“Premonition” (Sony Pictures)
Dj Vu All Over Again
Sandra Bullock stars in “Premonition,” a movie about living parts of your life over and over. It is a creepy, intriguing movie that is better while you are watching it than it is when it is over and you are thinking about it. In other words it doesn’t hold up on reflection. But while you are in the moment it is a lot of fun.
Linda Hanson (Bullock) is pretty happily married to Jim (Julian McMahon). They have two daughters and are living the good life in suburbia. But then one day, in the middle of the day, Linda is notified by the local sheriff that Jim has been killed in a car wreck. She is devastated.
The next morning she wakes up and finds Jim is alive and well. But then the morning after that she wakes up to find Jim dead again. This goes on for a while with Linda wondering which world is true, and then wondering if she is going insane. One thing is sure, Jim is either dead or is going to die.
Bullock is excellent in the role of the tormented Linda. She handles the scenes of hysteria as competently as she handles the scenes of quiet desperation. She is a very good dramatic actress and this movie gives her ample opportunity to strut her stuff.
McMahon is best known for his role as Dr Troy on “Nip/Tuck.” His role as Jim is not as flashy as that one but he still makes his mark as a man on the verge of ending his marriage and conflicted as to why he is doing it. He and Bullock get very little opportunity to show any on screen chemistry but it is there, sneaking around the edges of their characters.
There is one scene in the movie that is unintentionally funny (at least I think it is). Linda wakes up and hears the shower running. She thinks Jim is dead but there he is in the shower. It is Pam and Bobby time from “Dallas” all over again.
The movie is rated PG-13 for mild profanity and violence.
While you are watching the film you are caught up in one woman’s desperate search to solve the mystery of her husband’s death, or to take action to prevent it. You race from one scene to the next and invent ending after ending in your mind. When the movie ends you will be satisfied with the outcome, that is until you start thinking of certain elements of the movie that just didn’t hold up. That is when the movie begins to loose some of its appeal.
Bullock is good in her role. That never changes. The movie is good until you start wondering why the oldest daughter still had scars on her face at the end of the film, or why Linda would take actions to duplicate things which were going to happen in the future. These questions and others like them indicate things just didn’t add up. They make the movie change from being really good to just being okay.
I scored “Premonition” a second sight 5 out of 10.
