Forget the cheesy taglines and cryptic posters for this film. They’re about the only thing wrong with it! If you thought being a Jerry Bruckheimer production meant only big explosions, big names, big budgets, and not much of a plot; then think again. Though the story begins with a huge explosion, the subsequent action scenes are integral to advancing the story and not just entertainment for adrenaline junkies.

The fact that Jerry Bruckheimer produces the CSI series and Tony Scott directed Enemy of the State can easily be seen in this film. The visuals and the feel of the film play well with the action sequences and drama. The movie title alludes to something along the lines of the Mothman Prophecies or Dragonfly, but the script is definitely in the science fiction genre rather than the realm of the supernatural.

As local, ATF agent Doug Carlind (Denzel Washington) begins investigating the site of a terrorist attack on a New Orleans’ ferryboat, half a dozen other federal agencies set up shop in front of the nation’s cameras. While his colleagues are busy giving interviews, Carlind is investigating the death a woman killed prior to the explosion and dumped near the area so as to appear as if she were amongst the passengers. Agent Carlind is almost completely disregarded until it is discovered that Carlind’s ATF partner, Larry Minuti, was killed in this explosion.

At this point, FBI agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) invites him to assist in tracking down the killer in his special surveillance unit. Apparently, his team of MIT computer science specialists can extrapolate video imaging from any point in any room based on linking thousands of images from powerful spy satellites, weather satellites, traffic cameras, ATM’s, and any other source of audio and video in a set radius.

Unfortunately, the sheer volume of information processed only allows them to view one point in time from only one angle after compiling data for 4 days and 6 hours exactly. If are wondering just how all of this is possible, Agent Carlind is already asking the questions for you.

This is where the filmmakers ask you to suspend your disbelief and throw as much technical jargon about quantum physics and the space-time continuum to satisfy most normal moviegoers. (If you’re a physics professor or watch a lot of science fiction, insert groan here and continue biting your lip.) I didn’t have as much of a problem accepting this for the sake of the movie as I did several other things. Topping my list of things too incredible to swallow was the immediate response by our federal government with FBI agents, National Guardsmen, and local authorities in a post-Katrina New Orleans. This is the same government that showed up late behind church groups with their own supplies and yet they are able to dismantle, ship, and reassemble a cyclotron-type machine the size of a jumbo jet engine along with their truckloads of supercomputers to run it?!?

The rest of the movie is spent hunting down the terrorist and the plot twists were as if you had seen them somewhere before, but couldn’t put your finger on it.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The glitches in the script weren’t obvious enough to make me look behind the curtain until after the credits were rolling. The ability of the camera to pan from satellite imaging to a 360 view of a person while in a building was one of the most impressive visual effects in a movie since the Matrix introduced “bullet time” to audiences. The all-star cast gave a solid performance. (Paula Patton looked so much like Halle Berry that you begin to wonder if she wasn’t their first choice as Claire Kuchever.) While it may have been a little light on technical background, it was high on entertainment value and will appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Run time: 128 minutes

Doug Carlind: Denzel Washington (Man on Fire)
Claire Kuchever: Paula Patton (Idlewood)
Agent Pryzwarra: Val Kilmer (Spartan)
Carroll Oerstadt: Jim Caviezel (Frequency, Passion of the Christ)
Denny: Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan)
Shanti: Erika Alexander
Gunnars: Elden Henson (Mighty Ducks)
Larry Minuti: Matt Craven (Crimson Tide)
Mr. Kuchever: Enrique Castillo (In Good Company)
Jack McCready: Bruce Greenwood (I, Robot)