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A New York detective communicates 30 years into the past
through his ham radio to talk to his now deceased father. His
fireman father died while trying to rescue someone
from a burning building. By telling his father details of how he
was killed his death is prevented. It sounds like an
episode of the television show The Twighlight Zone. It
would probably make for a good episode but is the premise enough
to work as a full length feature film? In this case it all comes
together very well.
Director Gregory Hoblit takes a cue from Ron Howard who directed
Backdraft to create some of the most tense and exciting
scenes involving fires. The opening scene of Frequency set in
1969 shows Fireman Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaide) being a hero.
Sullivan rescues 2 construction workers who are trapped in a
manhole below the street where an oil truck is about to explode.
The next scene shows the hero fire fighter back home dancing with
his wife Julia ( Elizabeth Mitchell) in their kitchen,
teaching his son how to ride a bike, being the all American
husband/dad.
The film then jumps to 1999. Sullivan's son John (James
Caviezel) is all grown up now. Leading the sad life of a somewhat
alcoholic NYC detective. He still lives in his parents house.
His long time girlfriend just left him. There is also a sense of
loneliness over the tragic death of his father when he was only
a boy. After a night of drinking John hears a voice coming out
of his dad's old ham radio. John realizes the person he is
talking to on the radio is his deceased dad. He tries to warn
his dad about his impending death but Frank Sullivan back in
1969 doesn't believe him. John tries to convince his dad it
really is him by telling him the play by play events of the
Mets-Orioles World Series Games which are about to unfold in
1969. The next day Frank sees these events really happen on
TV. Realizing it wasn't some kind of prank, Frank does what
is needed to avoid being killed in the fire. This takes place in
yet another exciting fire scene.
Just when history seems to have changed for the better, John
Sullivan realizes his father's surviving the fire causes other
tragic events to take place. Somehow, changing history has caused
the death of his mother at the hands of a serial killer. The
rest of the film concentrates on John working with his dad over the ham radio to stop
the killer back in 1969. There are enough twists and turns in
the story to keep viewers attention. Changing past events to change the present is used
throughout the movie in interesting
ways.
The
explanation given in the film for the father and son's ability
to communicate through time is massive sun
spots. These sun spots happen to occur in both 1969 and 1999. Rather
then go into any scientific explanations the film
focuses on how history is changed by the
communication between past and present. Holbit also concentrates
a lot on the relationships in the film. There are many heartfelt
scenes which make you really feel for the characters. All of the
cast does a fine job with the material. Andre Braugher play
detective Satch DeLeon who is Frank Sullivan's friend in
1969 and later his son's boss in 1999. Shawn Doyle plays the
film's serial killer convincingly. The makeup people did a great job of showing several characters age over 30
years. The aging makeup they used is a lot better
then I have seen in other
films.
At times Frequency may
be a little too sentimental. It also doesn't have a hard edge
that many other thrillers do or anything amazingly original. However, it is a very well
rounded film. With it's mixing of genres from family
relationships, the consequences of altering the past, murder
mystery, some weird science and a little comedy Frequency
should appeal to a wide variety of audiences. It will probably be
appreciated by Mets fans as well <s>.
RATING 
Reviewed by Eugene Accardo
John
Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) dazed and
confused.
Photo courtesy of New
Line Cinema. |
