the ferry returns to the dock, Claire is picked up by a harbor patrol boat. Once on the dock she is approached by the Doug Carlin of the new time line, who is there to investigate the near-disaster.