Time-travel movies sometimes need to take some liberties with the constraints of physics and logic. Take Back to the Future, for example. A space-time continuum? Gigawatts? A time machine made out of a Delorean? But what unites that film with a movie like Frequency is that if you change one thing in the past, the consequences spilling from that action could be dire indeed.
Dennis Quaid is Frank Sullivan, a firefighter in 1969 New York. The Amazin’ Mets are in the World Series and he has a loving wife and son. At the other end of our time spectrum is John Sullivan, a cop in 1999 New York. John is Frank’s son. Finding his late father’s old ham radio in a hall closet, John turns it on and happens to find himself talking to his long-dead father. How long? Frank died in 1969, right around the time of the World Series, in a warehouse fire. Amazin’, isn’t it?
The primary event that sets off all of the other events is the saving of Frank’s life – he’s supposed to have died in the warehouse fire, but John tells him about it ahead of time. Frank lives, and now all changes. And, of course, the only two people who can tell the difference are Frank and John themselves. This is a standard plot device, although I’m sure it would also be the case in real life. It’s where No One Believes the Hero. Just once, I’d like to see Our Hero explain to the Authorities that he was abducted by aliens, they seemed nice but aloof at first, but now they’re headed right this way — and then have the Authorities say, “Wow, we better get ready for them! Set my phaser on kill!” But that doesn’t happen. The Men in Charge never seem to believe Our Heroes, no matter how logical they may make the situation seem. Frank, of course, tries to convince his old buddy Satch (Andre Braugher) that a killer on the loose is not him (Frank, that is) and that the real killer is… someone else. But will Satch hear of it? Heck, no! Even when Frank tries to tell him how the ’69 World Series will wind up (thus injecting logic where logic cannot exist; but remember, movies are the vacuums of logic, even the ones that don’t suck), Satch merely gets mean and nasty and forgets he’s Frank’s pal.
But this is a wonderful story, no doubt about it. There are some very well-done scenes, both thoughtful and thought-provoking. The writers obviously didn’t want to take the easy way out and use movie logic all the time. The bottom line is that the effects are very nicely done (and even better on DVD) and the plot itself is tight. Don’t wear yourself out looking for loopholes; just be content to be fascinated by this surprisingly mesmerizing movie.
Frequency: 8
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