`Frequency' – Tune In by Homer Yen (c) 2000
If you've seen any of the `Back to the Future' or `Star Trek' adventures, cutting through the fabric of time is about as easy as walking through the front door. All you have to do is speed up that DeLorean sports car or fly through some spatial anomaly. In `Frequency,' you would need a ham radio and a flurry of solar activity. The difficult thing, however, is not to disturb anything once you've gone back to the past. Innocently stepping on a flower can alter the future in unforeseeable ways. Thus, time travel is one of the most creative yet trickiest of plot devices. Do it wrong and the result is a flimsy story filled with incongruities. Do it right and the result might be `Frequency,' an inventive story about a Dad, his son, and second chances.
The film opens in the year 1969. The Dad (Dennis Quaid) is the spirited, responsible, and fun-loving kind that all kids want. He's also a heroic firefighter. But his risk-taking approach eventually gets the better of him. Thirty years later, his son (Jim Caviezel) has grown up to become a respected homicide detective. Like all children who lost their fathers at an early age, he wishes that he had the chance to get to know him better.
It's just about the anniversary of his Dad's death. He pulls out his father's old ham radio, which has been stored away for many years. Incredibly, the antiquated device still works. John is further astonished when he hears a voice from the other end. The voice says words like `Little Chief' (John's nickname) and relates other information that incredulously makes it seem as if the mysterious voice is living in the past.
After much contemplation, John can only conclude that the other voice is his Dad's, talking from the year 1969. It is a heartwarming sequence as these two connect, and we believe the love that they share. `We must be talking off the mother of all sunspots,' his Dad says in amazement. John can neither contain his excitement. And without thinking about the consequences of his conversation, he tells his Dad to be careful, for tomorrow marks the day that he will die in a fire.
You can't blame John for his actions. But his advice initiates a chain reaction that alters future events. In the new future, a serial murder case has now escalated to new heights. John has to try to repair the damage that has been done. The two work together in a frenetic attempt to catch the killer. Here's one great benefit of time travel as a crime tool. In 1969, when the killer leaves his fingerprint on an object, wrap it up and hide it within the walls of the house. Then in 1999, John can retrieve it and use modern technology to find out who the killer is.
As with all time travel plots, you can always find fault with how the story resolves itself. In this case, there is a double showdown, one that occurs concurrently in the present and in the past. But enjoying what transpires depends on whether you become fed up with the idea of solar flares enabling time displacement (smartly, the two characters are as dumbfounded as the audience) or whether you are hooked on the idea of a son getting a second chance to know his Dad and to set things right. Concentrate on the latter, and you can't go wrong.
The film is impressive because the emotional aspect of the story is so appealing. Its mood is uncanny but not haunting. Its payoff is uplifting but not treacley. It doesn't benefit from special effects or any big name stars. `Frequency,' however, is an evenly paced and well-constructed story that enthralls and keeps you guessing as to which way the film will turn. This is one of more enjoyable films of this season.
Grade: B+
S: 0 out of 3 L: 0 out of 3 V: 1 out of 3
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