A couple of years ago, a little known J-horror movie, "Yogen" was released here in the US. It came and went without much fanfare. I managed to catch this movie on DVD last year and I must say that I was really impressed and I certainly rank it up there with some of the best J-horror releases in recent years. Fast forward to this week and as I was watching this Sandra Bullock-helmed movie, "Premonition," I sort of remembered that there was another movie with the exact same title. Yes, you guessed it. By coincidence, the English title for "Yogen" is also "Premonition." After having watched both movies, I came to the conclusion that other than the title and the looking-into-the-future theme, they are completely different stories. "Premonition" is not a remake of "Yogen". This is rather unfortunate because "Premonition" could have learned a thing or two from its Japanese namesake.
If you have seen the trailer for "Premonition," you might be forgiven for maybe mistaking it for a horror movie because it is anything but. Instead, this movie really falls in the mystery- thriller genre with a small dose of non-linear storytelling sprinkled in for good measure. However, when I say non-linear, it is definitely not in the same vein as say, a "Pulp Fiction" nor is it in reverse order like "Memento." "Premonition" pushes its non-linearity through a different route, which I would not reveal here, since it would be a great spoiler. Although the movie trailer might make it seem a little creepy, there is nothing really supernatural about this movie--no ghosts or spirits to be found here. I actually found this movie to be more psychological than paranormal.
Linda (Sandra Bullock) and Jim (Julian McMahon, "Fantastic Four", "Nip/Tuck") Hanson is a typical suburban couple with two young daughters, Megan (Shyann McClure) and Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness). They live in a nice house in a good neighborhood and at least on the surface, everything seems to be hunky-dory. However, one gets the sense that there is a hint of trouble in their marriage even though both husband and wife do not seem to want to acknowledge it. But all that gets shelved once Linda gets a dreaded knock on her front door from one Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay), informing her about Jim´s death in a horrific car accident. Hit with such devastating news, Linda progresses into a semi state of shock. With her mother (Irene Ziegler) arriving at the house to help with the children, Linda is finally able to go to sleep that night on the couch, probably wishing that all that had happened that day was just a bad dream. Well, she may yet get her wish--sort of.
The next morning, we find Linda waking up on her bed instead of the couch, dressed differently from the night before. Sensing something amiss, Linda walks downstairs to find none other than Jim having breakfast in the kitchen, looking perplexed at her stunned reaction upon seeing him. Could it all just have been a really bad dream? Or was it a dark foretelling of things to come? The next day, things get shaken up again. Linda wakes up, goes downstairs and disturbingly finds a good number of people in the house, all there to attend Jim´s wake. What is really going on here? Could she had been in such a state of shock that her perception of reality has become so distorted? Or could this be a result of the medication that she might or might not have taken, judging by an empty prescription bottle on her sink.
By that juncture, most savvy moviegoers would have already started to mentally compile the various visual clues in their minds, hoping to find an answer to Linda´s and by extension, the audiences´ predicament. Is she reliving a future event over and over again? Which day is really the actual timeline? Or, heaven forbid, this is all just a silly nightmare (which would pretty much suck for the audience). For a majority of the movie, the audience is kept in total suspense as to what Linda´s actual reality is. Waking up each day to either find your husband alive and well or dead can be disconcerting to say the least. This movie´s see-sawing storyline is greatly helped along by a very credible performance from Sandra Bullock, whose nuanced approach to her character provides most, if not all of the tension felt in the first half of the movie. While "Premonition" seemed well on its way to a thrilling finish, the final act rolls along and the pace surprisingly tapers down and morphs from a legitimate mystery-thriller into a plodding moral exercise as Linda begins to ponder what she is supposed to do with her sudden insight into her immediate future. Divine intervention is even hinted at some point. Losing that early momentum clearly hurts this movie towards the end.
If you have seen the trailer for "Premonition," you might be forgiven for maybe mistaking it for a horror movie because it is anything but. Instead, this movie really falls in the mystery- thriller genre with a small dose of non-linear storytelling sprinkled in for good measure. However, when I say non-linear, it is definitely not in the same vein as say, a "Pulp Fiction" nor is it in reverse order like "Memento." "Premonition" pushes its non-linearity through a different route, which I would not reveal here, since it would be a great spoiler. Although the movie trailer might make it seem a little creepy, there is nothing really supernatural about this movie--no ghosts or spirits to be found here. I actually found this movie to be more psychological than paranormal.
Linda (Sandra Bullock) and Jim (Julian McMahon, "Fantastic Four", "Nip/Tuck") Hanson is a typical suburban couple with two young daughters, Megan (Shyann McClure) and Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness). They live in a nice house in a good neighborhood and at least on the surface, everything seems to be hunky-dory. However, one gets the sense that there is a hint of trouble in their marriage even though both husband and wife do not seem to want to acknowledge it. But all that gets shelved once Linda gets a dreaded knock on her front door from one Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay), informing her about Jim´s death in a horrific car accident. Hit with such devastating news, Linda progresses into a semi state of shock. With her mother (Irene Ziegler) arriving at the house to help with the children, Linda is finally able to go to sleep that night on the couch, probably wishing that all that had happened that day was just a bad dream. Well, she may yet get her wish--sort of.
The next morning, we find Linda waking up on her bed instead of the couch, dressed differently from the night before. Sensing something amiss, Linda walks downstairs to find none other than Jim having breakfast in the kitchen, looking perplexed at her stunned reaction upon seeing him. Could it all just have been a really bad dream? Or was it a dark foretelling of things to come? The next day, things get shaken up again. Linda wakes up, goes downstairs and disturbingly finds a good number of people in the house, all there to attend Jim´s wake. What is really going on here? Could she had been in such a state of shock that her perception of reality has become so distorted? Or could this be a result of the medication that she might or might not have taken, judging by an empty prescription bottle on her sink.
By that juncture, most savvy moviegoers would have already started to mentally compile the various visual clues in their minds, hoping to find an answer to Linda´s and by extension, the audiences´ predicament. Is she reliving a future event over and over again? Which day is really the actual timeline? Or, heaven forbid, this is all just a silly nightmare (which would pretty much suck for the audience). For a majority of the movie, the audience is kept in total suspense as to what Linda´s actual reality is. Waking up each day to either find your husband alive and well or dead can be disconcerting to say the least. This movie´s see-sawing storyline is greatly helped along by a very credible performance from Sandra Bullock, whose nuanced approach to her character provides most, if not all of the tension felt in the first half of the movie. While "Premonition" seemed well on its way to a thrilling finish, the final act rolls along and the pace surprisingly tapers down and morphs from a legitimate mystery-thriller into a plodding moral exercise as Linda begins to ponder what she is supposed to do with her sudden insight into her immediate future. Divine intervention is even hinted at some point. Losing that early momentum clearly hurts this movie towards the end.
A couple of years ago, a little known J-horror movie, "Yogen" was released here in the US. It came and went without much fanfare. I managed to catch this movie on DVD last year and I must say that I was really impressed and I certainly rank it up there with some of the best J-horror releases in recent years. Fast forward to this week and as I was watching this Sandra Bullock-helmed movie, "Premonition," I sort of remembered that there was another movie with the exact same title. Yes, you guessed it. By coincidence, the English title for "Yogen" is also "Premonition." After having watched both movies, I came to the conclusion that other than the title and the looking-into-the-future theme, they are completely different stories. "Premonition" is not a remake of "Yogen". This is rather unfortunate because "Premonition" could have learned a thing or two from its Japanese namesake.
If you have seen the trailer for "Premonition," you might be forgiven for maybe mistaking it for a horror movie because it is anything but. Instead, this movie really falls in the mystery- thriller genre with a small dose of non-linear storytelling sprinkled in for good measure. However, when I say non-linear, it is definitely not in the same vein as say, a "Pulp Fiction" nor is it in reverse order like "Memento." "Premonition" pushes its non-linearity through a different route, which I would not reveal here, since it would be a great spoiler. Although the movie trailer might make it seem a little creepy, there is nothing really supernatural about this movie--no ghosts or spirits to be found here. I actually found this movie to be more psychological than paranormal.
Linda (Sandra Bullock) and Jim (Julian McMahon, "Fantastic Four", "Nip/Tuck") Hanson is a typical suburban couple with two young daughters, Megan (Shyann McClure) and Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness). They live in a nice house in a good neighborhood and at least on the surface, everything seems to be hunky-dory. However, one gets the sense that there is a hint of trouble in their marriage even though both husband and wife do not seem to want to acknowledge it. But all that gets shelved once Linda gets a dreaded knock on her front door from one Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay), informing her about Jim´s death in a horrific car accident. Hit with such devastating news, Linda progresses into a semi state of shock. With her mother (Irene Ziegler) arriving at the house to help with the children, Linda is finally able to go to sleep that night on the couch, probably wishing that all that had happened that day was just a bad dream. Well, she may yet get her wish--sort of.
The next morning, we find Linda waking up on her bed instead of the couch, dressed differently from the night before. Sensing something amiss, Linda walks downstairs to find none other than Jim having breakfast in the kitchen, looking perplexed at her stunned reaction upon seeing him. Could it all just have been a really bad dream? Or was it a dark foretelling of things to come? The next day, things get shaken up again. Linda wakes up, goes downstairs and disturbingly finds a good number of people in the house, all there to attend Jim´s wake. What is really going on here? Could she had been in such a state of shock that her perception of reality has become so distorted? Or could this be a result of the medication that she might or might not have taken, judging by an empty prescription bottle on her sink.
By that juncture, most savvy moviegoers would have already started to mentally compile the various visual clues in their minds, hoping to find an answer to Linda´s and by extension, the audiences´ predicament. Is she reliving a future event over and over again? Which day is really the actual timeline? Or, heaven forbid, this is all just a silly nightmare (which would pretty much suck for the audience). For a majority of the movie, the audience is kept in total suspense as to what Linda´s actual reality is. Waking up each day to either find your husband alive and well or dead can be disconcerting to say the least. This movie´s see-sawing storyline is greatly helped along by a very credible performance from Sandra Bullock, whose nuanced approach to her character provides most, if not all of the tension felt in the first half of the movie. While "Premonition" seemed well on its way to a thrilling finish, the final act rolls along and the pace surprisingly tapers down and morphs from a legitimate mystery-thriller into a plodding moral exercise as Linda begins to ponder what she is supposed to do with her sudden insight into her immediate future. Divine intervention is even hinted at some point. Losing that early momentum clearly hurts this movie towards the end.
If you have seen the trailer for "Premonition," you might be forgiven for maybe mistaking it for a horror movie because it is anything but. Instead, this movie really falls in the mystery- thriller genre with a small dose of non-linear storytelling sprinkled in for good measure. However, when I say non-linear, it is definitely not in the same vein as say, a "Pulp Fiction" nor is it in reverse order like "Memento." "Premonition" pushes its non-linearity through a different route, which I would not reveal here, since it would be a great spoiler. Although the movie trailer might make it seem a little creepy, there is nothing really supernatural about this movie--no ghosts or spirits to be found here. I actually found this movie to be more psychological than paranormal.
Linda (Sandra Bullock) and Jim (Julian McMahon, "Fantastic Four", "Nip/Tuck") Hanson is a typical suburban couple with two young daughters, Megan (Shyann McClure) and Bridgette (Courtney Taylor Burness). They live in a nice house in a good neighborhood and at least on the surface, everything seems to be hunky-dory. However, one gets the sense that there is a hint of trouble in their marriage even though both husband and wife do not seem to want to acknowledge it. But all that gets shelved once Linda gets a dreaded knock on her front door from one Sheriff Reilly (Marc Macaulay), informing her about Jim´s death in a horrific car accident. Hit with such devastating news, Linda progresses into a semi state of shock. With her mother (Irene Ziegler) arriving at the house to help with the children, Linda is finally able to go to sleep that night on the couch, probably wishing that all that had happened that day was just a bad dream. Well, she may yet get her wish--sort of.
The next morning, we find Linda waking up on her bed instead of the couch, dressed differently from the night before. Sensing something amiss, Linda walks downstairs to find none other than Jim having breakfast in the kitchen, looking perplexed at her stunned reaction upon seeing him. Could it all just have been a really bad dream? Or was it a dark foretelling of things to come? The next day, things get shaken up again. Linda wakes up, goes downstairs and disturbingly finds a good number of people in the house, all there to attend Jim´s wake. What is really going on here? Could she had been in such a state of shock that her perception of reality has become so distorted? Or could this be a result of the medication that she might or might not have taken, judging by an empty prescription bottle on her sink.
By that juncture, most savvy moviegoers would have already started to mentally compile the various visual clues in their minds, hoping to find an answer to Linda´s and by extension, the audiences´ predicament. Is she reliving a future event over and over again? Which day is really the actual timeline? Or, heaven forbid, this is all just a silly nightmare (which would pretty much suck for the audience). For a majority of the movie, the audience is kept in total suspense as to what Linda´s actual reality is. Waking up each day to either find your husband alive and well or dead can be disconcerting to say the least. This movie´s see-sawing storyline is greatly helped along by a very credible performance from Sandra Bullock, whose nuanced approach to her character provides most, if not all of the tension felt in the first half of the movie. While "Premonition" seemed well on its way to a thrilling finish, the final act rolls along and the pace surprisingly tapers down and morphs from a legitimate mystery-thriller into a plodding moral exercise as Linda begins to ponder what she is supposed to do with her sudden insight into her immediate future. Divine intervention is even hinted at some point. Losing that early momentum clearly hurts this movie towards the end.
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