Frequency Movie Review

Frequency (2000)

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Written by: Toby Emmerich
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel, Andre Braugher, Noah Emmerich, Elizabeth Mitchell
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across thirty years. The son tries to save his father's life, but then must fix the consequences.

Verdict
It's not scientifically strict on what in essence is time travel, but it makes for a fun and unique adventure with this magic ham radio. John and Frank start with a proverbial piece of string and continue to tangle it in trying to alter the past and future. Knotting it more isn't going to magically straighten it, which is exactly what happens here. The conclusion is a bit too cute, this happy ending where everything works out perfectly despite how much they've interfered with events. This should have culminated in a deeply personal choice without an easy way out.
It depends.

Review
The first scene is a daring rescue where firefighter Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid) saves the people and manages to defy death by mere seconds. Thirty years later, Frank's son John has grown up to be a cop. Through some strange astronomical phenomena John, despite living in 1999, manages to contact his father in 1969 when he pulls out his father's old ham radio to see if it still works.

Jim Caviezel plays John Sullivan

John soon discovers that he can influence events in the past to affect the future. This is his chance to save his father who perished in a fire when John was young. It's an event that has shaped his life and made him bitter. John quickly convinces Frank of what's happening when he manages to predict the conclusion of a 1969 Mets World Series game. Frank avoids the fire and death. John suddenly gets all of these new memories of his father, but Frank dies of cancer at a later date.

I get why John embraces this second chance with his father, willing to hold onto any idea that provides hope. I'm not sure why Frank buys into it so quickly. He doesn't have a vested interest, and I'd think it would take more convincing.

Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel play Frank, John Sullivan

Through this radio, the two of them swap stories; John of the future and Frank of the past. John gets to ask Frank all the questions he never could. It's at this point I wondered where this would go. Will it be John continually trying to prevent his father's death only for something else to kill him? Will his meddling only cause more issues to fix? This spins in a different direction when John meddles in the past and his mother ends up dead. Initially, we're not sure how, but it turns out it was a serial killer. 

John's working that serial case in 1999, and he begins using his father to prevent death and find clues to solve the case. Frank even manages to hide evidence in 1969 so that John can find it in 1999. Things continue to become muddled. Frank is confronted by the killer and in turn sets Frank up for the crimes. Without the radio and jailed, Frank is on his own. He has to stop the killer on his own with no help from John. This culminates in a face off with the killer, both Frank in 1969 and John in 1999.

Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel play Frank, John Sullivan

This has such an overly happy and perfect ending, which I don't like. Every time John changes the past it creates a new problem. I don't believe that he somehow created so many problems that it magically fixed everything. I wish this had forced him to choose. Is he selfish and chooses to save his parents, or must he sacrifice them to save the city from a serial killer? Not only does John save everyone, he improves the lives of everyone around him too. It's a fairy tale ending that undermines the rest of the movie.