Saturday, March 31, 2007

Movies: Premonition

• I had an inkling it wouldn't be all that.

Genres: Suspense, thriller, time warp
Director: Mennan Yapo
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon, Nia Long, Kate Nelligan, Amber Valletta, Peter Stormare
Run time: 1:37
Verdict: &&1/2

For no apparent reason other than some jarring soundtrack noises, Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) is living the days of a Very Bad Week out of order. Early in the proceedings, the sheriff shows up at her door to inform her that her husband, Jim (Julian McMahon), has been killed in a car crash, but she awakes the next morning to find hubby downstairs having breakfast before heading to work. The next day, he's dead again. As Hanson faces mounting confusion with each passing day, she begins to piece together the sequence of events and surmises that Jim will die while on a business trip. Her sleuthing also leads to a marital revelation that sullies the perfect white picket fence. Meanwhile, like so many movie heroines in peril, Hanson is looked upon suspiciously by family and authority figures. Premonition is a mildly entertaining thriller that occasionally drops false hints that it's going to become something more interesting than it is, such as when the clergyman talks to her about the unexplained and the "curse" of the faithless. Nevertheless, it does build a certain oh-no-don't frisson as the final scenes race to climax.

Photo: Hanson (Bullock) gazes down the lost highway.

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