Frequency

Stars:
Stuff Blowed Up:

One problem with time travel stores is the possibility of a do-over. If you've got a time machine, what's to stop you from going back and doing things over and over until you get them right? Frequency solves that problem by the nature of it's time machine – it's a HAM radio, and the only thing that can travel back and forth in time is voices. And each of the participants are moving forward in their own time, so there's no possibility of a do-over. And man, could they ever use one. Each problem they fix creates bigger problems over time.

Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid) is despondent about the approaching anniversary of his father's death. He digs out his dad's old HAM radio, plugs it in, and finds that he can communicate with his father, who is on the same radio thirty years ago. (It happens because of strange sunspot activity.) Realizing he's talking to his father the day before the fatal accident, he warns him, attempting to save his life. But every action has unforeseen consequences, and his warning causes many other deaths. He desperately tries to undo the damage via conversations through time, and the movie turns into a thriller/mystery as he and his father try to set everything right, knowing their tenuous line of communication may be lost at any moment.

Frequency does a good job of showing you little things you see out of the corner of your eye, things that you don't quite notice until later, when they become important. Rather than hit you over the head with a hammer, it gives you a little nudge in the ribs. Solidly acted and well written, it features some superb pyrotechnics, as well as a really long second grab. It's a solid popcorn movie everyone should enjoy.