Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Premonition Blu-ray Movie Review

A fuzzy movie no matter the day of the week.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 14, 2011

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.

Linda (Sandra Bullock, Speed) is a happily-married mother-of-two stay-at-home mom. One day, she receives terrible news: her husband Jim (Julian McMahon, Fantastic Four) has died tragically in an automobile accident. Her life suddenly and understandably crumbles around her, until she realizes that the reported time of death does not match up with a message left on her answering machine. When she awakens the following day, everything appears to be back to normal. Her husband is home, eating breakfast and preparing for work, unaware his wife believes him to be dead. Has Linda suffered a nightmare? Is she losing her mind? Or is there something unexplainable going on, beyond the physical realm, unseen and unknown to man, coming to light only when fate has other plans in mind that are interfered with by the unpredictabilities and circumstances of life?

Aside from serving as a fairly good barometer of the average motion picture, what else is there to Premonition? Its primary strength is its story, and its primary weakness is also its story. Premonition delivers the goods as a fairly mysterious Thriller that's not completely transparent; Linda's problem is not readily identifiable, and whether she's traveling through time, experiencing visions of the future, or is just plain crazy is never really certain, which is a strength, but the complete lack of certainty and the overwhelmingly jumbled way with which the story plays out is also a great weakness. Premonition is a bit too complex, a touch too reliant on the confluence of several timelines, the picture moving far too quickly and sometimes even haplessly through one major event to the next with no firm sense of time, place, or direction. Of course, that's key to the story, but Director Mennan Yapo never quite manages to make the thing flow with any real sort of followable purpose, unlike something like Memento, a picture in which Director Christopher Nolan managed to build the story from the inside out and through a skewed timeline that still allowed viewers to piece it together both thematically and chronologically by the end. Premonition is just a little too scattered; it means well, and there are some good, interesting elements, but the picture feels more like the proverbial "poured out of the blender" sort of movie than a finely-edited masterpiece of the mind-bending variety, like Memento.

Other things Premonition is and is not: it is not by any means a "Horror" picture; it's more of a Suspense/Drama picture with a hint of the supernatural thrown in for good measure, but the plot can be so disjointed that it's not often readily evident into exactly which categories the movie fits, but "Horror" is certainly not it. The picture, then, can be quite frustrating, but it can also be touching and sometimes appears on the precipice of being thoroughly meaningful as Linda searches for answers in the physical, psychological, and spiritual realms. Sandra Bullock is quite good in the role; her character undergoes several drastic emotional shifts through the story, and she manages to convey all of them -- fear, depression, shock, uncertainty, joy -- with a sense of realism, as if she were indeed experiencing a one-of-a-kind trauma made all the worse by the seemingly unending twists and turns that further complicate her already fragile state. Bullock carries the movie, not because she's the main character but because she's so good at finding just the right pitch -- vocally, physically, emotionally -- no matter the scene. Premonition is also constructed with obvious know-how that doesn't really help the movie aside from giving it a polished, finished, clean veneer. Director Mennan Yapo demonstrates much proficiency behind the camera, which is really all a film like this needs from a technical perspective.

Premonition Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Premonition contains a fairly standard collection of extra features, headlined by a Director/Star audio commentary track.

• Audio Commentary: Director Mennan Yapo and Actress Sandra Bullock deliver a fairly generalized commentary that covers all of the expected bases, including the picture's story and themes, its construction and various technical characteristics that reinforce the plot, the work of the cast, the gruel of the shoot, stories from the set, and more. Fans of the film might want to skip around, but this isn't a must-listen track.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 6:23): Thursday: Linda's Mother Arrives; Saturday: Linda Prepares for the Funeral; Tuesday: Jim and Linda Hear News From the Doctor; Friday: Linda Smokes; and Alternate Ending. Available with optional director commentary.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 3:21).
• Glimpses of the Future: Making Premonition (1080p, 15:51): Cast and crew speak on the story and the surrounding themes, the casting process and the work of the actors, Director Mennan Yapo's insistence on shooting the film in chronological order, shooting locales, the rigors of the shoot and the corresponding challenges of the shoot, and more.
• Bringing Order to Chaos (1080p, 11:59): A look at how the story would play out in chronological order.
• Real Premonitions (1080p, 44:20): In two segments, Waking Dreams and Seeing the Future, various individuals speak on real-life examples of premonitions.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Premonition Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.