On F List of Movie Reviews
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Frequency (2000)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
1/26
1/26:
I've said this before: if a movie has a goldmine premise, it can weather the negatives.
That's the case for Frequency. The first half hour is very cheesy, but as soon as Dennis Quaid
and Jim Caviezel connect each other through ham radio, the movie begins to take off. It's like
Ladder 49 meets
The Butterfly Effect with a serial killer angle. The tie-in with
the 1969 World Series involving the Miracle Mets is ingenious as well.
When John warned his father of what's to come and thus saved his life, I was thinking about future
ramifications. The easiest example is what if Adolf Hitler died at
birth then millions of Jews would be alive with additional generations. Director Gregory Hoblit, who also
did a similar film called Fallen a couple of years earlier, does a good job
of handling that concept while generating strong performances from Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel.
Unfortunately, Frequency shoots itself in the foot during the final fifteen minutes. My understanding was
the father had killed Jack Shepard in the water by stabbing him with a bolt. Yet he showed up at the house to
attack John, and all of a sudden, the father from 1999 appeared with a shotgun before segueing to a corny
ballgame. What the hell?
At the same time, I have to say Andre Braugher as Satch confused me. Why does a cop have a close relationship
with a firefighter? Where are his other friends from the company? If the circumstances have changed, is Satch
supposed to think differently as a result, especially when it comes to the serial killer case? How does the
father, for a busy firefighter on call, have all the time in the world afterwards?
All in all, Frequency is often interesting, but the direction needs to be cleaned up more.