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FREQUENCY
A detective son (Jim Caviezel) in New York in 1999 makes ham radio contact during an aurora borealis event with his fireman father (Dennis Quaid) in 1969. After disbelief and tech improbabilities are hastily disposed of, the son prevents his father’s premature death in a warehouse fire. That change sets up his nurse mother to become a victim of a serial killer of nurses. In a panic, father and son cooperate, across the 30 year time gulf, to stop and catch the murderer.
There are some touching father son moments (the now adult son talking to his beloved but hardly known dad who died young) and some ironic 1960’s versus 1990’s cultural contrasts. But the cause and effect complexities spin out of control. Memories, as well as newspaper headlines and family photos, change every few minutes. Thus, it becomes hard to tell who is saving or threatening whom and in what year.
Considering the mind boggling controversial events of the last 30 years (Vietnam, Watergate, Roe v. Wade), the film opts for kitsch, choosing to exploit mainly the son’s knowledge of the details of the Mets’ improbable 1969 World Series victory. Well, O.K., but underwhelming. Director Greg Hoblit (Fallen, Primal Fear) also obsesses on slow motion cross cutting among past, present and dream life. It’s like a TV commercial with the sound off. Creative but disappointing fantasy melodrama.
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