Premonition (2007)

You can't change Fate
OK, I watched the film on DVD and watched til the end.I was entertained, and Sandra Bullock gave a fine performance, though not Miss Congeniality. She's morose and bothered throughout, and it's hard to figure out if she actually loves her husband. The film is generally told in the 1st person, and Bullock is almost every scene. Those scenes that don't involve her are totally out of synch with the theory of the film. Director Mennan Yapo did his best, but it was an unformed script and everything was kind of left to the imagination of the general public (those who don't see the "holes"). Julian McMahon and Nia Long were fine, and the 2 little daughters gave great performances. As I said, it was good, mindless entertainment, but not a work of art. "The Forgotten" with Julianne Moore came to mind, and that was a better movie. Entertaining but won't blow you out of the water. The acting is so good, it almost brings a tear to the eye. That's why I can't write it off.

Unsatisfying in every sense of the word
Imagine that you take a reasonably good book and remove the pivotal chapter that ties everything together. Next, take the remaining chapters and scramble them into random order. Now, serve this up on the big screen and expect your audience to be wildly enthusiastic.

Ain't gonna happen -- Sandra Bullock notwithstanding.

That, in a nutshell, is the experience of watching "Premonition." The movie tries hard to be clever and thrilling, but just never quite rises to the ocassion. Likewise, it tries to grapple with difficult issues like faith, God, death, and marital difficulties. Tries, yes. Succeeds, no.

This is one movie where a number of alternate endings should have been shot and screened with audience focus groups. Without giving away a spoiler, I can almost guarantee that what the director/screenwriter chose here is NOT the ending an audience would have chosen.

For a thriller, this movie had a difficult time holding my interest. I kept hoping that as the film progressed, things would make more sense. Unfortunately, they never quite did and I had a very difficult time at the conclusion understanding which parts were actually real and which parts were simply "what might have been." Frankly, it just was not possible for all that happened in the film over the course of a week to have actually happened in reality.

No complaints about the acting, the sets, or any of the technical aspects of the movie. Sandra Bullock is one of my favorites and she does a good job coming across as a midwestern soccer mom who is mildly depressed about her marriage. And Julian McMahon is believable as the responsible, passionless (at least for his wife) Mister Bland (although you do find it a bit far-fetched that this guy would be tempted to stray with a beautiful, pleasant-demeanored Bullock waiting for him at home every night).

But ultimately, the actors were asked to do the impossible: salvage a fundamentally chaotic and highly unsatisfying story line.

Within the first 20 minutes I had a premonition that this wasn't going to be a very good movie.

I was right.

Ground Hog Day
Her husband's dead - or is he? Her daughter has a bloody accident, but when? She wakes up knowing her husband's dead, only to hear him in the shower. So what's going on with this poor woman? You'll have to watch this movie several times before you can figure it out, which I've never been able to do. Premonition is sort of the dark side of Ground Hog Day- deja vu all over again. Every character in it is without warmth, with the exception of the wife and kids. Whether or not anything psychic is going on, or merely a series of bad dreams, is never made clear. Interesting premise, otherwise a web of confusion. Just OK.