Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth (Anchor Bay/Starz)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Feature: C+

 

 

In a Science Fiction tale (that seemed like it was visually trying to be a Horror piece, though the director assures me any such overlap is coincidental, so you have been warned) trying to be smart for a change, Richard Schenkman’s adaptation of Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth (2007) is a tale about a group of people discussing human existence in the world.  Despite Bixby’s track record, this version of his tale includes one character (think mystery) who might be an alien.

 

Though somewhat ambitious, the 87 minutes were never very engaging despite the effort so the cast and the conclusion was a letdown to boot.  However, at least it tried to be about something, which is more than can be said of so many poor works in the genre in recent years.  John Billingsley and William Katt lead the cast.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is much softer than expect or it should be for a new production, distracting from any merit this might have, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is lame and really tries to stretch out sound that is limited and only so well recorded.  Extras include two audio commentary tracks, on the set piece, Bixby piece, story of story piece and from script to screen piece.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo