“Premonition” DVD Review
Premonition looked like it would be a box office success when the early trailers came out. It seemed to play off of the recent influx of psychological thriller films that mess with your head and ultimately leave you confused and wondering went on (I personally love those type of films and the recent season of Lost had some real mind benders). Unfortunately, Premonition just left me with a feeling of wondering why they even needed to make this film.
Premonition stars Sandra Bullock as Linda Hanson, a wife and mother of two who wakes up one day and receives a knocking at the door. Behind the door is a police officer telling her that her husband, Jim (Julian McMahon) has died. She wakes up the next day to find her husband very much alive and a series of out-of-order days ensues, with visits from a mysterious doctor (Peter Stormare) and another woman seemingly related to this whole incident somehow (Amber Valletta).
The story ultimately goes from intriguing and mysterious to near comical and I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized I should stop taking this moment seriously: Linda actually makes an offhand joke about her husband’s death at one point in the film. The movie went from a psychological thriller to garden variety television special in a few seconds. It’s not that I don’t like Sandra Bullock either, she’s a fine actress, I just can never take her seriously in the roles she plays (no I haven’t seen Crash) and whenever she says something remotely funny I want to start thinking the film is suddenly a comedy because of it. It’s a weird feeling to explain, she just didn’t mesh well with the film for me.
Having said that, the first portion of the film was rather intriguing, but once Linda starts to get a grip on what’s going on, I lost interest. The only mystery left in the film after she unravels the puzzle is whether or not she’ll save Jim after she finds out something about him that seems tacked onto the film to give it some extra emotional drama or conflict. Simply knowing her husband would die was not enough drama, I guess.
Overall there’s not much in this film worth watching. It’s a quick jaunt through at ninety six minutes and fans of Sandra Bullock will likely enjoy it more than others, but the final act of the film just falls apart for me. Rent the title if you are really dying to see it, but don’t rush out and buy it for any reason.
The DVD
Arriving on DVD in a single disc case with a plain cardboard slipcover (I’m really tired of these things), Premonition comes with no insert and disc art of trees with crows in them against a cloudy sky. Menu is animated and easy to navigate.
Video and audio for this release is standard. There is some flickering I noticed in close up shots on the video at times, which I initially chocked up to loose cable connections or something, but it only did it in close up shots and I only noticed it in the background and nowhere else did it appear in the film. Even after checking the cables it still did it, so I’m not sure why this film got a sub-par video transfer. Audio is clean and clear, though mostly front focused with Klaus Badelt’s score coming through beautifully (it probably helps I’m a fan of his work on Equilibrium).
First up on the special features docket is a boring technical and movie-praising commentary with director Mennan Yapo and star Sandra Bullock. While it’s always fun to hear Bullock talk for an hour or so (I’m not lieing, she’s enjoyable to listen to), this commentary ultimately adds nothing to the film. Between Yapo’s technical babble and Bullock’s comments about how nice the locations were, it’s a dull track in the end.
Deleted scenes are included and the majorities are all alternate versions or extended cuts of scenes. Nothing here is needed in the film and was all rightfully cut, and the alternate ending would’ve made the movie pure crap, so I guess Yapo knew what he was doing in the editing room at least and he justifies each cut on the commentaries for each of the deleted scenes.
Next up? Bloopers! Yes. A psychological thriller that “will have you guessing from start to finish” (it’s from the cover art, don’t look at me weird like that) has a full blooper reel. I love blooper reel’s so I won’t fault its inclusion on such a films DVD release, but it’s almost disheartening to see the film wasn’t even taken that seriously during the dramatic explosion of Jim’s car, as Sandra Bullock starts to give a replica of McMahon’s decapitated head mouth to mouth after it rolls around on the street. Funny? Of course. Weird? Definitely.
A “Making-Of” featurette is provided, but is your usual DVD production piece with cast and crew interviews. The most interesting special feature on the set is the “Real Premonitions” featurette that has interviews with people who have had premonitions about fateful events about their own lives or complete strangers lives. It originally aired on A&E before this film came out and is quite interesting, whether you believe in the phenomenon or not.
Overall, like the film, the DVD is marked for Rent. It’s got some interesting special features, but aside from the blooper reel and the “Real Premonitions” documentary, there isn’t much of interest if you didn’t enjoy the movie on the first go around.
Premonition is now out on DVD.