The middle-class couple Linda Hanson and Jim Hanson lives a wasted and routine relationship with their two daughters in their comfortable house in the suburbs. On a Thursday morning, the local sheriff visits Linda and tells her that her husband died in a car accident on the previous day. On the next morning, when Linda awakes, she finds Jim safe and sound at home. When she awakes on the next morning, she realizes that her days are out of order, but her family and friends believe she is insane.
Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: 5.6/10 (22,018 votes)
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: TriStar Pictures
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some violent content, disturbing images, thematic material and brief language.
Director(s): Mennan Yapo
Producer(s):
Ashok Amritraj – producer
Kimberly C. Anderson – associate producer (as Kim Anderson)
Gina Fortunato – line producer
Jennifer Gibgot – producer
Nick Hamson – executive producer
Jon Jashni – producer
Sunil Perkash – producer
Malcolm Petal – associate producer
Adam Shankman – producer
Andrew Sugerman – executive producer
Lars Sylvest – executive producer
Writer(s):
Bill Kelly – (written by)
Cast:
Sandra Bullock – Linda Hanson
Julian McMahon – Jim Hanson
Shyann McClure – Megan Hanson
Courtney Taylor Burness – Bridgette Hanson
Nia Long – Annie
Marc Macaulay – Sheriff Reilly
Kate Nelligan – Joanne
Irene Ziegler – Mrs. Quinn
Phillip DeVona – Funeral Attendant
Ritchie Montgomery – Funeral Attendant
Music: Klaus Badelt
Tagline: Reality is only a nightmare away
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Why end movies sadly? It makes no sense when it would be just as easyto end them happily.
It seems as if she goes through all this trouble to figure everythingout, finally has the ability to change something, and then is incapableof changing it anyways. On top of that she has to watch her husbanddie?!? Give me a break. I could have come up with 50 better endingsthan that one.
It's just shameful screen writing.
The movie was also very slow moving. I really liked the concept but theending just stunk.
*************CONTAINS SPOILERS************** I watched this moviehaving a vague idea of the plot and some high expectations, as a friendhad raved about it to me. I was thoroughly impressed when the filmextended even beyond those standards, having affected me to the pointwhere I was a blubbering mess on the couch, reaching for the phone tocall my other half and tell him to drive home safely from work. It is avery rare occurrence that a movie has such an impact on me; I find thatmost films which involve a love story are too cheesy for my liking.Take that as a high recommendation to watch 'Premonition'! The storybegins with Linda (Bullock) finding out that her estranging husband,Jim (Julian McMahon), has been in killed in a car accident. After ahorrific day, she wakes the following morning to find her life playingout as if the previous day had never occurred – her husband is fine. Atfirst she assumes it was just a nightmare, but the following day whenshe wakes up, she finds that her nightmare reality has taken over againand her husband is gone once more.
Linda comes to the realisation that her experience is much more than adream, and as she continues to wake up to different days, in which Jimis alive, then dead and so forth, it becomes apparent that thealternate reality of Jim being dead is a premonition of what willbecome her only reality, unless she can prevent his accident.
Eventually Linda begins to piece together the days, by order of thechilling occurrences that she and her family are faced with, inconjunction with Jim's death. She figures out that Jim will die on theWednesday, on a road between home and his "business trip" destination.Unfortunately, by the time she has figured this out, Linda has alsodiscovered that Jim is planning to cheat on her with a colleague beforehe dies. She endures a period of anger and false nonchalance, in whichshe convinces herself that perhaps Jim's impending death is with reasonand that they might just be better off. At this point, she decides notto stand between Jim and his fate.
However, in a moment of desperation, she coerces her husband into aconfrontation, where she tells him that she misses him and wants theirrelationship to be what it once was, before they had children. Thecouple make love (for probably the first time in months) and Lindamakes Jim promise to wake her before he leaves for his trip in themorning.
When Linda awakens the next day, Jim has taken the girls to school andleft for his "interview" (and a hotel room he is to be sharing with thecolleague he intends to begin an affair with). Linda jumps in the carand speeds off in an attempt to reach the spot where she foresaw Jim'saccident and save his life.
In the meantime, Jim is on the phone to Claire (his potentialmistress), telling her that he won't be coming; he has had an epiphanyand wants to make his marriage with Linda work. As he's leaving amessage on the home answering machine (the one that Linda hears in thebeginning of the movie, saying that he loves her and wants to tryagain) Linda calls him and tells him the same. The couple exchange afew "I love you"s and Linda catches up to him on the road. She tellsJim that she's behind him and to pull over. He does, but then she seesthat his car is right next to the sign from her vision, so she tellshim to turn around and come further back down the road. As he's turningaround, a car swerves around him from behind, narrowly missing him.Linda, relieved that he has averted the accident that was meant to killhim, jumps out of her car and begins to run to his. At that moment, agiant petrol tanker looses control on the road. Jim can't turn his carback on, or get out in time; the truck collects his car, crushing itand dragging it several metres.
It is then that Linda sees the full truth of her premonition: what shesaw was what would happen WITH her attempts to avoid it. Telling Jim toturn his car around actually causes his death. The petrol tanker andJim's car explode.
Closing scene: we see Linda wake up yet again; this time it's about 5months after Jim's death and she is visibly pregnant. She recalls whata priest said to her right before Jim died, when she was trying tofigure out what to do. From this recollection, she is filled with aknowledge that Jim's death was never meant to be prevented – nor was itable to be. She was simply meant to help both of them recognise thattheir life together was abundant with love and potential happiness,that they just needed to find it again. Linda sees that although shecould change their feelings towards each other for the better, no onehas the power to change a person's ultimate fate. She finally seesthat, despite the loss of Jim, it was better that he died when theirlove was rekindling, than if he had died in the midst of planning anaffair, with Linda knowing of his intentions and feeling bitter aboutthem. Linda looks at her daughters and is grateful, for her life istruly blessed.
This film had me engrossed more or less from start to finish, so forthat I give it high marks. A housewife with 2 kids becomes a widow whenher husband dies in a car accident.But has he died or is that just adream and has she seen the future? She awakes and sleeps to eventsbefore, after and during the accident and that scenario of past,present, future is done with intrigue and skill throughout the wholepicture. The puzzle of the story is personified by the jigsaw played bythe family in the film. For this movie to be successful the leadactress needs to be convincing and on that she certainly succeeds. Ithought the ending was excellent and appropriate and I never saw itcoming. 8/10
This should be rated higher, frankly. Sandra Bullock delivers an honestperformance. The story is quite gripping and Bullock's execution of hercharacter is insightful and intelligent with a beautiful heart.
The choices she faces are unique, but I think nearly all women canidentify with her character on some level, which renders this film anear must-see for any woman in love.
I won't spoil the movie as many have, so this review will not containany details of the plot. I WILL say, however, that it has been comparedto the Butterfly Effect, although I enjoyed this far more. The story isenigmatic and compelling throughout, which is more than previousreviewers led me to expect.
All in all? I like it. I own it, and have watched it several times tocatch some of the finer details one inevitably misses on the firstviewing. This film is a great Friday/Saturday night's viewing, althoughsome insecure men may be made uncomfortable by it.
It rates a 6.8/10 from…
the Fiend :.