Premonition- a forewarning!

I was planning to go and watch this particular movie next Sunday evening but yesterday I was given the opportunity to go and watch it with two beautiful girls and that is an offer that it is very difficult for a man to refuse.
I was very doubtful about this movie to begin with, but by the tenth crappy preview and a trailer scene which reminded me one of the cheesiest pop-culture moments of all time: Bobby Ewing in the shower on "Dallas." As you may remember, it turned out he wasn't dead after all and the previous season had been a long dream. I just knew I was in for a lonnnng and crap-filled couple of hours.

Turns out, though, I was wrong. I wasn't prepared for the fact that I was actually going to enjoy this film, and I certainly wasn't prepared for the thousand twists and turns it took me on. It grabbed me from the very first scene (with just a hint of Sandra Bullock's nipple under her cotton nightie) and tossed me around like a rag doll in the dryer for at least a full 100 of its 110 minutes.

It was amazing. Seriously, a thoroughly enjoyable insanity that kept me guessing all the way to the end. Sandra Bullock as Linda was phenomenal, with glimpses of her former charming self, but also this new more mature version that didn't TRY so hard to be cute and youngish (which is I think where many of her other recent films have failed). In fact, I think the success of this movie was due to Linda's stability. I mean, she was sane the whole time, but the movie did a great job of letting you see how others might get the wrong impression about some of the situations to make it seem that she was insane. I love how they did that. I mean, I think if you were to actually become insane in real life, that's how it would be. You would feel like the only sane person in a world of insanity, and nothing would make sense. So the fact that she didn't give up, that she actually kept her wits and tried to do something about her situation, was uplifting. Mind you the first twenty minutes were very difficult to keep track of what was really happening but that is one of the keys to "Premonition," a thriller that toys with the time element and all that means in matters of life and death.

But yeah, I admit some things were obviously over-dramatic. The scenes where the husband would "appear" after a much too heavy musical build-up, that was cheap. Most of the dialoge was weak and yeah, if I had been Linda I might have done some things differently, but then that's also part of the point. Even if you know what's going to happen, that doesn't necessarily mean you can change it or stop it from happening. If you knew an accident was looming, would you be able to prevent it? If you realized a dad's time with his girls was limited, would you encourage him to make the most of it? And just who would you confide in while trying to make sense of a jumbled week?

I did like the religious aspect coming out of nowhere even if I didn’t like the way Linda gets a series of tired expression in the form of fortune cookie philosophy from her local priest, who also happens to have a volume on premonitions handy and with the salient passages conveniently bookmarked. Most of the conversations had very little meanings but what struck me most was Linda saying with a lot of despair I have nothing worth fighting yet the priest tell her that every day is a miracle. It is a state that once one feels like he has everything and one only knows what s missing when it is no longer available.

This part in my opinion was the point where this film started changing from what could have been a meaningless psychological thriller to a film portraying allot of things to think and meditate about, thing that are really worth fighting for nowadays. The luck of having something so precious as family and children and also health since insanity is a disturbance which one finds so difficult to cope with. Even after these scenes the film still keeps the audience guessing while dispensing some thoughts on faith, hope and love. At this time another thing that comes to mind is that even if one tries one can’t control his destiny or does destiny control you?? In the end, does it even matter?

The aspects of the plot are mainstream but the philosophical implications will not appeal to those who prefer easily digestible cinematic portions. It's also true that the more deeply one considers the movie's themes and structure, the less sense it makes. Instead of the paradoxes transforming into delicious puzzles, they become jigsaws where the pieces don't necessarily fit. So, although aspects of Premonition tantalize, other elements frustrate, and that makes for an uneasy final result and in my case an end which I was not expecting. It has an end that speaks about life and about death. A film worth watching if not in the cinema fet it on a DVD.