Frequency (2000)

FREQUENCY, which sneaked on Saturday, is a splendid (if overly gen-
erously plotted) kinda sorta time-travel thriller about a New York
City cop (Jim Caviezel, from THE THIN RED LINE) talking to his 
long-dead firefighter father (Dennis Quaid) via... ham radio.  Huh?
'Tis freak atmospheric conditions that cause the three-decade sig-
nal span.  (Alas, no explanation is given for the miraculous trans-
formation of each radio's microphone from push-to-talk to voice-ac-
tivated.)  The easy-to-follow plot is occasionally head-scratch-
ing-- blink and another act in the past has changed something in 
the present-- but the acting's strong and the action sequences, few 
that there are, are bonafide white-knucklers.  Plus, there's plenty 
of good fire apparatus footage.  Great shots of the fireboat Alfred 
E. Smith in action at a warehouse fire...  With Shawn Doyle, Eliza-
beth Mitchell, Andre Braugher, and Noah Emmerich.  Gregory Hoblit
directs from a script by Toby Emmerich.  (Rated "PG-13"/117 min.) 

Grade: A-

Copyright 2000 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros