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Touchstone Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Some things in life just can't be explained.
An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.
Filipe Manuel Neto
Dec 26, 2023 · via TMDB
**A good film, spoiled by a horrible ending.** When I decided to watch this film, I was quite curious about its story. In fact, the film has its interest and works almost until the end. It is precisely the ending that ruins the efforts made so far. It's not the first time, and it certainly won't be the last, that I've come across a film that would have had everything to work if the screenwriter and director had had the ability to end the story as happily as they started it. Technically, the film doesn't present anything special. Cinematography, visual and sound effects, sets, costumes, filming locations, soundtrack... it's all reasonably well executed, but it doesn't present any surprises or quality notes worth mentioning. It's just another bland, meek and nothing special film. As for the cast, it is up to us to recognize everyone's collective effort and the good performance of most of the groups. John Travolta, who is an actor that I don't like very much, manages to give us a very friendly and committed performance, creating an appealing character, who easily captures our empathy and who has the necessary charisma to stand out and captivate the audience. Alongside him are two excellent actors, Robert Duvall and Forest Whitaker. Both stand out for their sympathy and manage to give us two secondary characters strong enough to give the film additional interest. Kyra Sedgwick is worse off, as she doesn't seem to have any value to the film other than being a love interest. The script has excellent premises that, although not really original, manage to have the interest they need to support the film: a completely ordinary man who lives in rural America becomes a genius after suffering an inexplicable incident on the night of his birthday with a light coming from the sky. In addition to an extraordinary ability to think and reason that allows him to solve problems quickly, he begins to read uncontrollably, learn everything and improve things around him, in an absolutely visionary way. Everything indicates that he suffered some type of incident with aliens, and this hypothesis is used for a lot of discussion in the film. When we are approaching the end, the script completely derails and gives us the most anticlimactic ending we could imagine, which not only disrespects everything that has been done but does not explain even half of what happened to that man. Worse than this, just a hard kick to our heads.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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John Travolta
George Malley
Kyra Sedgwick
Lace Pennamin
Forest Whitaker
Nate Pope
Robert Duvall
Doc
Jeffrey DeMunn
Professor Ringold
Richard Kiley
Dr. Wellin
David Gallagher
Al
Tony Genaro
Tito
Sean O'Bryan
Banes
Michael Milhoan
Jimmy
Troy Evans
Roger
Bruce A. Young
Jack Hatch
Vyto Ruginis
Ted Rhome
Brent Spiner
Dr. Bob
James Keane
Pete the Cop
James Anthony Cotton
Cal
Mark Soper
Reporter
Daniel Zacapa
Father at Book Fair
Beth Kennedy
Female FBI Agent
Tom Fridley
Male FBI Agent
Richard Gross
Customer at Malley's
Garreth Stover
Production Design
Jay Hart
Set Decoration
Wally Pfister
Camera Operator
Phedon Papamichael
Director of Photography
Fríða Aradóttir
Key Hair Stylist
Jeff Cadiente
Stunt Coordinator
Anita Hart
Stunts
Erik Stabenau
Stunts
Mark Riccardi
Stunts
Jon Turteltaub
Director
Charles Newirth
Executive Producer
Jonathan D. Krane
Executive Producer
Michael Taylor
Producer
Allegra Clegg
Production Supervisor
Charles Newirth
Unit Production Manager
Matt Adler
ADR & Dubbing
Thomas Newman
Original Music Composer
Mark Mangini
Supervising Sound Editor
Ken Ralston
Visual Effects Supervisor
Gerald Di Pego
Screenplay
Baba
Glimpses of the Outskirts
Death Bottle
B:ARE!
Wind’s Lips
Porté disparu
Am I Guilty?
The Divine Romance
Howl's Moving Castle
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The Iron Giant
Mirror
Ben-Hur
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Dog Day Afternoon
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Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Brief Encounter
Apocalypto
Thelma & Louise
Being There
Moulin Rouge!
Eyes Wide Shut
Mary Poppins
Aa Gale Lag Jaa
The Thin Red Line
The Experiment
The Last King of Scotland
Sicko
Meet Joe Black
Shrek 2
Dirty Dancing
Patch Adams
Running Out of Time
Thief
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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Kingdom of Heaven
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Space Jam
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Shrek Forever After
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The Midwife
The Doctor of St. Pauli
Lullaby
Two Weeks
Volcano
The Devil's in Love
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Subway in the Sky
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
The I Inside
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Joe Versus the Volcano
Hulk
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Jul 5, 1996
May 7, 1997
Touchstone Home Video #8293 [𝐕𝐇𝐒📼] 𝟭𝟮𝟯 mínutєѕ
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Carícia Fatal
2007
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
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1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
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1981 · 11 wins
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