"Frequency" - A Review

Suppose that your father died when you were a child. Then one night you found out that you can communicate with your father in the past. What would you say to him? This question is the basis of the 2000 film Frequency. A homicide detective named John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) finds a radio that belonged to his father, Frank (Dennis Quaid), and discovers that due to an atmospheric phenomenon that he is able to speak to his dead father in the past. Of course, since Frank died saving a girl in a fire, John's first instinct when he realizes that he's speaking to his dad is to tell him how to, well, not die in that fire. John's warning works, and Frank survives the fire. However, the change made to the timeline has a ripple effect that results in John's mother, Julia (Elizabeth Mitchell), being murdered soon after the fire. Once John discovers that in this new timeline Julia was murdered by a serial killer, he teams up with his father to stop the killer.

One of Frequency's strengths is that it takes a concept as simple as a man being able to speak to his dead father and then turns that concept into a compelling sci-fi thriller. The film takes place mostly from John's perspective, who is the only person who is aware that the timeline is changing. Since the film is mostly from John's perspective, the audience gets to figure out how this time-bending communication works with John. We only know as much as John does, and that really works to the film's advantage because it makes the film really engaging. But even when the film focuses on Frank, it does not cease to thrill as we hold our breaths hoping that Frank's actions doesn't mess up the timeline further.

Another strong point for this film is the performances of Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid. We learn early on that their characters (especially Caviezel's character) are flawed, but the emotional performances these two actors present us with make us like them anyway. Their performances alone draw us to the characters. Furthermore, it is amazing that these two manage to have such great chemistry since they aren't even interacting with each other in real life. Yet, their dynamic seems so real that they are able to have us laughing and crying with them throughout their interactions on screen. It takes strong actors to pull off a story like this well, and Caviezel and Quaid definitely deliver.

The only issue I had with this film was the frequency of the foul language (pun intended). I don't know what words were used since I was watching the film on VidAngel in order to filter out the foul language, but I did notice that the audio cut out due to foul language quite frequently.

All that said, I highly recommend this film - especially for a father-son movie night. There aren't many good father-son movies out there, but this is one of them. I would, however, also recommend watching this film on VidAngel and using that to filter out the foul language.* Anyway, this is a movie that a lot of people don't know about, but should. This film is, in my opinion, a classic.

*DISCLAIMER: I am not being paid to recommend VidAngel. I am recommending it because I genuinely enjoy using their service and think that it is a great resource for Christian families.