Phenomenon Comes To Blu-ray

On July 3rd, the sixteenth anniversary of it's theater debut, Buena Vista Home entertainment re-released the award winning film Phenomenon on Blu-ray. This iteration offers a new digital restoration for improved picture quality as well as enhanced sound, which should appease all fans of the movie who may even still have their VHS copy.


The conversion is particularly well done in my opinion; typically I find that pre-HDTV practical effects don't hold up well under the magnifying glass of HD home theaters, but those few special and practical effects there are in Phenomenon are crisp and clean.

The only thing I found lacking in this offering was the bonus features. There are none. Unless you count the original trailer as a bonus feature, the movie stands on its own.

On his 37th birthday, George Malley (Travolta) is visited briefly by a mysterious light and develops amazing mental abilities. He uses his new found intelligence and craving for knowledge to better his life and attempts to do the same for those around him. The small town of Auburn, however, is not be so welcoming to the kind of changes that George has to offer, and he soon comes to realize that this experience has changed him and everyone around him forever.

John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker each give excellent performances which draw you into the story and provide characters that truly feel legitimate, as if they were based on a true story. Several comedic moments sprinkled through what is otherwise a romantic and dramatic story help to lighten the heavy emotions. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it, and this is the perfect opportunity to add it to your collection.