Frequency

Written by: Toby Emmerich Starring: Dennis Quaid, James Caviezel, Elizabeth Mitchell, André Braugher

Perhaps it is a reflection of my generally lowered expectations for movies these days, but I wasn’t expecting much from “Frequency.” The previews suggested a certain hokiness, and the setup smacked of Hardy Boy-ish derring-do. But I have been a sucker for time paradox yarns from way back (probably the result of watching too much “Star Trek”), so I am happy to report that director Hoblit and writer Emmerich have pulled off a nice bit of work that rises above its limitations by virtue of being smart, engaging, and consistent. The movie opens in New York in 1969, the year of the Amazin’ Mets, and young John Sullivan is living an idyllic boy’s life with his fireman father Frank (played with gusto by Quaid). Flash forward thirty years, and a grownup John (a convincing Caviezel), is having a rougher go of it. He is a cop with a drinking problem and a failing relationship. His father had died in a fire years earlier. Then John starts fooling around with his Dad’s old ham radio (a Heathkit, by the way), and, through a mildly mystical phenomenon having something to do with solar flares, winds up talking to his own father in the past.

This would seem charming enough in its own right (indeed, perhaps a touch too charming), but then Emmerich’s smart script ups the ante; as any red-blooded American boy does, John wants his Dad back, so he uses his knowledge of the accident that killed Frank to help him avoid death. (The process by which John convinces Frank that he is who he says he is seems too easy. The scenes work, mostly because we want them to. After all, with a film like this, the audience is expected to suspend a little disbelief from the outset.) So far, so good. Frank lives, and everything is OK. Or is it? As anyone who has read Ray Bradbury’s story “The Sound of Thunder” (or watched enough “Star Trek”) knows, small changes in the past can render unforeseen complications in the new future. This is the acid test for any story that tries to play with time: is it internally consistent? Does it handle the paradoxes and conundrums while maintaining its own internal logic? “Frequency” does. The smart script sets up the pieces well in advance, so nothing seems dropped in at the last minute just to rescue the writer from the corner into which he has painted himself.

The elements all fall into place--everything from a serial killer’s bloody rampage in the past to André Braugher’s skeptical detective Satch (in the past and present) being convinced that what John and Frank are telling him is the truth. The picture moves fast, shifting seamlessly between the two time periods (and the 1969 scenes seem completely authentic--almost nostalgic). The story is told economically (something more filmmakers should think about) but it is constructed so well that we never lose track of what is going on in the two time periods. The script layers on its twists and complications in a way that surprises and yet is believable, right up to and including the strong denouement. It’s a wish fulfillment, to be sure, and if there is a movie out there with a happier ending I haven’t seen it. All of which serves to make this a fantasy, but one grounded in logic. If you buy the premise, you buy everything that follows, and that is a real accomplishment. I kept holding my breath, waiting for the structure to collapse, but it never did. Hoblit does a great job with the material, but credit writer Emmerich for the success of the picture. If ever there was proof that a good script can take routine material and make it shine, “Frequency” is it. (5/20/00)