I was pretty impressed w/ it for the first hour and 20 some-odd minutes, as it feels like your not-so-typical movie....
But, then the movie makes a shift....for the worst...and goes "predictable..."
The "Shift" The Movie Takes....
..But then, he goes the route that is very predictable -- the Gov't decides to take him off the case, but he decides to defy them, so he goes back in time and try to save the girl and the boat.
The movie would've been more interesting if say these "other" options were taken, after the Gov't decided to end his investigation.....
1. The movie ended after they got all the evidence and the Gov't decided he can't interfere w/ the Gov't. The terrorist is thrown in jail. The End.
2. Same as #1, but the movie doesn't end after the terrorist is thrown in jail. After the man is thrown into jail, Denzel falls into depression b/c he was thrown off the case and we watch this depression eventually lead to, somehow, his downfall -- maybe he commits suicide or dies in the line of fire w/ his regular job. I dunno'.
I'm sure there could be other ideas that could work, but the one the movie took was....well, PREDICTABLE and quite boring.
This movie could've been better than what it was....because in the 1st hour and 20 minutes, it was quite interesting, well-done, and unpredictable...
The last half of the movie, was just too paint-by-numbers and predictable...
I forgot all about this thread. I watched the movie, twice, and I liked it, mostly.
There are the usual problems with the logic of time travel. Making 2 of you at the same time defies everything that I can accept, but OK, since I think the whole thing forever shall remain fantasy. As I've said before, I believe that time is an abstract concept--a very necessary one for human comprehension of reality, to be sure. But one cannot travel along an idea, regardless of how deeply rooted it may be in our psyche and universe-modeling mathematics. It's no more real in physical fact than the "E=mc2" floating around in the opening to The Twilight Zone.
Besides all of this, I really could have done without the humvee chasing the guy in the same space, but displaced in time. Interesting idea, but it came off like a stupid car chase from 30-year-old movies.