TAGLINE: What if you could reach back in time? What if you could change the past? What if it changed everything?
From the beginning of time, man has always tried to be in control of it. Most people wish to
know what the future holds for them, and practically everyone, at one time in their life, wishes
to change something they have done in the past. What we forget to remember is, the slightest
change can alter the future. I believe that our lives are all designed to follow a long,
ever-winding road. Every now and again, we approach a fork in this road we must decide which
path to take. Going one way could lead us to a pot of gold, whereas the other could lead us to
fall off a cliff. We never know which one is which. Frequency is a prime example of this
theory.
Primal Fear and Fallen director, Gregory Hoblit, made this
Twilight Zone-like story of John Sullivan, a New York police officer with a sad
love-life, who one day while playing with his father�s ham radio, discovers he can talk to his
late father, Frank, thirty years in the past. Predictably, the two strike up a bond and converse
many times. Eventually some information is shared that causes some trouble to the future.
Overlapping this story is the mystery of a serial killer that was never caught.
Frequency could have gone the conventional route and become a clich�-abundant
suspense-film. But in the tradition of paranormal films like Ghost and
The Sixth Sense, movies this film will no doubt be constantly compared to, this movie has
heart. There are many touching moments for saps like me to indulge in. The scene where Frank
teaches young John to ride his bike had me awing, not for the father-teaches-his-son-to-ride-a-bike
milestone moment, but for the underlying meaning.
Dennis Quaid gives a superb performance as John�s father Frank. Though he will most likely
not get nominated for an Oscar, seeing as he and wife Meg Ryan are constantly and wrongfully
overlooked by the Academy, he definitely gives one of the finest performances I have seen this
year. To accent this, Jim Caviezel of The Thin Red Line gives a touching performance as
John and Andre Brauer, as always, is truly enjoyable as Frank�s best friend Satch.
With his previous films, Gregory Hoblit has shown that he manages to capture the suspense of
a film. With this film, he had me literally on the edge of my seat with nail-biting anxiety. I
am a huge fan of his film Primal Fear and now this film as well. Every performance is
wonderful, the suspense and sappiness are perfectly balanced, and the touching song "When You
Come Back To Me Again" by Garth Brooks had me bawling out of serenity on the car-ride home.
This is truly a feel-good film for the whole family despite a few contrived moments. A-!
