5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.1 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
Linda Hanson has a beautiful house, a loving husband and two adorable daughters. Her life is perfect, until the day she receives the devastating news that her husband Jim has died in a car accident. When she wakes up the next morning to find him alive and well, she assumes it was all a dream, but is shaken by how vivid it felt. She soon realizes it wasn't a dream, and her world is turned upside down as the surreal circumstances lead her to discover that her perfect life may not have been all that it appeared. Desperate to save her family, Linda begins a furious race against time and fate to try and preserve everything that she and Jim have built together.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Nia Long, Kate Nelligan, Amber VallettaThriller | 100% |
Supernatural | 57% |
Mystery | 38% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Every day we're alive can be a miracle.
Premonition is one of those movies, a film that, yeah, sure, it's not bad -- could have been better, certainly could have been worse --
gets the job done; is made well enough; and tells an honest, interesting story, but it just sort of fades into oblivion and becomes lost in the vast sea of
mediocre movies that just sort of exist as the very definition of a middle-of-the-road sort of motion picture. A solid cast, fine production values, a good
enough story, and commendable execution are all there -- all hallmarks of a good movie -- but Premonition, like so many other floundering
titles, just never really clicks despite getting all the basics right. There's certainly nothing wrong with that; everyone involved can hold his or her head
highly
knowing a competent, watchable film has been made, but chances are most viewers are going to see it, enjoy it, and forget it. In fact, that's the
fate of the majority of studio films these days; most fall somewhere between the extremes of The Love Guru and Inception, earning slightly-below-average to slightly-above-average
reviews and not insulting audiences but certainly not becoming instant classics of modern cinema. Indeed, Premonition is a pretty fair picture
on which to set the baseline for the modern midlevel picture. Expect far better than the worst, far less than the best, and chances are most viewers
will be satisfied with the movie.
Bad news.
Premonition's 1080p transfer, even as one of the earlier releases in the life of the Blu-ray format, holds up quite well and is reflective of Sony's usual high-quality video presentations. A fine layer of grain gives the image a film-like texture that remains throughout. Detailing is quite good even at a distance; a rather long overhead shot near the beginning of the film reveals a crisp, lifelike texture in concrete, brick building façades, and the like, but of course it's the more general medium- and close-up shots of skin and clothing textures and other general elements that look the best, even down to the shape and volume of droplets of water clinging to and rolling off skin during a shower scene. Colors favor an ever-so-slight warm push, which is reflected in flesh tones, but the palette is still fairly neutral, never looking too terribly artificially vibrant or, on the other end of the scale, washed out and dim. On the negative side, blacks can be a bit too punishing and dark, crowding out some fine detailing in darker scenes. Slight banding also creeps into one or two shots, but the image is generally polished and accurate. Another job well done by Sony, a studio that's been doing right by Blu-ray transfers since almost the beginning.
Premonition's PCM 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack delivers a fair listening experience for a movie that seems to have made sound a second-tier priority. Bass can be a little sloppy and unkempt, but some of the crashes and booms and heavier notes scattered around the score do tend to meander on into the back channels, which otherwise carry only select atmospherics, generally in the form of rain and thunder as heard in chapter 11 or gusty winds in chapter 14 that aren't particularly lively, but at least passably realistic and mood-setting. Most other atmospherics are handled completely across the front; nuanced effects like chirping birds may not pull the listener into the film, but they are well-implemented nonetheless, adding a completing touch to the track. Music is satisfactorily crisp; the generic combination of strings and haunting choral backup flows nicely from the front speakers. Dialogue is accurate and crisp. It won't give the speakers a workout, but Premonition's soundtrack is at least adequate in every area.
Premonition contains a fairly standard collection of extra features, headlined by a Director/Star audio commentary track.
Premonition isn't a bad movie. It's not exactly a great or even good one, either, but most audiences should be at least somewhat satisfied with the end result, anyway, even if the movie is a bit too convoluted and unclear for its own good. A solid performance by Sandra Bullock, some honest and not completely transparent plot developments, and a surprisingly fair and thought-provoking ending do make this movie worth a watch, even if most will probably forget about it days, if not hours, later, the movie both a fine example of a midline production as well as one with missed potential. Sony's Blu-ray release of Premonition features a fine 1080p transfer, a good uncompressed soundtrack, and a nice little bit of extra content. Worth a rental for sure, maybe even a buy at a bargain-basement price.
2004
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