Frequency
Starring Dennis Quad, James Caviezel, Andre Braugher, Elizabeth Mitchell, Noah Emmerich, and Shawn Doyle. Written by Toby Emmerich. Directed by Gregory Hoblit.

I missed this one in the theaters, probably because the trailers were incredibly obnoxious, but we rented it this week, and I was surprisingly impressed. There’s enough action to satisfy the men in the room, and there’s enough intrigue and family dynamics to satisfy the ladies in the room. An all-around crowd pleaser.

Quaid is somewhat miscast as the typical New York Fireman, full of bravado and stupidity, with an unwavering devotion to Baseball, his family and his ham radio. After a power-packed opening sequence, we find out that Sullivan died in 1969 in a fire, and that his grown son, John hasn’t followed in his footsteps, rather, he’s become a cop. After an unpleasant break-up with his girlfriend, John is feeling down in the dumps, and pulls out his dad’s old ham radio and turns it on, and because of a strange double occurrence in both 1969 and 1999 of the Aurora Borealis, he is able to speak to his father in the past. John is suddenly able to tell his father how to avoid death in the fire, and instantly, the future is changed.

And that’s when the movie starts to get interesting. Sure, the elder Sullivan survives the fire, only to die some years later of Lung Cancer, but, it turns out because he didn’t die, John’s mother does. John spirals off the deep end in the future, trying to figure out how to have his mother survive, and he is abetted by his father in the past. Their search for the serial killer responsible for her death comprises the rest of the film.

At one point during this film, I commented that it sure seemed like a long episode of the Twilight Zone, and that’s exactly what it is. Writer Emmerich is best known for being the "executive in charge of music" on such diverse films as The Cell, and Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. Frequency is his first writing effort for the big screen. Director Hoblit has the films Fallen, and Primal Fear under his belt, and seems to be suited for these newly styled suspense stories. The acting by Cavieziel is superb, but Quaid is horribly mis-cast. His New York accent sounds more like a Boston accent, and he’s just flat-out wrong as a fireman with a family. Braugher is nothing so much as the token minority. Noah Emmerich, playing John’s best friend, is Toby’s older brother, so we know why he got his part. He also played Truman’s best friend in The Truman Show.

For me, the film sort of broke down towards the end, when the audience finally knows who the killer is. The ending, while trite, is implausible, and made me wonder again about the whole time-bending premise of the film. But if you stop to think about the film and it’s mechanics, you’ll ruin your enjoyment of an otherwise decent film.

My Rating: *** out of 5 stars.