The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 5, 2022

It would be too easy to tackle a review for The Weather Man by employing a lot of weather-related puns – calling the film chilly, sunny, cloudy, whatever the case may be – but this writing will attempt to stay away from that (deliberately, anyway) and recognize that meteorology is merely a metaphorical backdrop for the story of a soul in crisis rather than a man standing in front of a green screen for a living. The film, from Director Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) and Writer Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happyness, tells the dour tale of a life on the edge with little hope for personal inward and familial outward reconciliation.

Chicago-area Weatherman David Spritz (Nicolas Cage) has an eye on a promotion, hoping to land a vacancy on one of the biggest morning shows in the country, Hello America, working alongside Bryant Gumbel. All of that might be on hold, however, because Spritz's life is crumbling around him. He's separated from his wife Noreen (Hope Davis) and his relationship with his children (Nicholas Hoult and Gemmenne de la Peña) seems tepid at best. To make matters worse, his father Robert (Michael Caine) -- a Pulitzer-Prize winning author whom President Carter once called “A National Treasure" -- is dying. As Spritz navigates the cold reality of his world, wards off small talk from fans, and dodges various food and beverage items that are hurled his way, he descends into a place of hopelessness that even a high profile and higher paying job may not alleviate.

This is not a movie to watch when one is need of a pick-me-up. While there are hopeful notes here and there, the picture is dour and dreary for most of its runtime. It is a film about death: the death of a marriage at its end, the death of a father, and the death of a soul. That Spritz is a weatherman offers layers of insight into his life: he cannot always accurately predict what’s going to happen, but he can certainly see general trends. He lives in Chicago where the forecast is often bleak, especially in winter. Most of all, he’s forced to weather the storms of life. The film is visually bleak, too. It is not devoid of color, but there is an obvious gray-grim tint to the picture that reinforces the sense of hopelessness and pending death that permeates most every moment in the film.

Cage is excellent in the role, excellent at expressing the anger, fear, depression, uncertainty, and doubt that permeate his life. He carries himself as a man defeated, trying his best to look up as he aims to reconcile with this family or help his father through a trying diagnosis. But he seems to fail at all he does, and it’s not just the big things: he can’t even get his father a newspaper to read after a doctor’s appointment. He takes up archery after his daughter tried, and failed, and gave up, on the sport. He finds newfound confidence with the bow in his hand and a few arrows in his quiver, and as he gains confidence and his arrows come closer to hitting the mark, his life begins to take a slight upward trend, too. It’s an interesting metaphor that could be explored in a few different ways, but Cage rolls with it. It makes for an interesting visual aid and a good plot dynamic, but the film is at its best when the thick, impenetrable gloom hangs over Spritz's head.

The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The picture looks good. Not great, but good. It generally holds to a pleasing filmic texture thanks to a natural grain structure that appears mildly processed at times, but never grossly processed. Fine detailing is very strong. Facial close-ups are excellent, revealing satisfying pores and hairs and lines and the like, while various city exteriors breathe and showcase well-rounded depth and definition to Windy City locales. The film holds to a cold temperature, favoring blue and gray tints that are nearly unrelenting. Even when some warmer shots and scenes and locations creep in, that constant feel of cold is readily apparent. Still, the colors look fine within this context, considering the range of clothes, skins, blacks, and whites, and everything in between. There are a few flaws. There is some mosquito noise at times and the stray remnant of edge enhancement pop up here and there. This is not perfect by any means, but it is more than serviceable. Paramount could have done more, but this is likely the best the film will look for some time, and in the broadest sense it certainly looks "good enough."

The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings The Weather Man to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is not intensively engaging but it has its moments of heightened activity. The full soundstage comes alive with a nicely immersive symphony of honking horns at the 12-minute mark and impressively immersive saturating rain at the 89-minute mark. Musical presentation is clear with solid front side spacing and adequate surround and subwoofer usage (though certainly the low end is not present in any kind of radical, knock-the-walls-down sort of way). The film is primarily dialogue driven outside of some little ambient helps along the way. The spoken word is clear, well prioritized, and center positioned for the duration.

The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Weather Man contains six supplements, five of which are featurettes. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• Extended Outlook: The Script (480i, 10:07): In praise of the film's unique script and exploring its qualities and characteristics as well as transitioning the script from page to screen.
• Forecast: Becoming a Weatherman (480i, 5:43): Looking at Cage's character and performance more closely. It also looks at how the film recreated a real weather forecast center and consulted a real meteorologist.
• Atmospheric Pressure: The Style and Palette (480i, 9:22): Looking at the film's cinematography and the picture's tone and palette. It also explores the thematic benefits of shooting in Chicago.
• Relative Humidity: The Characters (480i, 19:44): This piece, as the title suggests, looks at the core qualities and characteristics for most of the film's main characters.
• Trade Winds: The Collaboration (480i, 15:40): Looking at some of the key support structure for the film: editing, cinematography, costumes, score, and more.
• Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:25).

The Weather Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Weather Man is a fairly grim movie, but it's effectively written, acted, and directed. It's compelling even if the core drama is not totally original, but the film makes solid use of metaphor -- visual and verbal alike -- to sound out the story narrative. Cage is excellent and captures the sense of encroaching death(s) quite nicely. Paramount's Blu-ray is solid, offering good-not-quite-great video, a quality lossless soundtrack, and a few extras. Recommended.