I was watching the Top 10 Show today and they were live and were talking about sci-fi movies. I know that my overall sci-fi movie fandom is not as full as it should be and they started talking about a film called Frequency. I had heard the title before, but I had never seen the film. It sounded as if it were an interesting movie and I wanted to watch it. I found it on Vudu and I was able to rent it.

According to IMDB, “A rare atmospheric phenomenon allows a New York City firefighter to communicate with his son 30 years in the future via HAM radio. The son uses this opportunity to warn the father of his impending death in a warehouse fire, and manages to save his life. However, what he does not realize is that changing history has triggered a new set of tragic events, including the murder of his mother. The two men must now work together, 30 years apart, to find the murderer before he strikes so that they can change history–again.”

The firefighter was named Frank Sullivan and he was played by Dennis Quaid. Frank’s son was John and was played by Jim Caviezel. LOST’s Elizabeth Mitchell played John’s mother and Frank’s wife, Julia.

The movie was very original and creative, taking the idea of communicating with the past in order to adjust what happened to a new level. As John was able to convince his father about what was going to happen (thanks heavily to the Amazin’ Mets of 1969), things continued to change, including a serial killer case that suddenly became so much worse.

The function of the communication was a neat idea and was steeped in the relationship between father and son. The way things changed were clever and worked very well. You could feel the continual desperation of both Frank and John as they tried to find a way to make everything alright.

Sure, with every time travel story, there are flaws and imperfections and Frequency is no different. However, most of the things that happen make sense and work with the story that they were setting up. They never broke their own rules, which many of these types of movie do.

Both Quaid and Caviezel were strong in their roles. They had a great chemistry and I believed that they were father-son.

Other actors involved in Frequency included Andre Braugher, Noah Emmerich, Shawn Doyle, Daniel Henson, Michael Cera, and Melissa Errico.

This was a gripping thriller that I was never quite sure where it was going. The two lead performances were great and the serial killer angle worked very well. Frequency was a lot of fun and I’m glad I heard the Top 10 Show talking about it.