FREQUENCY

Frequency is a strong choice for parents and teenagers who want an exciting thriller with something serious to discuss afterward. Its central relationship honors family bonds, and its heroes care not only about saving one loved one but also about protecting other potential victims.

The movie’s time-travel premise gives every choice moral weight. Small decisions can have vast consequences for the people closest to us, while the father-and-son story gives the suspense an emotional center. The costs are real: the film includes foul language and moderate violence, along with alcohol use and smoking.

If your family includes middle schoolers or older teens who can handle those concerns, this is worth watching together. For younger children, choose something gentler.

In 1999, policeman John Sullivan discovers that an old ham radio can connect him with his father, Frank, who died in 1969. A solar flare appears to have opened a path through time.

John uses the connection to give Frank information that changes the past. But the change places John’s mother in danger from a serial killer. Now father and son must work across three decades to stop the killer before more lives are lost.

Three stars means a good, entertaining film with clear strengths and some limitations. Frequency offers an interesting take on the familiar science-fiction idea of time travel, with exciting and mind-bending twists.

The direction and writing are strong. Visual metaphors connect the 1969 and 1999 storylines, while Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel give solid performances as father and son. The film’s emotional power comes from the love between them and from the concern they show for the killer’s other potential victims.

It is well made, but foul language and violence keep it from being a cleaner family recommendation.

Frequency presents family bonds as powerful enough to reach across time. John’s loving memories of his father and his love for his mother drive his actions. The story also gives moral weight to every human life: John wants to save his mother, but he is equally concerned about the other women who may become victims.

The film’s worldview is pro-family and respectful of human dignity. It suggests that even small decisions can produce vast consequences for those closest to us. Its time-and-space ideas remain speculative, so Christian viewers may want to think carefully about how scientific theories relate to the film’s imaginative premise.

At the center is a longing to protect the people we love and preserve the bonds that hold a family together. Scripture calls believers to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

Frequency gives teenagers and adults an entertaining thriller with a strong concern for family and human life. Its language, violence, alcohol use, and smoking call for discernment, but thoughtful families can find worthwhile conversation here. WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 13 AND UP.