PHENOMENON
A film review by Vince Deehan
Copyright 1996 Vince Deehan
Directed by John Turteltaub Written by Gerald DiPego Cast: John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall
PHENOMENON tells the story of a regular guy, George Malley (John Travolta) who sees a blinding light on the night of his 37th birthday and becomes a changed man. Previously George has been not especially intelligent, but after seeing the light he finds that he has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and finds that concepts and ideas that would have been far beyond his understanding are now very simple to comprehend. He starts to learn about science, begins elaborate experiments with solar energy, discovers new fuels, learns Portuguese and still his brain craves more knowledge !
George's best friend, the lonely Nate (Forest Whitaker) is overwhelmed at the changes he sees in his friend. Indeed, the whole town soon starts to become very wary of George when he almost miraculously finds a missing child, predicts an earthquake and alarmingly breaks a mirror without touching it. When George breaks a secret code that the military have been using, he invokes the might of the authorities who arrest him and treat him with great suspicion. Eventually the true reason for George's incredible new-found intelligence is revealed, and it turns out to be quite unexpected. Throughout all of this, George tries to gain the affections of Lace (played by Kyra Sedgwick), who lives alone with her two young children. Lace eventually gives in to George's advances, not least when she sees how much her kids take to him.
Many the reviews I've read for this film say that the film suddenly takes a turn for the worst in the final half hour. Whilst watching the film I was constantly anticipating this moment (a pitfall of reading too many reviews beforehand !). When this moment never seemed to come, for me at least, I was greatly relieved. I would guess that the explanation for George's new genius would be where some people started to feel cheated. There did seem to be a perceptible change of mood in the cinema when this moment came, but it was only because it was so unexpected and it took a while to adjust to what we had been watching in light of this new information. I had feared a much worse scenario, and I was quite relieved when things turned out the way they did !
This is definitely a feel-good movie, much in the same way that John Turteltaub's previous film, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING was. There are a couple of points where the film teeters horribly close to overt sentimentality, but in general the tone of the film is so good natured that you forgive these lapses ! We all know when we are being manipulated by films, but a good film makes you really feel for its characters so that you don't feel that your being taken for a ride. You want to see where these people are headed and you want to share their sadness and joy as their story unfolds. The only scene where I found myself cringing in my seat was the scene where Lace cuts George's hair and gives him a shave while the soundtrack cranks up the volume for a love song by Aaron Neville. This was horribly misjudged, in my opinion, and just plain embarrassing to watch. It was like they had inserted a music video into the middle of this lovely film. You suddenly realise that you are watching a film and all sense of reality goes up in smoke, albeit only for the duration of the scene. Still, only a minor fault in a great film.
The impressive cast all give great performances in this film. Nothing showy or elaborate, but gentle, natural performances that have you believing in the characters. These aren't the performances Oscars are made of, but they ought to be. John Travolta is wonderful, and has the audience in the palm of his hands from the first moment he appears. He is well supported by Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall. Kyra Sedgwick is excellent as Lace, and delivers a wonderful performance as a single mum who is trying to give her kids a solid upbringing and is clearly frightened, at first, of getting involved with George Malley simply because she doesn't want to her kids to be hurt again if things didn't work out.
All in all, PHENOMENON is a great film that made me feel good to be alive. Now that's a great compliment.
Review written on Tuesday September 10th 1996
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