Premonition (Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture: B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: C- Film: D
Sandra
Bullock is a star looking for another hit, but hitting some rough waters. She really wants to deliver something
different, but it is just not working out.
Lately, it has been trying to have a hit with the “mysterious drama”
that is supposed to appeal to everyone.
First, there was Lake House
with Keanu Reeves and the “magic mailbox” gimmick that made it one of the most
forgettable films of the careers of both stars.
She tried again with Mennan Yapo’s Premonition
(2007) which was only marginally less of a mistake, initially had one of the
biggest openings of her career and could have been good if Bill Kelly’s script had been thought
out.
Bullock
is a happily married woman with wonderful children and a good husband in Jim (Julian
McMahon) living a good life. However,
one day, Jim goers out and it looks like he may not come back. Then she finds out he has been killed in a
crazy car accident. Then, after suffering
though the heartbreak, wakes up to finds him alive again!
How did
she know? Was it just a dream? Can she break the time frame and save his
life? Should she? What is going on here?
Instead
of trying to do a complex mediation on time, this just becomes a very
disappointing melodrama. Bullock is
likable, but often looks bored and this film like so many others like it prove
once again that if you take on anything with time travel or a disruption of a
normal narrative patterns and do not take it seriously enough and/or make it
secondary to your film, it will backfire.
Though not as outright awful as Lake
House, it is still very awful and will drive many crazy for the wrong
reasons when they see it. Nia Long, Kate
Nelligan, Amber Valletta and Peter Stormare also star.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital high Definition looks fine for a new film, though color can be
toned down too often for its own good.
The anamorphically enhanced DVD version is not bad for the format
either, but no match for the Blu-ray.
Director of Photography Torsten Lippstock delivers a competent
commercially A-grade looking film, which means as a thriller in this case, it
is too safe. The Dolby Digital 5.1 on
both discs is subtle and often dialogue-based, but fine for that. The PCM 16/48 5.1 mix is more of the same,
but is warmer, richer and better than the Dolby by being fuller, more refined
and having more presence.
Extras on
both versions are the same, including three featurettes (including a making of
piece), deleted scenes & and alternate ending with commentary by Yapo,
feature-length audio commentary by Yapo & Bullock and a gag reel.
- Nicholas Sheffo
