Frequency
***1/2
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by Entertainment Distribution on June 16, 2000; certificate
15; 118 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 2.35:1
Directed by Gregory Hoblit; produced by
Bill Carraro, Toby Emmerich, Gregory Hoblit, Hawk
Koch.
Written by Toby Emmerich.
Photographed by Alar Kivilo; edited by David
Rosenbloom.
CAST.....
Dennis Quaid..... Frank Sullivan
Jim Caviezel..... John Sullivan
Andre Braugher..... Satch DeLeon
Elizabeth Mitchell..... Julia Sullivan
Noah Emmerich..... Gordo Hersch
Shawn Doyle..... Jack Shepard
Jordan Bridges..... Graham Gibson
Melissa Errico..... Samantha Thomas
Daniel Henson..... Johnny Sullivan, six years old
It's a common reaction of the bereaved, both in
movies and life: "If I could only go back, and speak to him one last time!"
Gregory Hoblit's "Frequency" is an amazingly engrossing movie
because it is based around that concept -- a simple, potent notion that gives
the film an unexpected level of poignancy. Here is a highly professional
thriller with an ingenious plot, but what really stands out are the
character-based moments. They moved me to the brink of tears.
The film is about a New York City cop, John Sullivan
(Jim Caviezel), who in 1999 finds his deceased father's ham radio sitting
in a cupboard gathering dust. He takes it out and searches for some friendly
voices -- more to remind himself of his dad than to find a cheap alternative
to Internet chat rooms -- and soon comes across a strange one, who is amazed
at John's knowledge about the 1969 World Series. This guy turns out to be
Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid), John's father, talking to him from thirty
years in the past.
How could this be? Who knows. Time-travel tales
are full of paradoxes and impossibilities -- it comes with the territory,
and we have to accept it. So do these protagonists, and after they become
fairly confident that things really are as they seem, father and son embrace
the chance to communicate with each other. It's cool for Frank, who can find
out how his 'little Chief' will end up, and a major opportunity for John,
who has not seen his pop since he died in a fire... in 1969.
The radio communication lets John help Frank avoid
this incident, but meddling with the past has a domino effect, and in the
alternate reality that results, John's mother Julia (Elizabeth Mitchell)
has been murdered. With John's guidance, Frank has to stop this event from
occurring. "Frequency" is the story of how they work together to track down
and defeat the killer.
A transition from drama to thriller has the potential
to leave us feeling cheated, but that doesn't happen in "Frequency", because
the atmosphere of the opening scenes, the sub-plot of John's police work
and the pacing of the story leads us to expect it. Every move the film takes
is driven by the same principle -- the lives of loved ones being in danger
-- and the story's thriller elements are predictable in their general outline
but not in their details. So a lot of suspense is generated -- from our care
for the characters, from our involvement in the twists of the story, from
the danger of the action sequences, or from all three.
My only problem with "Frequency" is that the closing
scenes fly past with too much haste, and contain tacky effects of music and
makeup. Either the filmmakers were embarrassed to devote energy on creating
a satisfactory emotional resolution, or their money suddenly ran out and
they had to catch the last few shots before lunch. Otherwise, this is mass
entertainment of the highest order. Quaid has a strong, good-natured, benevolent
aura that is in-keeping with most people's memories of their fathers. Caviezel,
as in "The Thin Red Line", intrigues us with his troubled intensity, and
we're with him all the way through the incredible situation he finds himself
in. "Frequency" was directed by Gregory Hoblit, whose debut "Primal Fear"
I was one of the early champions of, and whose "Fallen" was extremely fascinating
in parts. He always picks material that requires us to suspend a lot of
disbelief; but when we do, the rewards are great.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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