FREQUENCY — **1/2 — Jim Caviezel, Dennis Quaid, Elizabeth Mitchell, Andre Braugher, Shawn Doyle, Noah Emmerich, Daniel Henson; rated PG-13 (violence, profanity); Carmike 12, Creekside Center, Plaza 5400 and Ritz 15 Theaters; Century Theatres 16; Cinemark Jordan Landing Theaters; Loews Cineplex Broadway Centre, Midvalley, South Towne Center and Trolley North Cinemas; Redwood Drive-in (with "Final Destination").You know, filmmakers must really hate it when another person's movie succeeds to such a ridiculous degree as "The Sixth Sense."
Not only does it set a higher standard for what is considered to be box-office "success," but it also sets some admittedly unfair standards that other films in the same genre must suddenly live up to.
So pity a movie like "Frequency," an unassuming little fantasy-thriller that would probably fare better with audiences if it weren't following so closely on "The Sixth Sense's" heels.
Give this movie at least some credit for coming up with a concept that's at least not a clone of that film's main idea — though the story is similarly twist-driven. But eventually the film takes a real dead-end turn (and there's an unbelievably sappy and wretched ending segment that makes the sentiments on Hallmark cards look sincere and subtle by comparison.)
Again, it's an interesting premise: New York City detective John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) discovers that he can communicate with his long-dead, firefighter father, Frank (Dennis Quaid), thanks to his dad's old two-way ham radio and some unusual atmospheric phenomena.
However, their 1969-to-1999 conversations are having subtle repercussions on John's "reality." Thanks to John's warnings, Frank narrowly escapes a warehouse fire that was supposed to have caused his death.
As happy as that makes him, John also discovers that something he's said or done has rippled its way back to the past, resulting in the death of his mother (Elizabeth Mitchell) at the hands of a serial killer.
So the two must pool their efforts if they're to uncover the killer's identity and stop him before the murder, and others, can take place — and before the solar flares that are responsible for their unique method of communication come to an end.
Director Gregory Hoblit ("Primal Fear," "Fallen") and first-time screenwriter Toby Emmerich do a good job of making this complex storyline as simple as possible. But the decision to meld the effective fantasy-drama elements with a much-less-successful, serial-killer subplot is a bad one. (And it makes the decision to close things on as positive a note as possible seem like a desperate afterthought.)
Also, Hoblit's constant use of slow-motion photography and other flashy visual stylings do little more than call attention to themselves, often at the expense of the on-screen action.
One thing the film does have in its favor is an appealing cast. Caviezel and Quaid are effective, despite the fact they don't look like they're related — or that they sport exaggerated accents that can best be described as "New York palooka."
Elsewhere, Mitchell and Andre Braugher (from TV's "Homicide: Life on the Streets") make the most of limited screentime.
"Frequency" is rated PG-13 for violence (fistfights and some gunplay) and scattered use of profanity, as well as glimpses of disturbing crime scene photos. Running time: 118 minutes.
You can reach Jeff Vice by e-mail at jeff@desnews.com