6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
On the night of his 37th birthday, George Malley is knocked to the ground by a mysterious blinding light and develops amazing mental abilities. With his new-found knowledge, George astounds everyone in town, but comes to realize that his wondrous experience has changed him and all those around him forever.
Starring: John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall, Jeffrey DeMunnRomance | 100% |
Supernatural | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In 1994 John Travolta was rescued from the Siberia of Look Who's Talking sequels when Pulp
Fiction reminded everyone of the unique magnetism with which he could invest almost any
character. For the next six years—that is, until Battlefield Earth put the "almost" in front of
"any"—Travolta racked up one success after another, if not always financially, at least
artistically. Get Shorty, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Primary Colors and A
Civil Action were all released during this period. So was Phenomenon.
Today director Jon Turtletaub is best known for loud, dumb action fare made with his high
school classmate, Nicolas Cage, namely, the National Treasure series, of which a third is
rumored to be in the works, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. A small but devoted audience also
knows him as one of the creative minds behind the cult TV series Jericho. But in the early
Nineties, Turtletaub's signature talent was for directing sentiment with just enough bite to keep it
intriguing. He did it for the early Sandra Bullock hit, While You Were Sleeping, where the
future Oscar winner played a hopeless romantic pretending to be the fiancée of an amnesiac on
whom she had a secret crush. In Phenomenon, Turtletaub directed Travolta in a twist on the kind
of role that had won Cliff Robertson an Oscar in Charly (1968): that of a man suddenly granted
intelligence far beyond the norm (though, unlike Robertson's character, Travolta's began as an
ordinary guy, rather than a mentally challenged subject of a drug trial).
But Gerald DiPego's original script for Phenomenon pulls a fast one, and not because it plays
coy with the source of small town mechanic George Malley's new abilities. As the story unfolds and
George's intelligence continues to grow, DiPego shifts the emphasis to George's emotional life.
Unlike Robertson's Charly, George's abilities don't take him into a new world so much as drive
him to burrow deeper into the world he already knows and loves. He stays in the same town,
keeps the same friends and loves the same woman. Getting smarter ultimately leads George to a
deeper understanding of who he has always been, so that, in the end, Phenomenon becomes less a
science fiction story about an inexplicable event than a morality tale about the importance of
taking a fresh look at familiar things.
The 1080p, AVC-encoded image for Phenomenon demonstrates once again that Disney is
capable of producing a fine Blu-ray of a catalog title when it wants to (thus making The Color of
Money an even bigger disgrace). Leaving aside the opening sequence, where the image quality
suffers somewhat as a result of optically superimposed titles, the picture is natural-looking, film-like
and detailed, with only occasional hints of video noise. The grain structure from the
anamorphically acquired photography isn't especially obvious unless you're looking for it, but it
doesn't appear to have been filtered, digitally airbrushed or otherwise tampered with, nor are
there any tell-tale signs of artificial sharpening. Disney has used a BD-50 for this 123-minute
film; so compression artifacts are not an issue.
The palette of Phenomenon is dominated by earth tones, particularly the rich browns of the
earth and the greens of plant life. Blues, especially in clothing, are almost as frequent but in small
amounts that serve to emphasize the warmer hues by way of contrast. Some of the most notable
earth tones are those embodied in Lace's self-designed and hand-made chairs, which play a key
role in the story. In the government facilities, cool whites and beiges dominate, because George
is far from home and the environment is sterile and unfeeling. Blacks in the frequent night scenes
are well-differentiated, allowing for detail to emerge even in areas of shadow. This is also the
case in darkened interiors such as Jimmy's bar.
Phenomenon's theatrical 5.1 track is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1, and it's a lovely but low-key
affair. Other than a minor earthquake, whose rumbles and rattles make the necessary impression,
the film doesn't have any major sonic set pieces. From the opening shots, however, sounds of the
country routinely populate the surrounds and eventually blend into the landscape. Since the
whole point of George Malley's experience is that, to him, it's no big deal (though other people
keep trying to make it one), a bombastic sound track would set the wrong tone.
One element where the quality of the original recording really shines on the Blu-ray's track, other
than the crystal-clear dialogue, is the beautiful rendering of Thomas Newman's score. There is no
one better than Newman at rendering a certain kind of modest but intense longing, and he does it
here with increasing urgency as George's situation grows ever more untenable. The songs
carefully selected by soundtrack supervisor Robbie Robertson, incuding Sheryl Crow's
"Everyday Is a Winding Road" (four years before Erin Brockovich used it), Eric Clapton's
"Change the World" and Aaron Neville's soulful rendition of the Van Morrison song, "Crazy
Love", fill the listening space and blend seamlessly with Newman's score.
As on Disney's 2004 DVD, the only real extra is the film's theatrical trailer (2:42), which is in
standard definition and both letterboxed and windowboxed. The trailer stresses the paranormal
elements of the story, although other strands are there, but less prominent.
Also included are previews for the following: The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Who Framed
Roger Rabbit? on Blu-ray, Castle: Season 4, ABC TV on Blu-ray and DVD and an anti-smoking
PSA.
DiPego has said that his script for Phenomenon was inspired by Zen concepts, but some critics
looking for an angle hopped on the usual hobbyhorse whenever Travolta is involved and insisted
that Phenomenon was derived from the tenets of Scientology. One example, cited by a writer for
Entertainment Weekly, was the
scene in which George doesn't swallow the sedatives he's been
given in a government hospital, but hides them and uses them to drug an orderly and escape.
With no hint of irony (and a quotation from Dianetics), this was linked to the well-known
Scientologist view that tranquilizers are bad for you. Apparently the writer missed the dozens of
other movies and TV shows containing a similar scene without the involvement of a single
Scientologist; he also missed the scenes in Phenomenon where various people try to foist their
religious interpretations onto George Malley, when all he wants to do is explain how things
work. But that's what happens when you start with a conclusion and then go looking for
evidence to support it.
Fortunately, all of that should be past and the film can be experienced on its own terms in a high-quality
Blu-ray presentation. Highly recommended.
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