Premonition

With all due respect, did you actually watch this movie? While I will give points for the ending, which wasn’t much of a twist but did finally avoid the cliches that cluttered up the rest of the movie, the logic of the movie has enormous gaps in it. For instance, the movie begins with Sandra Bullock greeting her beautiful children. But the chronology of the movie reveals later on that her oldest daughter’s face was lacerated in an accident earlier that week. Even more bizarrely, no one tells Sandra’s mother that the girl ran through a glass door and had her face badly cut? This is only one of many problems the movie had regarding the sequence of events. This doesn’t deserve to be compared to the repugnant “Village,” let alone the “Sixth Sense” masterpiece.

Comment by Tommy Marx from Portland OR — July 17, 2007 @ 6:02 pm

A lot of “twist ending films” have considerable gaps in them, some more so than others.  Yet if one of these movies is absorbing enough, tedious observations can get overlooked.  I admit that PREMONITION is not a top notch example of the genre and it does have its flaws, but it was effective enough in direction and acting that I was able to overlook cliches and gaps to be entertained by it.  Of course it isn’t on the same level as THE SIXTH SENSE (as I clearly stated in my review).  But think about it, this film motivated you to create a post on this webpage discussing the plot, hence proving my point that this is the first twist-ending film in a while to evoke discussion.

Comment by Brett Parker — July 18, 2007 @ 3:29 pm

I think that’s where we’ll have to agree to disagree. I understand what you’re saying. Sometimes movies draw you in strong enough - for whatever reason - that you’re willing to overlook or never even notice holes in logic. I have no idea why I can buy the story of “Total Recall” without questioning anything, yet I’ll never be able to stomach “Minority Report” (I could’t get past the idea that people would be convicted of crimes they never committed and no one cared).

“Premonition” really messed it up for me because of the glaring mistake regarding the daughter’s face and the bizarre melodrama of the grandmother saying, “How did she hurt her face?” - as if her granddaughters wouldn’t have told her, her daughter and son-in-law wouldn’t have told her, and she wouldn’t have known herself that her daughter would never have done anything to hurt her granddaughter. It was cheap and unnecessary and made no logical sense.

Still, I’ll freely admit that what might bother me might not be a factor at all to someone else.

However, if I’m motivated to discuss this film, it’s not because of the twists or logic. It’s because it bothers me that Sandra Bullock, who might not be the world’s greatest actress but is far better than she is usually given credit for, gives such a great and understated performance in a movie that wasn’t worth her talent.

Then again, she did “The Net” once upon a time, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, LOL.

Comment by Tommy Marx from Portland OR — July 18, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

Yeah, I agree that the daughter’s damaged-face subplot should’ve been dropped altogether, it distracts from the focus of the main narrative.  I understand what you’re saying about Bullock’s talent perhaps being too good for a film like this, but I feel sometimes that’s the point.  Think of all the countless Hollywood films that have been redeemed by the prescence of a very talented actor.  Johnny Depp has practically built a career out of it.  I take pleasure in watching talented actors tear through formulaic material.  Think of how much more fun it is to watch Bullock in this material than some random television actress called up to big screen duty.  As a filmgoer, I say if you have to watch jazzed-up cliches anyways, isnt fun to have a compelling actor to guide you through it?

Comment by Brett Parker — July 18, 2007 @ 10:30 pm