6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In 1943, a secret government project attempted to create a cloaking device that would make warships invisible. But during the first test, the USS Eldridge successfully vanished...and could not be found again. 70 years later, the Navy destroyer momentarily reappears on a Pennsylvania runway allowing the sole surviving crewman to escape and a local lawman to board. What is behind a sinister reactivation of the project? Where will the massive ship materialize next? And what will become of two men trapped in a time/space catastrophe?
Starring: Ryan Robbins, Gina Holden, Lauro David Chartrand-DelValle, Malcolm McDowell, Michael ParéThriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
An old kinda-sorta cult favorite reborn? And on SyFy? Never! Well, maybe "never" in some parallel universe. No, it's the good old movie landscape cinephiles know and love (and loathe) so well, one with a dearth of creativity and a void in originality which is most obvious in theaters but also rather commonplace on the SyFy network. One of its newest films is the made-for-television remake of 1984's The Philadelphia Experiment, that film a decent enough little flick about time travel and World War II-era technological experiments blending together for a bit of fun escapist movie watching. The made for television re-imagining keeps the same basic structure, only fast-forwarded nearly two decades into the future. It, too, is a decent little time waster, particularly when viewed in the context not of the original but of the general SyFy landscape, on which it flourishes and even, sometimes, thrives compared to the competition. Sure, many of the usual negatives remain, but there are times when this The Philadelphia Experiment at least approaches and sometimes even surpasses the level of "serviceable." And to be sure, there have been far worse remakes of better movies released to theaters. Needless as this film may be in the grand scheme of things, at least the gap in quality between it and the original isn't wide enough to sail a destroyer through, well, not in real life, anyway.
Bad helmsman, bad!
The Philadelphia Experiment features a run-of-the-mill SyFy movie-on-Blu-ray transfer. The 1080p, 1.78:1-framed image was shot on video and lacks the organic value of film, but it's not excessively shiny. It is, however, rather flat, but it does offer serviceable detailing and good color balance. Viewers, particularly veteran Blu-ray viewers, won't be overwhelmed by anything in the transfer but will appreciate what is at least a good, basic foundation that reveals all the usual textures and surfaces nicely enough. The image is suitably crisp and well defined around every corner, with no loss of sharpness or detail at any point. Colors never explode off the screen, but brighter outdoor segments reveal a good little bit of vibrancy with a natural tone. Black levels are fine, and flesh tones don't offer up any problems. Light banding and noise are evident in a few places but don't interfere with the flow of the presentation. All around, this is a watchable, workmanlike transfer from Anchor Bay.
The Philadelphia Experiment features a robust and enjoyable lossless soundtrack, pretty much the norm for SyFY Blu-ray releases. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 presentation offers a plus musical presence to start, yielding good spacing, including a fair bit of surround information. The early experiment sequences set a standard for the rest of the track that is usually met or surpassed throughout. Waves of electrical current and other sounds of advanced science pulse through every speaker with excellent flow and precision, accompanied by a robust amount of low end information. Bass becomes almost punishing in a scene midway through the film, and a somewhat lengthy shootout results in excellent gunfire that pops and zips from every corner and impacts on metal surfaces with startling authority. Subsequent explosions pack a nice punch, too, though are perhaps a bit tame compared to what listeners might expect given the rest of the track. The track handles smaller but no less important elements equally well; light rumbling and background humming on board a small private jet seen early in the film play most convincingly. Rounded into form by seamless and clear dialogue reproduction, it's always easy to hear why this is a very good, high end soundtrack from Anchor Bay.
The Philadelphia Experiment contains no supplemental features.
Like Ice Quake before it, The Philadelphia Experiment is probably nothing more than a blip on the radar, a decent movie destined to become lost in a sea of nonsense and bad flicks rather than set a new standard direction for SyFy productions. But at least the film shows that there's always hope, that the next movie might not be a total dud, and that special effects and poor production values don't have to ruin a movie. No, this isn't great or even good cinema, and it would be laughed out of a theater, but for what it is it's hard to beat. Anchor Bay's featureless Blu-ray release of The Philadelphia Experiment delivers solid video and audio. Definitely worth a rental, maybe more at a greatly reduced price.
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1966
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1980
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1961
1973
Flight to the Future / Warner Archive Collection
1956
1984
1977
1986
1960
1972
1992
2023
The Director's Edition | Remastered
1979
Reissue
1974
Warner Archive Collection
1955
1969
1983
1970
1942