Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) is a crime scene investigator specializing in bombings for the New Orleans department of the ATF. After a suspicious ferry explosion leaves hundreds of fresh-faced military officers and their families dead, he is the one brought in to decide whether or not this incident was an accident or if it was terrorism. He is the one who must try and put the pieces of the puzzle together so, if it was intentional, the FBI can have the information they need to catch those responsible.

Thankfully, Doug is very good at his job. So good, in fact, he is able to determine it is an act of domestic terrorism within a few hours, even narrowing down the list of suspects and providing a thorough catalog of clues so that detectives assigned the case can do their jobs with the utmost of efficiency. Doug goes so far as to lay at the lap of the FBI a murder case tied directly to the bombing, a local New Orleans woman named Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton) killed just hours before the incident, her body left at the crime scene in such a way as to look like she was part of the initial explosion.

The investigator’s attention to detail and ability to decipher the specifics of a crime scene within seconds impresses both Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and his superior Jack McCready (Bruce Greenwood). So much so, they borrow his skills for a top-secret project they have been working on with an over-caffeinated government scientist (Adam Goldberg). Seems he has designed a machine allowing the viewing and recording of events taking place in the past, four days and six hours in the past to be exact, and they want Doug to follow the evidence they have now of what as happened then so they can catch the killer before escapes in the near future.

And that’s the simple plot synopsis. You should read the one I typed during the first five drafts of this review. That one was almost an entire page all by itself. Seriously, though, Tony Scott’s (“Domino,” “Top Gun”) latest “Déjà vu” is a high tech action opus is a convoluted sci-fi smorgasbord that’s a chaotic and adrenalized casserole made up of bits and pieces of “CSI,” “Doctor Who,” “Back to the Future” and “Enemy of the State.” It’s the kind of movie where, if you think too much about it, both makes your head hurt and falls apart at the seams at the very same time, the threads holding it together about as tenuous and tiny as any other motion picture this year.

My advice? Don’t think about it. This Tony Bruckheimer (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”) production is about as blissfully exhilarating and entertaining a spectacle as anything you’re likely to see this holiday season. It’s a full-on blast, directed with precision by Scott and acted to perfection by its cast of professionals. It is fun, nothing more and certainly nothing less, and as silly as much of newcomer Bill Marsili and Terry Rossio’s (“Shrek”) script for this movie is an entertaining guilty pleasure I went back to a second press screening of just so I could enjoy it all again.

Which, come to think of it, is déjà vu in a way itself. But, then, the fun of this flick almost is in the going back and deciphering its pleasures piece by glorious piece. The picture is slick entertainment to be sure, but it’s so expertly crafted slick entertainment that even though a part of me knows better I can’t help but admitting to falling in love with it. Scott keeps things moving like a bullet train, the pace always going forward forward forward faster faster faster until the kinetic tension almost becomes unbearable, and even though the resolution is a bit of a forgone conclusion the whole thing was just so much fun I hardly cared.

In all fairness, the movie really is style over substance and gloss over depth. If you’re looking for subtext or meaning than this is definitely not what you are looking for. Pieces of it are so silly they’re almost impossible to be believed (a middle act car chase where Doug speeds down the freeway following a killer four days behind him is especially laughable), and the hinted at love story which finally pushes the dogged ATF agent to take Marty McFly-like action is more than a tad insipid.

But so what? Washington, much like in Spike Lee’s “Inside Man” from earlier this year, is in fine form easily making his character into far more of a flesh and blood human being than he’s even remotely hinted at in the script. Kilmer, Patton, Goldberg, Elden Henson (who is very funny) and an extremely creepy and focused Jim Caviezel all add excellent support, while Scott handles things with such sublime ease the whole picture is like an intoxicating pulp page turner impossible to put down until you’ve reached the gloriously thrilling conclusion.

I liked it. “Déjà vu” was one heck of a lot of fun and a movie I could probably watch a half dozen times sitting at home on my couch giggling gloriously like a school girl each and every single time I do. I’d even go so far as to exert my enthusiasm over and over again but, well, I’m figuring by this point I really don’t need to go and repeat myself now do I.

Now do I.

Film Rating: êêê  (out of 4)