Here’s a thriller that combines the trademark pace of Jerry Bruckheimer, the gritty realism of director Tony Scott and the vulnerable action hero leading man that Denzel Washington reliably conjures up on such occasions. And then there’s the time travel.

Washington plays a New Orleans cop (Doug Carlin) investigating a bomb blast aboard one of the city’s Mississippi ferries. The vessel is sunk and the death toll is grave. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion a number of curious points come to light – a body of a young woman, burnt and covered with particles of explosive, is washed up and the time of death is determined to have been some hours before the blast; Carlin’s partner, believed to have been on holiday at the time of the disaster, is suddenly implicated when his car is discovered among those salvaged from the sunken ferry.

There are other, more baffling developments – why are Carlin’s fingerprints all over the home of the dead woman? And why did she leave a message for him at his office?

Meanwhile, the mysterious Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) and his team are looking for clues that might lead to the arrest of the bomber. They invite Carlin to view what he says is extraordinarily comprehensive video footage of the region taken four days earlier.

Carlin agrees, but soon becomes suspicious about what he is seeing. Eventually Pryzwarra comes clean and tells Carlin that this surveillance footage is in fact a wormhole into the past.

Apparently, despite the dangers of meddling with the fundamental laws of time and space, the ‘surveillance’ crew agree that creating a parallel universe is a small price to pay for saving so many lives. Inevitably, Carlin decides to take advantage of the wormhole and journeys back those critical four days to prevent the crime.

Tight production values and the towering presence of Denzel Washington are among the virtues of this thriller. As so often with Hollywood’s output, it works best if you leave science at the door and take your place on Washington’s shoulder as he plays with time. And leave room for the spirit of physicist Richard Feynman on the couch.