Donovan's Echo

A Movie About Clairvoyance and One's Ability or Inability to Make Sense of it All and Connect the Dots for Some Kind of Understanding and Closure to Things that have Happened or Might Happen is the Complicated Plot of this Small Film from Canada.

It is Difficult to Process (things that go on in the mind and in dreams or precognition) and making it Intriguing and Mysterious to an Audience is not the Easiest Way to Make a Thriller. But when it is done Well it can Make for a Unique and Unusual Movie that is Welcomed in the Paranormal and Sci-Fi Genre.

The Premise can be Creepy and as the Viewer is Most Likely at Some Point in Their Lives through Dreams of Deja Vu can Latch On to it with an Uneasy Feeling Taken from the Uneasy Feeling that such Real Life Experiences can Bring On.

This isn't a Fully Rendered Film about Danny Glover's Frustrating Predicament and there are Coincidences a Plenty and a bit too many Contrivances to Accept, but the Movie does Manage to Draw You into its World of Wondering What's Up just Enough to Pass as a Low-Key, Well Acted, but Ultimately Boxed In Entertainment and So Restrained by its Budget and Running Time that it Seems Rushed, Confusing, and Shackled.

Overall, it is Definitely Worth a Watch for some Good Performances and an Interesting Story, but Fully Involved Fans of this Type of Thing will Most Likely End Up Wanting More than this can Deliver.

This movie definitely has something for everyone; a brilliant story containing lots of very fascinating "what-if" scenarios, built around some unique and complex concepts. The main character's struggle with his personal demons keeps you sympathizing with his desire to right his perceived wrongs from his past.

While the character portrayals by the two veteran actors (Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood) were as exceptional as you would expect, it is the sharp-witted character of Maggie (Natasha Calis) who instantly captured my heart.

Wonderfully written and beautifully shot, the twists and turns within the movie keep you on the edge of your seat until the end.

Donovan (Danny Glover) returns to his home after 30-years of roaming (which was never really explained) due to the deaths of his wife and child in a vehicle accident. He was a nuclear physicist and blames himself for paying more attention to his work rather than his family. He was also a member of the Manhattan Project back in the day and later became obsessed with Cold Fusion. Now that he is back he has visions of the future that correspond to the date he lost his family.

Remember the saying or slogan "we are all connected" from other movies: CRASH and CLOUD ATLAS? Apparently the message didn't get through as we have this movie to drill it into us again.

Donovan sees visions of what will happen in the future and Finn (Bruce Greenwood) the local Canadian policeman and Donovan's best friend doesn't believe him; and Finn thinks Donovan is becoming dangerous. Donovan believes there is a reason he came back - at this time - and he sees things and attaches the visions to the date of the death of his wife and child. We decide Donovan is not mental (hey, that would be another story) but he cannot seem to get thru to Finn, Maggie (the 11-year old who has the same name of his daughter who died in that accident), or to Maggie's mother Sarah (Sonja Bennett). We have dialogues in our heads that would help but our dialogues are never used. Bummer.

We try to connect the dots with Donovan. However, the way these dots are presented make it difficult to follow any logic and it is here the script confuses us. Sad to say much of this story is disjointed and we are on the verge of looking for the remote to end this because we find ourselves no longer caring.

I don't believe the connection message got thru this time. In the other movies mentioned above the connections are universal; but here the connections seemed to be relegated to Donovan and the immediate cast only. The drilling was not successful in my opinion. (4/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

Although this movie is a little slow moving toward the beginning, the plot is pretty deep so moving too fast would mean you would miss more of the important bits like the other reviewer did, causing him to use the word "disjointed". This movie is not at all disjointed! It has so many well placed, easily missed "bits/clues" that if you blink you just may miss something...If you don't "get it", you were not paying attention! The pieces connect from the beginning right through to the end. There are some flashback scenes throughout the movie to fill in the blanks which, like I said, if you are not giving this movie your full attention you might lose your place! All in all a good watch...It is the type of movie that makes you think (in a good way)! NOT the dopey mush brain time waster that fills so much of the screens today!

I just ran across this movie last night and decided to give it a look mainly because Danny Glover is in it. Very interesting movie to say the least. Definitely worth the watch if you haven't seen it.